Archive for the 'hype' Category
February 12th, 2010 by Caleb Booker
I’m seeing signs of the new rush into virtual worlds beginning. Let me give you a few references:
- Myst Online is back! Why does this mean anything? Well, it failed twice. The game just isn’t financially viable. The creators, however, just switched the lights on and aren’t even worried about making any money out of it. That’s how cheap it has become to run these things!
- Apple gets a patent for a 3D shopping destination! Apple fans are fanatical. We have now officially bought ourselves a few million supporters of 3D environments.
- Layoffs Won’t Stop Project Wonderland – The latest from a GigaOM affiliate blog about the Wonderland team’s determination, stating that the project has enough momentum to carry it forward without any need for Oracle’s help and a number of companies are taking a serious look. Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing we started seeing just prior to the first dot-com bubble?
These are three specific examples, but in general I can tell you that there’s more virtual worlds news trying to cram itself through my news reader than ever before. I’m also hearing a lot of behind-the-scenes chatter of some huge announcements coming this summer. Brace yourself folks, 2010 is going to be a big year for virtual worlds.
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Want some hard facts, but don’t want to go through hundreds of articles to find it? I can’t blame you. Here, chew on these PDF links:
January 11th, 2010 by Caleb Booker
In creating and running a wide variety of online events over the last few years, one thing has remained consistent: people undervalue information directly in proportion to how convenient it is to acquire.
Ask yourself: if the meeting is easier to attend, was the meeting just as worthwhile? More? Less?
Oddly enough, since most of us instinctively equate sacrifice with worth, many feel that spending four figures on a flight and blowing a few days of work off to attend a meeting will be more beneficial than saving ourselves the time and money and absorbing the same content in our office. This despite all survey and testing evidence that says online meetings are just as beneficial and enjoyable. Still, can you blame people for “going with their gut”?
This is why I think NMC is making the right move with their SL Pro! conference, to be held in Second Life February 23-25. They’re going ahead and charging $99 in real-world dollars to attend virtually. By charging a real-dollar amount to attend they’re creating a perception of value in the content.
I wouldn’t be surprised if paid attendance online events started to become a lot more common in 2010.
October 19th, 2009 by Caleb Booker
I have a lot of work to do today, but to hell with all of it for a minute. This needs addressing.
Last week I put some notes down about what I wanted in a virtual world largely as a thought exercise to help me collect ideas as I worked on a project for Clever Zebra. Interesting pingback links and comments came in, but one stood out (thanks Claus):
I agree with everything except the need for 1,000 or 10,000 concurrent users, in one shared space. The benefit of a virtual environment is the interaction with other people. You can interact with 30,40 people, even 100 will stretch it. 1,000 or 10,000 is a broadcasting event. Unless you break it down again into 30-40 smaller groups.
This is a common objection to the concept of allowing more than 50 avatars to share a space. Many bright people from both academic and technology circles argue that the need for many concurrent users to share a single 3D space is unnecessary and irrelevant.
At the moment virtual worlds just aren’t built that way: get too many people in the same room and the whole thing chokes. Many of the world’s brightest people consider this issue to be very low-priority.
They’re dead wrong.
I have all sorts of arguments, but let’s put my nerdyness on hold for a second and ask a simple question: which of these two clubs would you rather hang out in?
vs. 
Go with your gut here, because that’s what using a 3D space is all about: your gut reaction.
If the issue is settled for you then get to work filing bug reports with your favorite 3D platform that they aren’t supporting nearly enough people in a given place, and that until they do everything else they accomplish is irrelevant. If you’re an Auditory-Digital thinker and the issue is still far too vague for you, read on.
The facetious, in-your-face argument:
If the whole point of using a 3D virtual space is its similarity to being in a physical space, ask yourself this question: in the real world, are conference centers important to business? Are large rooms important? What about auditoriums and theaters? How about trade show floors?
A lack of concurrency forces us to slice all of these things up into small classroom-sized rooms. This is unacceptable. Period.
Take every one of your arguments in favor of small “multiple-venue solutions” or the fact that you can’t chat with more than a few people at a time and apply them to eliminating REAL-WORLD large venues. Do they still hold water? No, of course not. They don’t apply in the virtual world either.
The perception of value argument:
Which of these two speakers at the UN is saying things the world considers important to think about?
vs. 
Note: you could tell without even knowing who was on stage, couldn’t you? Shared presence matters on an instinctive level.
Seeing lots of avatars manned by real people adds a huge perception of value, but it isn’t just a visual phenomenon. Audio comes into play here as well.
One of the most important features of a recent trade show we ran (using four separate servers at once to support a mere 200 people at a time) was the chatter in between the booths. That background hum was something that you can’t fake with a looping crowd sound-effect. The real thing makes a difference.
That sense that something big is happening right here, right now, is huge. It beats the hell out of even a live video broadcast.
The rebooting server argument:
Which server is less likely to crash: one that can support 1000 users, or one that can only handle 50 at a time? I mean, all things being equal, a high-capacity machine can handle one or two extra avatars joining a meeting or sneaking into a lecture much more safely, can’t it?
The “on paper” vs. “in practice” argument:
Bottom line: nobody should be rationalizing what should be important. They should just look around and figure out what seems to be important, based on observation of how things are done in the real world.
This is a chronic problem in both academia and technology circles. People discover a new way to sound clever and stop paying attention to what people are actually inclined to do. This results in user-punishing interfaces, the necessity for hour-long orientations, and the Zune. Check yourself guys.
The “stop saying that’s impossible” argument:
Ok, last one, and then I’d better get back to work… won’t really be proof-reading this either… again…
One thing a lot of people assume is that high concurrency is impossible. The fact is, it isn’t even hard.
Take Activeworlds: you can cram a ridiculous number of people into a single room. Chat his handled gracefully, and on the client side if your computer can’t handle displaying that many avatars at once it just displays them as 2D cutouts in the distance.
A number of other platforms simply reduce the detail level on avatars that are far away. As a result the client doesn’t nag at the server for a ton of data it won’t use, and everything scales. Again, a client-side fix, easy to roll out.
Even voice can scale! Vivox is just one of many companies finding new ways of mixing audio based on proximity, allowing you to see someone in a conversation across a crowded room and walk over to them with your business partner without all sorts of technical hacks and craziness.
Ok, I’m out of time…
which is why this is so long. Usually I ramble, grab a bunch of pictures from Google Image Search to break it up, and then start cutting the text way down… but you’ll have to suffer the length this time, sorry. So, how do I wrap this up? Concluding thoughts?
Concurrency is a make-or-break for business. For games, who cares. That argument I’ll buy for a myriad of reasons. But when it comes to making these things into practical, meaningful tools, worrying about an extra team of 20 observers from the branch office not being able to fit into the venue is just stupid.
We’ve just barely been able to scrape this technology together into something that isn’t a toy in the last few years, but the true explosion of virtual worlds is held back by the inability to do anything large-scale. Delivery of virtual crowds will be the true dawn of the virtual world.
June 7th, 2009 by Caleb Booker
For the first time since last August, I missed a week on the news roundup. I didn’t even realize it until mid-week. Please accept my apologies!
Clever Zebra has been busier than ever (our work on OpenVCE being only one part) and until I’m 100% satisfied that everything is running better than anyone could possibly wish for and far ahead of schedule I’ll be just a blur in everyone’s peripheral vision.
Having said that, I did make a commitment to myself to keep this going lest I lose touch with what’s going on out there. Thus, a two-week edition!
Wait, did I really just use the word “lest” in a sentence?
Anyhow, I continue to operate under time constriction and now there’s two weeks of material to cover, so I probably missed something worth reading. If I did, please contact me or leave a comment!
Important links:
- Archive page of past weeks of Business in Virtual Worlds News
- Connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Blip.fm, or in Second Life as Onder Skall
- Suggest stories at info [at] calebbooker.com
Disclaimer: As with everything on my blog, the opinions expressed here are mine and do not reflect on Clever Zebra, the vBusiness Expo, my friends, my family, my blip channel, any of the other “Jack of All Strange” stuff that I do, etc etc etc… k here we go:
Top Stories
New partnerships and collaborations:
Report: VC Funding, Number of VC Execs Decline
Some data about 2008… well, it looks like data. I suspect I smell another hand-wringing “omg where iz teh hype” moment.
Shanda Q1 Earnings Spike, Even as ARPU Drops
More “seduction via numbers”. $162M in Q1 of 09.
$68M Invested in 13 Virtual Worlds-Related Companies in Q1 2009
More “seduction via numbers”.
Study: Reliance on Immersive Technologies On Rise
More “seduction via numbers”, this time with a super-sexy graph:
8D Taps Language Learners, Bots, Microtransactions
Nice overview of a language learning business founded last year.
Wipro launches “Innovation Centre” on Second Life
“[...] a replica of the actual lab that is situated at Wipro campus”
Perfect World Hit With Patent Infringement Lawsuit
They’re claiming that Perfect World “borrows too heavily from IQ’s patented process of creating a facial composite.”
Virtual world healthcare has real world benefits, Toronto researchers find
Another health care industry foray into virtual spaces.
The Future of Healthcare: 3 questions for Dave Taylor of Imperial College London
I’m at risk of over-posting about Imperial College London but it’s a good read.
Events
Study: Webinars Rule Digital Events Landscape
Things are coming along here…
ThinkBalm Leads Visualization Tours
Proof-of-concept tours regarding the enterprise case for entering virtual spaces. Hey Erica, funny we should end up touching base this week. This looks good! (A more in-depth look appears on the Linden Lab blog.)
Want to Hold a Virtual Event of Your Own?
Clever Zebra offers event support and white-label services for anyone interested in a branded gathering in a virtual space. Everything from venue setup and hosting to VIP orientation to speaker coordination.
Training and Education
Survey: Travel, Training Budgets Fall
Which, of course, is only good news for companies like ours.
Teachers Enroll in Second Life Webcasts
Pretty interesting stuff: “Called A Virtual World for Professional Learning, the session is the final in a series of webcasts and learning resources made available to teachers across Canada, by the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION) and the award-winning Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning (ABEL) program, from Toronto’s York University.”
Case Study: CIGNA’s vielife Makes People Healthier in Real Life
Educating the world on the evils of high fat diets.
Students Prefer Real Classroom to Virtual World
Maybe obvious but worth mentioning.
Government and Military
Philippines Department of Tourism Creates Virtual Island on Second Life
Let’s just make it official: if you are a Tourism Department, you are required to have a virtual world presence.
Worlds.com v. NCsoft Lawsuit On Shaky Ground?
… well that’s the end of them then.
‘Virtual Life’: EU’s three year, 3.3 million euro 3D virtual world project
That’s a pretty big project, and one that has some extremely unique notions of how a virtual world should work. It seems to be flying under most people’s radars from the look of things. (WARNING: some NSFW and possibly offensive images.) Discover more about the project on the official site: FP7 VirtualLife.
Army To Build Virtual Support Group for Amputees
Great application for the technology, reaching exactly the group that needs it most.
Gaming
GameGround Secures $4.1M in Funding
The scheme? High-score distribution to various web 2.0 profiles.
EA Confirms BattleForge Sales Forced Freemium Move
Bottom line: the MMO and games market is becoming very saturated, but microtransaction models can save the day.
Other gaming quick hits:
Nerds Only
Shaspa grid is a home to a virtual home
A very unique virtual world server that operates with the simplicity of a home appliance.
Newbs Only
Kossacks in Second Life
Kind of a “Second Life for Newbs” from the Daily Kos.
Second Life lecture – another lesson for antiquated law firms
A short and funny “ORLY?”
Sociological Oddities
Adult Content Changes in Summary
A final summary of the changes in Second Life’s handling of adult content that we’re soooooo interested in. Now, we could have just said: “if you don’t like sex, avoid entering brothels” and be done with it ages ago… but that would have involved people taking responsibility for themselves and nobody wants that…
Linden Lab versus the griefers
A weather report on griefer activity.
The Dares + Free Realms = New Guinness World Record
For whatever reason the Guinness people seem to think this is the first concert given simultaneously in the real world and the virtual one. Whaaaaaat??? (Clearly the Guinness people just needed some press here…)
College Plans Virtual Graduation for Online Students
Isn’t this cute?
Did I miss an important story? Got feedback? Leave a comment below, or email me at
info [at] calebbooker.com
May 24th, 2009 by Caleb Booker
This week’s Big Question:
What is the biggest missed opportunity in virtual worlds today?
(Answer in the comments!)
Kept it short and fast this week, but what’s here is actually pretty big.
Important links:
- Archive page of past weeks of Business in Virtual Worlds News
- Connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Blip.fm, or in Second Life as Onder Skall
- Suggest stories at info [at] calebbooker.com
Disclaimer: As with everything on my blog, the opinions expressed here are mine and do not reflect on Clever Zebra, the vBusiness Expo, my friends, my family, my blip channel, any of the other “Jack of All Strange” stuff that I do, etc etc etc… k here we go:
Top Stories
New partnerships and collaborations:
Daden Develops Virtual War Room
“[...] allows users to zoom into maps, plot geographic data, view CCTV and webcams, plot 3D data, show slides and objects, view RSS and Twitter feeds, and analyze GPS and earth-sensing data all in a shared immersive environment.”
Over 15 Billion Minutes of Voice Have Been Delivered in Second Life
Well it’s an interesting statistic, but I’ll leave it up to you to decide what it means. See related story under “Nerds Only”.
Philippines Department of Tourism Creates Virtual Island on Second Life
We had tourism boards entering virtual worlds every week for awhile, but they seem to be taking a break for the season. Still, welcome Philippines!
Events
Singapore fund manager to hold virtual annual meeting
Another instance of an increasingly common and necessary cost-cutting measure.
Want to Hold a Virtual Event of Your Own?
Clever Zebra offers event support and white-label services for anyone interested in a branded gathering in a virtual space. Everything from venue setup and hosting to VIP orientation to speaker coordination.
Training and Education
New corporate training options include virtual worlds
A basic overview of the phenomena.
Case Study: Northrop Grumman’s Simulated Training and Prototyping Programs in SL
A good look at training people on the use of remote-controlled robots for disarming bombs.
Government and Military
The FBI joins Second Life
Well now don’t we all feel safer.
Intersecting Interests: Virtual Worlds and the Law
Metanomics interviews James Gatto.
Naval Undersea Warfare Center: Training, Innovating, and Saving In Virtual Worlds
Navy trains submarine crews using Qwaq Forums.
Gaming
Hello, an Avatar Is Calling You
Looks like SOE is adding VOIP to SWG and EverQuest.
Nerds Only
Second Life to Add Voice Morphing Controls, Voice Mail and Avatar Phone Numbers
That voice morphing function is going to cause more problems than it solves.
Evolve your 3D avatar
Neat gadget that creates a 3D model from data or image import and exports in a variety of virtual world friendly formats.
Newbs Only
Security expert warns of virtual world risks
A security company’s executive says that you should really look into hiring them.
Businesses Seek a New Lease on Second Life
Yet another foolish writer paying attention exclusively to hype rather that what people are actually doing.
Sociological Oddities
Second Life takes you to the moon (almost)
I link this because space travel, as it is today, is purely a sociological oddity.
Did I miss an important story? Got feedback? Leave a comment below, or email me at
info [at] calebbooker.com