Hello. I’m brand new here. Just met Alok in Second Life, and we got to discussing the different ways people and businesses can interact there.
Second Life, for the uninitiated, is a three-dimensional virtual world where users can fly, shop with virtual money, set up offices and educational institutions, and a whole lot more. It has faced incredible growth since the last quarter of 2006, something like 30% a month. Why is this so?
Basically, millions of people are finding out that a 2-D interface is just clunky. Especially when it comes to many people interacting simultaneously. The potential for E-learning alone is almost infinite.
My question here is…are there any people interested in exploring the potential for virtual worlds like Second Life in real-world business and education? Would anyone be open to a seminar which discusses all these issues?
An interesting tidbit…if you look at the Internet itself in the 90’s, the parallels are exciting. 30% growth per month, couple million USD being spent every day in transactions, the potential to meet and make friends from anywhere in the world, the business opportunities available to anyone with a little bit of foresight…now, how many of you saw the Internet grow from a tiny obscure little entity to the way of life it is today? And if someone told you that this is the future of interaction, of business, of education, would you believe them?
Let’s talk about it 🙂 Cheers.
- Virtual exhibition time! - July 21, 2007
- Next Second Life Tour 5 PM May 11 - May 8, 2007
- Second Life tour - April 25, 2007
Nilesh,
Well it has to start somewhere doesn’t it? SL is NOT the only virtual platform on the net. At my last count, there were 47 different VWs, each addressing a different aspect of the whole. There are talks on to develop a common platform for interaction between them (check out http://virtualworldsreview.com)
I was reading an article earlier this week which said that 80% of the net would be 3D by 2011. Yay!
But I hear you. There’s a long way to go yet 🙂
Interesting parallel drawn with the internet. But Internet is based on open architecture. There’s no single entity controlling it and that was a major factor in its explosive adoption and growth.
Can the same happen with virtual worlds? When can I run my own servers with my own tools and standardized protocols? It’d get real interesting only then.
Bah, even IM federation has not caught up yet.
cheers
nilesh
Snigdha,
According to Philip Rosedale, CEO, Second Life doesn’t really make money as such, they were struggling to break even until recently, when they got another ten million USD or so in venture funding.
Otherwise, their businesss model is still pretty unique, even among the 50 or so virtual worlds currently on the Internet. The whole world is based on user-generated content. Which is to say, the entire place (and it is huge, by now), including every object, script, building and article of clothing, has been built by it’s residents.
Residents pay for their premium accounts, they pay for virtual land of their own, sometimes they pay for things that have been built by Lindens (a term, and a last name, for all people working with Linden Lab) but on the whole, according to Philip, it is pretty expensive running all the 4000+ servers that make up Second Life.
It’s more about residents making money in this world, though…and there is a lot of it being made, whether by development of these 3D spaces, or fashion, or games, and thousands of other objects. There is about a million and a half USD being exchanged in transactions per day. Linden Lab also makes statistics available on their site (http://secondlife.com/whatis/economy_stats.php), which should be helpful.
@ Mr. Parmar,
Sir, I don’t think you read either article properly, or you’re reading the wrong things into what I wrote. I was trying to introduce a discussion on virtual worlds…I am not setting up one in imitation of any. This would be like saying that the Internet is bad because it is set up by Americans and that we should set up our own version or parallel platform which is unique. Like I said, I think you musinderstood my point.
A number of your points are valid, I agree with some of what you say, but this is not a case where idea innovation is in focus…it is merely an introduction to a new platform for interaction. I’d be happy to discuss these points with you in another, more contextual forum.