see this
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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'. 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.
Second Life: It's all about communication and collaboration
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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Posted by: Jimmy | January 03, 2009 at 12:04 PM