Warner Bros. Television - Gossip Girl

Client Scenario

The CW Network and Warner Bros. Television were preparing to premier their marquee new show for fall 2007, "Gossip Girl." The network approached Millions of Us to conceive, build and manage a virtual world social experience.

Approach

Our team of game designers, artists and engineers built a massive and realistic recreation of Manhattan's Upper East Side where the show is set. In this living and breathing world, girls could gather, find new friends, and build a whole new social community. The environment let participants buy their own apartments and decorate them. The entire economy was driven by a gossip game where players rewarded one another for style, personality or popularity. The result was an ever-evolving virtual city of user-generated, Gossip Girl-themed content and interactions that kept visitors coming back for more.

Results

The virtual Upper East Side is one of the busiest sims in Second Life and it also enjoys remarkable engagement numbers. Since launching in September 2007, the virtual borough has hosted over a half of million unique users, more than twice as many people as actually live in the real Upper East Side. Those inhabitants have spent a combined total of 6,813,056 minutes inside the Gossip Girl experience.