RatePoint Inc. launches avatar rating system in Second Life

RatePoint, Inc., creator of the universal platform for social ratings, today announced the general availability of a unique technology for use in the Linden Lab® 3D virtual world, Second Life®. RatePoint connects people based on their personal tastes, and presents personalized rating information so that users can make more informed decisions about everything from products, services, websites and now Second Life Residents. This new Second Life technology is an extension of RatePoint’s free “People Powered Ratings^SM” service and is available at secondlife.ratepoint.com.

“When it takes off, RatePoint will provide Second Life Residents with the power of both eBay's rating system and Facebook’s social networking,” said Second Life power user Joe Munkeby. “This has tremendous implications from improving the Second Life Residents experience to helping accelerate the growth of Second Life.”

RatePoint’s Second Life extension leverages RatePoint’s unique rating system to provide personalized ratings for Residents in Second Life. As RatePoint members build a ratings profile, they are connected with other members called “dittos^SM.” A member’s “dittos” are leveraged to determine personalized ratings on everything from websites to Second Life Residents.

RatePoint members can also provide comments (GABs) so that they can share a review with the community. RatePoint’s unique algorithms allow for highly relevant, customized information to be shared with like-minded individuals. This same concept is now applied to the world of Second Life.

RatePoint’s Second Life Extension has two components. First, Residents can install a private view panel that displays any Second Life Resident’s five star rating in their immediate vicinity. RatePoint members with this view activated can see the ratings of all residents in the Second Life environment and rate them, regardless if they are members of RatePoint.com. A Resident can also install an optional rating icon that displays their individual rating to other residents in public view. This rating hovers over their head for all Second Life Residents to see. This can be used to show off a user’s rating status to all other Second Life Residents even if they are not a member of RatePoint.

“In general, the Web 2.0 experience is one of community involvement and user input in design and functionality,” said Mike Rowan, co-founder and CTO of RatePoint, Inc. “What RatePoint can offer is the ability to provide disintermediation from the aggregate information provided by most rating services. We are committed to continuing to build applications that will help focus community commentary and will grow with the needs of popular online environments like Second Life.”

Second Life Residents can download the RatePoint Ratepack™, which will then allow for Residents to rate each other and leave comments. “Second Life Residents interact in a variety of ways in this environment” said Rowan. “RatePoint provides an additional layer to their experience whether they are interacting socially or having a business transaction in Second Life’s rapidly growing economy.”

Generally, communications within Second Life require physical proximity of residents to “hear” a conversation; the same is true for this rating technology. Once a Resident approaches other residents, they are able to see their respective ratings, and also rate the resident.