Second Life and second coming for virtual worlds

November 17th, 2008 by Tim Greenhalgh

I was trolling around a couple of old-fashioned virtual reality worlds over the weekend – the print versions of Guardian and Observer newspapers. Sometimes I really enjoy the different pace and mindset of reading print. I’ll be careful not to stretch the virtual world simile too far with these newspapers, though it did feel a little like that, wandering through editorial constructions of the worlds we live in.

Anyway, virtuality has surfaced again in press agendas with the Second Life divorce story that Mark Lawson commented on in Saturday’s Guardian. and Victor Keegan’s full-page Observer Focus on the “virtual revolution”  the next day. Lawson warned about the emotional damage that could be caused in the real world from actions taken in a fantasy environment. Keegan wrote on the explosion of virtual worlds and the potential impact on real economies.

It was good to have the views of these two significant commentators so close together, with Lawson’s edgy assertion that popular culture needed to come to terms with the fact that fantasy actions have real emotional consequences balanced with Keegan’s economic perspective. Keegan warned that developing economies, particularly China, were building truly massive online 3D environments with the aim of luring customers in the developed economies to try then buy goods cheaply at source – collapse of middleman markets. A scary prospect but one that still has to wrestle with the realities of sub-prime service delivery, leading to lag, crashes and “unforeseen effects” (hardly conducive to making a sale, or for that matter, a “positive brand experience”) .

While Lawson confined his view to Second Life and reality TV, hooked around the suicide of an X Factor contestant in the US, Keegan named the usual suspects (SL, Entropia, Runescape) in his top picks, along with newcomers Twinity and Football Superstars. Keegan also made much of the European innovation and entrepreneurial spirit embodied in all the above, with the exception of SL and also doffed his cap to the Euro brilliance of Habbo, even stretching the Eurozone to include World of Warcraft (owned by French company Vivendi!)

At the risk of being unpatriotic, I could also mention Metaplace. I think this virtual space has everything – except an opening for me as a beta tester! It’s an open platform (world first?) that people can use to build their own virtual environments. The vision is to build a network of worlds, an ecosystem of business, education and pleasure. And the visionaries are Raph Koster, who you may know as former Sony Online Chief Creative Officer and author of one of my favourite manuals, “A Theory of Fun for Games”. He has easily completed his 10,000 hours required to become a Master in a given discipline (Malcolm Gladwell). Co-founder John Donham (also qualifying as a 10,000-hours Master) has helped to bring to fruition, among others, Everquest and Star Wars Galaxies. And investors include Mark Andreesson – another of my heroes. To cap it all, one of the advisors is Dr Richard Bartle, one of the most astute commentators on virtuality I’ve met.

I just begin to sense that the virtual universe has expanded again and moved out of the darker side that saw SL sign-ups fade away and investors lose their taste for these types of projects. And that is going to be good news for brands who want to find more routes to engaging with customers – and great news for those of us who love the sheer joy of a virtual world that connects and clicks.

                              

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Mobile games and social media

November 14th, 2008 by Tim Greenhalgh

 
Catching up with an old mobile games colleague today made me think again about potential for different genres on the infernal device. When we were busy at the codeface, the complexities of Java game development for different handset ranges were mind-numbing, even without the costs involved. Now, the focus seems to be on the iPhone [...]

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Moving mobile social networks beyond MySpace and Facebook

November 12th, 2008 by Tim Greenhalgh

A lively time in Wardour Street last night at the Chinwag event on mobile social networks with feisty (and drink-enabled) characters in the audience providing a testing warm up for the expert panel and chair Bena Roberts (GoMo News).
When things settled (departure of character with the Voice of Reason), it soon became clear at the MoSo [...]

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Apps-olutely marvellous moves on LinkedIn

November 4th, 2008 by Tim Greenhalgh

Nine applications, one space - ding dong! Seems that LinkedIn has hit upon another potentially lucrative ad-related revenue stream with the launch of its applications platform.
The first apps on the platform are pretty robust and add value to your profile. They might even encourage you to spend more time around your own LinkedIn page. [...]

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Mobile lessons in engagement

August 29th, 2008 by Tim Greenhalgh

It’s always heartening to see positive responses from educationists to mobile technology. I’ve just caught up with a report from Becta on the potential learning benefits of mobile phones in secondary schools.
The new primary research in “How mobile phones help learning in secondary schools” recognises the need for a more open approach to their use [...]

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