Virtual world Second Life has competition. A new crop of online multiplayer games is coming, targeting a broader audience with simpler navigation and customization than Second Life, which is used primarily by techies and trend-watching corporations, writes Business Week.

For example, MapleStory, made by South Korea's Nexon, is a fantastical online 2-D game in which players hunt cartoon monsters and communicate in text. The game itself is free, but the company makes money from the sale of digital goods such as avatars and their outfits. Incredibly, in 2005 Nexon had worldwide revenues of $230 million, 85 percent of it from virtual items.

MapleStory has been a hit in Asia since 2003. Since its North American launch in September 2006, it's added 3 million players to its list of 50 million worldwide.

Other competition is from better-known players: Starting in the fall, Sony will offer PlayStation Home as a free download for its PlayStation 3 videogame console; and Nintendo of America is betting on the free, easy-to-design avatar feature of its popular Wii console to attract older nongamers.