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From the Margins to the Mainland: the Future of Virtual Worlds?
Posted by Maggie Greene at 2:00 AM on July 6, 2008
Those concerned with 'virtual worlds' -- as opposed to 'games' -- spend a lot of time contemplating the role of virtual worlds in a wider market; over at Terra Nova, Bruce Damer looks at the potential future of virtual worlds, which could be a lot bigger than most people imagine. Some potential answers to keep the industry growing? Piggybacking off platforms that are currently growing at a rapid clip, making sure virtual worlds are 'worth' something -- perhaps some as of yet undiscovered little platform will be the key:
As we can see from the history of computing, it is often the case of "the small gobbling up the big, and everything else". Trivially small, lightweight yet rapidly replicating platforms often grow up to become all-encompassing solutions. DOS grew up to become Windows and along the way the PC triumphed over the time-shared mainframe, minicomputer and workstation. Could it be that there is some small world platform out there that is destined to become the standard? Dick Gabriel of Sun Microsystems has written much wisdom and books on this phenomenon (http://www.dreamsongs.com/Books.html) in which he posits that one of several ways to create a virally spreading success is to hitch your wagon to something that is already growing. Does this mean that a small world embedded in Facebook or some other social network(s) is the answer?
It's an interesting article that pulls examples from other (formerly) 'new media'; the rise and sustainability of virtual worlds is an interesting problem. I suspect even the 'big ones' will be trucking along pretty quietly -- not unlike a lot of the popular free to play MMOs from abroad.
Virtually Eternal: A Positive Pathway to a Healthy and Sustainable Virtual Worlds Industry? [Terra Nova]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
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dowingba
Posted 2:22 AM 6/7/08
Google Earth!
dowingba
excel_excel
Posted 2:18 AM 6/7/08
Man that makes my brain hurt, Maggie's posts always make me think hard!
Yeah virtual worlds are only going to get bigger as time goes thats obvious, but more succesful virtual worlds can also be seen as an opportnity for advertising, thats one way for smaller virtual worlds to exist easily alongside giants like Second Life, and in time PS3 home.
excel_excel
Spoony Bard
Posted 2:53 AM 6/7/08
@freakout: The idea that one day soon there will be virtual worlds with complete immersion is still one of science fiction, I believe. Ultimately you'll still be watching a computer monitor, right?
I think SL and Home are steps in that direction - I think making Facebook into something like these where you step into your facebook world is what this article was about.
But I haven't had my morning coffee so maybe I don't know ;)
Spoony Bard
Drake Lake: Formed from Arsenic and Old Lace
Posted 2:52 AM 6/7/08
It feels as if people have been writing about the potential of virtual worlds for years now. I swear I have read several variations on the topic of these worlds and the business and communication potential, etcetera. It doesn't even feel as if any one game has had such impact since these articles have popped up, really. Every screenshot I see with a Second Life conference, for example, seems to have only a small group present. I cannot really say for sure, as I've never played it and seen it in person, but I have witnessed many pictures, all with a sparse audience.
This isn't a slight on you for posting these articles, by the way. Just the topic these guys write on.
Hope I makes sense and am not speaking out of my arse.
Drake Lake: Formed from Arsenic and Old Lace
freakout
Posted 2:46 AM 6/7/08
I suppose it depends on how important immersion is to the whole experience. Without a powerful engine that usually requires its own stand-alone application (ala every MMO to date, or Second Life), it may be difficult to give it the required depth to keep users coming back for more.
I mean, immersion is the whole point of virtual worlds, isn't it? It's hard to do that with Flash, or web widgets like Facebook apps.
freakout
Jayl3w
Posted 2:45 AM 6/7/08
Facebook: The Game!
... may the gods help us all...
Jayl3w
freakout
Posted 3:18 AM 6/7/08
@Spoony Bard: Mmmmm, coffee. Sounds nice. It's 3 o'clock in the morning here so if anyone's brain is going south, it's mine...
Really though, the day they turn Facebook into a virtual world is the day I stop using it. If communication is the point of social networks, then Facebook's approach of text feeds keeping you up-to-date on all the latest happenings is a much more efficient way of doing it than some clunky Second Life-ish avatar-based system. Especially if you're trying to do it with currently available web technologies.
Maybe in the future better technologies will make the idea more feasible, as the article posits. For now, though, I think that bandwidth and other technical limitations are going to hold it back.
freakout
EnigmaNemesis
Posted 3:15 AM 6/7/08
All I know is, people better hurry and jump into the virtual worlds, considering the rate we are overpopulating, under resourcing, and destroying the real one.
EnigmaNemesis
bubble-bee
Posted 4:05 AM 6/7/08
The tech is becoming every time more immersible. We now have touchscreen, soon the brain helmets, someday in the future something even more close to reality.
bubble-bee
bubble-bee
Posted 4:02 AM 6/7/08
Really interesting... And maybe they're right. Look the Matrix :D
bubble-bee
hypermog
Posted 5:01 AM 6/7/08
Lol, no.
hypermog
DaveKap
Posted 6:16 AM 6/7/08
Maybe I'm biased, but... I'm pretty sure the quick answer here is:
Step 1: Find virtual world platform that is open source.
Step 2: Hitch wagon.
Step 3: Profit!
Hey, looks like the ??? part finally got answered!
DaveKap