Comments on: The Why of Virtual Worlds, and Selling Second Life

By: Giulio Prisco

Giulio Prisco — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:56:36 +0000

@radar Virtual presence through telecommuting is given lip service, but in reality is frowned upon and pretty much a no-no. It’s going to take time for this mentality to change.

For large companies and administrations, you are certainly right. But I see smaller and more dynamic entities moving toward telecommuting.

Telepresence cannot be seen yet as an alternative to physical presence, but it does reduce the need for physical presence. A company or organization can operate efficiently with collaborators on a mainly telework basis, also attending physical meetings on special occasions.

Videoconferencing and collaborative software work well. 3D virtual worlds work even better and create more immersion and “being there”, but many potential corporate users don’t see yet a real advantage over collaborative videoconferencing. We need, I think, real success stories.

More: http://giulioprisco.blogspot.com/2010/05/telepresence-education-for-smarter.html

By: Hiro Pendragon

Hiro Pendragon — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:12:03 +0000

“In the act of creation and in the knowledge that the tools for inventing worlds are at our fingertips, we discover that we have access to a wellspring of ideas that won’t just transform our lives online, they’ll show us the way to transforming the atomic one as well.”

In other words, why are we assuming virtual worlds are just virtual? You may not have come right out and said it, but your main point is this: “Stop treating virtual worlds as alternate places that have nothing to do with the real world.”

Virtual worlds are just as much a part of the real world as the Internet.

By: kim

kim — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:27:49 +0000

I’ve been proposing a virtual city or world to a group on LinkedIn, Innovate the Future, as a way to figure out the what ifs when we change the actual government and commerce systems and policies as we know them…so this is sheer serendipity to run across this argument. I’ve just presented the option, but you’ve spelled out the why very eloquently.

Thank you!

By: Dave Robbins aka Evad Slade

Dave Robbins aka Evad Slade — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:03:26 +0000

Bravo, Dusan!
I hope it’s not all a pipe dream. My only hope is that someday…and soon…SL and/or a myriad of other emerging immersive MUVEs can see the reasoning for such environments for their businesses. In other words, to stop being imtimidated by the so called “computer game” mentality, and dissing the idea of functional, productive MUVEs on that basis. I think this corporate mindset will be tough to break through–especially in this profit-motivated “head of the long tail” economy. Many companies are mired in the brick and mortar idea of what has been “safe” and “proven”–without much regard for how their market or consumer thought base may be changing as their market targets become younger and more immersed. Hmmm…you think LL itself may be among those mainstream businesses, stuck in the mud of their own philosophies? Time will tell.
Anyway, Dusan, write on we need to hear the voice of reason. Maybe it will catch on sooner than we think. Thanks for caring

By: Helene Zuili aka Clara Young

Helene Zuili aka Clara Young — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:28:11 +0000

Brilliant post Dusan. Sensitive and much more. From the other side of the ocean, you really made my day
All the best.

By: rose

rose — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:18:29 +0000

very nice Dusan.

By: soror nishi

soror nishi — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:22:31 +0000

Congrats on a wonderful post Dusan.

By: radar

radar — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:03:08 +0000

“You won’t just understand the distributed workforce, you’ll understand in your GUT that the corporation of the future doesn’t have walls, it doesn’t log off, and it will be a fluid dance of talent and innovation, chaos and serendipity, granular work flow and global reach”

Based on my experience working at a fortune 500 company, I’d say this sounds great, but it won’t happen in the next 10 years in any major way unless something radical happens, like an environmental disaster that disrupts lives in a major way, or serious disease that starts wiping people off the planet.

Far from telecommuting becoming more commonplace, my company and many like it are working harder at changing their internal work environments to get people physically closer together, not further. Virtual presence through telecommuting is given lip service, but in reality is frowned upon and pretty much a no-no. It’s going to take time for this mentality to change.

Also, some jobs just don’t lend themselves well to accomplishing in the virtual world. Making iPhones and making the next version of the i7 processor are a couple things that come to mind that still will require mass concentrations of people on site. For jobs that require people to sit around talking about their feelings all day but not engaging in hands on engineering, it’s great. For the rest of us, it’s not even on our radar and probably won’t be in this decade.

Right now, it’s a pipe dream to all but the smallest companies or to small departments in large companies that (to be quite frank) have little to do with the actual core business of the company in question, as is the case at my employer. It’s a neat experiment for a handful of people, but that’s all it’s going to be probably at least until I retire.

By: cube inada

cube inada — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:01:26 +0000

an age of imagination…all at a single collectives wim. Funneled via lesser design methods.

more like a trend of imagination.:)== then another and another..

By: Georgianna Blackburn

Georgianna Blackburn — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:02:47 +0000

The perfect post to share with some newbies I’ve recently met, who know they need to be here, but haven’t quite figured out why.