Tag Archives: #metaverse

Parisi Speaks

Posted on by

Nice couple pages over on C|Net about the (re-)emergence of web 3D in an interview with vr pioneer Tony Parisi. Good article. The only issue I have is this quote from Mr. Parisi:

The bulk of the interface design will come from (the) gaming community, with additional innovation through these proprietary 3D chat worlds. But in most of these chat rooms, there’s nothing to do! You see someone’s avatar, and they’re picking their nose. It’s a piece of glitz attached to text chat. In an application like “Everquest,” you have exactly the same environment design and you’re there to do something. There has to be a purpose.

There is no real “purpose” in Second Life either other than what people who sign on bring to it, yet they somehow either manage to find things to do or not – just like most people do in real life. The assumption that people want to do more doesn’t really jive with what I’m discovering. Not everyone wants to spend their evenings slaying dragons or mining virtual gold or, for that matter, creating virtual content or managing virtual property; alot of people just chat about real life issues. So in that way, these 3D interfaces are more like teleconferencing than gaming. Now that the technology is here, we might discover that most people would rather just talk than fire their BFG’s at each other.

I also wonder if Parisi is aware of the serious discussion going on about open-sourcing Second Life. I mean, how can Linden Labs not be aware of the open source solutions beginning to invade their space… one of the people behind Croquet is giving a virtual talk inside Second Life! Interesting times. Now excuse me while I load Maya and work on a nose-picking animation.

More Mainstream News of the Virtual

Posted on by

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m seeing ever increasing news articles covering virtual worlds. This latest one, over on C|Net, spends most of it’s time talking about Solipsis, manages to get a comment in on the OSMP, and includes Second Life (the article has links to all three). No comment on Croquet though which I mentioned two days ago and which seems much further along than Solipsis. Or any other projects I’ve come across, such as Kerry Bonin’s slowly developing VScape/VML project. Still, might be worth a read.

WorldChanging Notices Virtual Realities

Posted on by

I’m a recent reader of the Worldchanging.com website, but the tone of this article they’ve recently posted suggests their recent recognition of the potential in virtual worlds and their economies. Of particular interest to me however was the comment that reputation is a crucial element of these online activities; and that a positive reputation carries forward and sometimes outward into the real world. Sounds alot like some comments I read a couple years ago about Chinese business practices; how even with so few mechanisms in place (China is still communist after all) Chinese businessmen managed to do just fine using the best and oldest tools available: reputation and word-of-mouth.

I was glad to read that about “reputation” and to be reminded of that Chinese article. It’s a short read with plenty of links. Might be worth your time if you’re still new to the whole virtual thang.

Second Life, Croquet, and the Next SL Future Salon

Posted on by

CAD inside Croquet

Since Sunday’s are always kind of slow, thought I’d post a link to this announcement over on the Second Life Future Salon blog today instead of during the week (I figure niche news lasts longer). The post concerns the scheduled appearance of Dr. Julian Lombardi, one of the people behind the open source vr project Croquet, at the May 26 SL Future Salon meeting within Second Life. I’m especially interested in what he has to say since Croquet is, in my opinion, ripe for some serious use in the near future. It’s not only open source, but the inclusion of CAD tools within it is even more exciting for those of use that use CAD in our daily lives.

For those who don’t have a Second Life account, I’ve been told that the meeting will be webcast live from within the simulation (maybe). News of that should be posted on the SLFS blogsite before the meeting. If you do watch the virtual meeting, look for me. I’ll be in the back row.

The Flynn Effect

Posted on by

Wired online is carrying a thought-provoking piece discussing accelerating increases in intelligence levels. It’s a few pages long, and didn’t seem overly relevant to what I blog here until the end. From the article:

The best example of brain-boosting media may be videogames. Mastering visual puzzles is the whole point of the exercise – whether it’s the spatial geometry of Tetris, the engineering riddles of Myst, or the urban mapping of Grand Theft Auto.

After my posting over on the SL Salon website, and some additional comments and responses to other entries, I’ve given additional thought to the potential of VR as a teaching tool. Especially because I recall so vividly how my ability to visualize concepts three-dimensionally saved my ass in college, while other students who completely outclassed me in other academic areas failed and subsequently dropped out of the engineering program altogether. I don’t suppose it’s really worth trying to explain VR’s potential as a “tool” (even a minor one) to people who can’t seem to wrap their head around the idea that just because it can’t solve the world’s worst problems (e.g. the genocide in Africa), doesn’t mean it isn’t worth pursuing. I need to try viewing the world like they do sometime: a caricature of outrageous juxtapositions that turns the world black and white. “You’re either with us, or against us”. I wonder if parts of my brain will permanently downsize…