BT: Real benefits in virtual worlds

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Published December 11, 2006

Real benefits in virtual worlds

By KENNETH JAMES
TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

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LOG on to secondlife.com and you enter a world quite unlike any other even by the surreal standards of the Internet. It's not the colourful background graphic - in one instance, a Japanese samurai scene - that grabs the attention; it's the box of stats tucked into the lower right hand corner. It says: 'Total Residents: 1,916,101; Logged In Last 60 Days: 690,800'. And this stunner: 'US$ Spent Last 24 hours: $657,856'.

Second Life: It's all about communication and collaboration

Say hello to Second Life, a 3D virtual world that gives a whole new dimension to social networking. When you join - membership is free - you create a graphical representation of yourself, an 'avatar' in geekspeak. After that the world is literally your stage. Explore it, meet other residents, take part in experiments, buy your own real estate, create a house, a campus, a business. Become part of the thriving virtual economy, trading in the currency of the realm known as Linden dollars, exchangeable for real hard cash.

Yes, there are games in this universe where practically anything goes. But, as the co-creator and chief technology officer of this amazing universe, Cory Ondrejka, emphasises repeatedly, Second Life is not a game.

That matters to Mr Ondrejka, who was in Singapore recently to promote his brainchild and check out partnership possibilities. Interviewing him, this writer mentions a BBC programme just days earlier, where a listener called to complain about the amount of attention being given to Second Life. The hugely popular role-playing game World of Warcraft has over 6 million players, the listener would have everyone know. Moreover, he huffs dismissively, Second Life isn't even a very good game.

But it's not a game, Mr Ondrejka says earnestly. For one thing, creators of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) like World of Warcraft spend millions of dollars building the games in all their multiple-level complexity. And there are clear objectives and goals, rules and competition, ways to win.

Second Life, on the other hand, is all about communication and collaboration, he explains. Linden Lab, the company which created Second Life, and where Mr Ondrejka is vice-president of product development, provides the environment and the graphical tools. But the residents create their own reality, be it a meeting hall or medieval castle, a hospital or university, a way to teleport or a technique to enable your avatar to breakdance. And importantly, residents own their intellectual property. It's a model that's unleashed a flood of innovation and creativity. Residents have created the scenarios and playgrounds of their dreams and fantasies. There are nightspots ranging from classy to sleazy, alien spaceships and abductions, skydiving sessions where you can get lessons, buy parachutes, rent airplanes - and it all fuels the burgeoning Linden-dollar economy.

Not surprisingly, corporations are coming into Second Life in a big way. IBM bought an entire island and created its own campus, with executives having actual cyber-meetings. Chairman Sam Palmisano has his own avatar, and recently used Second Life to make a major announcement about IBM research in virtual worlds.

But it's the social and educational possibilities that could, in the end, make this virtual reality particularly special. On the e-learning front, Harvard Law School is among several educational institutions which have set up virtual campuses. Singapore's Republic Polytechnic is planning its own Second Life-like online presence; Mr Ondrejka says he welcomes competitive efforts.

In medicine, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Davis, has created hallucinations as they might be experienced by schizophrenic patients; a 'walkthrough' is disturbing but gives visitors insights into the minds of these patients. Others have formed support groups for cancer survivors. Yet others have created peaceful meditation retreat centres.

Second Life is likely to make its creators very famous and very rich. But like a proud parent, Cory Ondrejka insists: 'It's really not about me, or my team. The interesting stories are in Second Life itself.' And so they are. Because, ironically, virtual worlds like Second Life are providing real opportunities for people denied them in the real world.

Comments

[Jimmy]

Hi,

The real benefits of using virtual worlds over other media such as video ...... to share applications in real time, eg web browsers, word documents.

Jimmy

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