Sincerely, hey, y'know, whatever you're into, I don't judge (see my Formspring anonymous question repository, where someone asked me if playing Bayonetta naked is wrong). But the big virtual worlds boom seems like it's all but done to me -- y'know, kind of like what I thought might happen in an environment driven by ideals that were a little bit too eager to throw out established best practices and declare gaming, online social behavior and the web itself "over".
When I spoke at Worlds in Motion cautioning excited virtual worlds gold-rushers not to get too lost in a fantasy of actualizing Snow Crash and to pay a little more attention to the way users were already doing things I fielded an impassioned argument from someone who basically said I was wrong. That person made their living selling virtual something-or-other in Second Life. I wonder how their business is doing these days.
Anyway, back then, the loudest voices in favor of the new paradigm's triumph were those who had already had tons and tons of the Kool Aid (and who had put millions and millions of dollars behind the ideas). It kind of reminds me of the echo chamber around Facebook gaming right now. Don't get me wrong -- I think Facebook gaming is a lot more relevant and viable than the "3D Web" and "virtual life" fantasy ever were, and I think Twitter really has changed the world forever, but there's definitely something of a bubble forming.
I reflect on this bubble in my latest editorial at Gamasutra. The virtual worlds craze wasn't entirely wasted time, of course -- I parse out the permanent lessons that we learned and the way we've incorporated them into new media, too. Caution and pragmatism, entrepreneurs!
6 comments:
I'm sorry, but when I'm interacting people using my Second Life identity, it's actually kinda creepy to see real-life pics. It really does go the other way around.
And even when I'm not, reading blogs, or whatever else, I really don't want to see pictures of the posters or the commenters. I find it distracting and unhelpful. Maybe this is 'cause of many years on LiveJournal... pictures associated with people, yes, but typically not pictures of the person.
Personally, I'm happy to see the goldrushers crash and burn. As it happens, the SL economy continues to grow, just not at the same stratospheric rates it was at the height of its hype.
I don't think that the "virtual world" is over, as it were. I just think that the way it was being characterized at the time of Second Life's mainstream hype was perhaps a case of an idea chasing a purpose, rather than an idea meeting an existing need.
The platform appeared to have been built for obsessive types who now buy in-game cash for Farmville, and then it had this tacked-on nonsense of "Oh, and look, you can hold conferences here too! No more going to work!" The fact that a number of large corporations actually tested the premise wasn't so much an endorsement of the idea, as it was an expression of progressive HR policy. A company that had a presence in Second Life might look "younger" to prospective employees, or whatever.
The problem with Second Life is that it's too literal in its interpretation of the idea of an interactive online community. I think that people like to post and read things, but if you ask these "virtual worlds" people of the sort who thought up Second Life, they'd swear that real time audio-visual interaction was where it's at. But really, again, why do we need to see an avatar, and why can't we just use a phone if we want to hear somebody speak? They're not answering a demand that actually exists.
There are always going to be small things like Google and Facebook that end up making it big. There are always going to be cunning people that make it big off the back of these things. And there are always going to be bandwagon-jumpers that end up getting dragged along behind the vehicle, others that hop on for a few stops and yet more who wait for their turn to drive.
Good luck to anyone involved.
Virtual worlds? Sure, at the moment people have regressed a little. Nobody currently wants a 3D avatar in a virtual world. But I don't think that we're through with that yet. I think it's just a matter of time before the needle swings back in that direction. Where we log on to someone's farm and dig up their CV and profile. Or we step into someone's online pad to leave them a message on their fridge. Which then appears on their REAL WORLD FRIDGE! =O
There's just too much potential for 3D crossover for it not to happen eventually.
I hope not all non-photo avatars are off putting to you. In keeping with my goal to promote myself as an illustrator, what better way than a "mini-sample," or am I too optimistic about that?
I suspect that—as with most things online—the reality of something's usefulness will appear just after it is "so over". The bubble had to be popped before it could start reaching its potential.
(A bit like Facebook gaming. That sort of thing is here to stay, but it's not going to be the all-consuming thing people are saying it's going to be.)
I never got Second Life, I tried it, I quickly gave up on it.
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