The Magic Circle: Realistic Expectations for Virtual Worlds

The Magic Circle

Realistic Expectations for Virtual Worlds

Before We Start (We Move Really Fast): Definitions & QuestionsSim(ulator), Region, 16 acres... 4 by 4. 256x256m.

65,536sqm. Eight Football Fields.Rez (from Tron, 1982): Resolution; making something.Avatar: Hindu Deity; Ultima IV; BBS; Social Media; SLVirtual Reality: (coined by Jaron Lanier) “Almost” Reality

Who here knows they have an avatar?Abstract concept of Avatar? Our concept of the Avatar?

What makes an avatar?

What is the Magic Circle?

The Regular Rules Do Not Apply

Part I: Evolution &the Avatar

Who are you?Timothy AllenUniversity of PennsylvaniaClass of 1996School of Arts & SciencesIndividualized Major:Combined Psychology &Computer Science...

...and now...

Who are you?Timothy AllenWharton Computing Wharton ResearchData Services (WRDS) ...and virtually...

Who are you?FlipperPA PeregrineFounding Member,Second LifeCommunity Convention

SLBoutique.com 

Who are you?FlipperPA PeregrineFounding Member,Second LifeCommunity Convention

SLBoutique.com OCCASIONAL BANANA  

Who are you?FlipperPA PeregrineFounding Member,Second LifeCommunity Convention

SLBoutique.com STILL THIN ROCK STAR  

Who are you?FlipperPA PeregrineFounding Member,Second LifeCommunity Convention

SLBoutique.com PURPLE FERAL FOX(Why not?) 

The point being...THE AVATAR Ultimate Blank Canvas Self Expression Unleashed

A Path to Freedom

Safe, Anonymous Self Exploration 

Imagination, dreams, “Inception”, blank canvas,

evolution, Facebook, Second Life, Twitter? Avatars are

everywhere.

Get used to it.

More on that later!

Part II: Perception,Participation &Public Space

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1975 to 1980: All in the Mind

Colossal Cave Adventure, Zork & MUDs: Text & ImaginationMUD: Multi-User Dungeon

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1980 through 1990: @ is for @vatar!

Rogue / Hack / NetHack: The Genesis of Visual Representation

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1990: MOO Bring Persistence; "Not a Game"

MOO: Mud, Object-Oriented; Permanently Stored Objects

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1993: Virtual Places & the Web Revolution

Virtual Web Pages; Start of Graphical Revolution

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1993: The Palace

Social Chat: A Virtual Comic Strip, “2.5 Dimensions”

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1993: WorldsChat Space Station

Actual 3-Dimensional Perspective

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1994: ActiveWorlds

The Dawn of UGC: User Generated Content, “E-Motes”

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1999-2002: Linden Lab Founded; Second Life

The Dawn of UGC: User Generated Content, “E-Motes”

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:July, 2003: The Tax Revolt

Doing the logical thing, SL Residents set themselves on fire to protest the “prim tax.”

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:November 14th, 2003: IP Rights

Linden Lab grants rights of creations to the creator; covered in SlashDot; FlipperPA Peregrine is born.

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:BTW, this WAS before Youtube, Facebook, Flickr, Digg, Twitter & more had traction; in fact, SL's users became their early adopters!

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:December, 2003: Avalon & Rivers Run Red

London based Rivers Run Red opens the Avalon region; the design and branding firm soon brings Adidas, the BBC, Hermann Miller, Avril Levigne, and more to virtual worlds.

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:January, 2004: Land and Prim Limits

Land “bought” from Linden Lab; more land meant more primitives, which meant more detailed content. Full simulators (16 acres of space as 1 CPU) begin being sold.

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:January, 2004: The Crompco Virtual Station

Crompco Corporation becomes the first company to use Second Life for corporate training; reduced time of apprenticeship cycle from nine months to six.

Concepts of virtual space... are *almost* always public.

Virtual Starwood == The Shining.

Private Space == “Security”...hehe

Like privacy in Facebook, Twitter, or the Web, does it really exist?

Part III: Hyperbole,Hysteria & Heroes

Remember the 2002 map? 16 total regions (also know as “sims”, short for “simulator”)

In 2005, the hype is in full swing...25,000 sims (each being 16 acres)

2005: The First Second Life Community Convention (SLCC): 150 attendees in 1L;1000s more in 2L. “Mixed Reality”

The Gartner Hype Cycle of Technology

The Media Blitz: Major Hype

SLCC 2006: 450 attendees......and Mitch Kapor keynoting!

2007: Peak of the Positive HypeNBC, CBS, and CSI: New York

SLCC 2007: 1000 attendes, lots of press, and time for us to retire!

The Fallout: Hype Swings Both WaysCompanies didn't engage the SL community.

Companies believed their brands were cool enough, people would come flocking to their locations.

A community of creative minds isn't easily wooed by marketers.

Successful examples: Coca-Cola, Pontiac, IBM, Cisco, Intel

Busts: too many to list... but American Apparel was the first.

The Pope and Virtuality

Pope Benedict XVI has warned that people are in danger of being unable to discern reality from fiction because of new technologies, and not old books. "New technologies and the progress they bring can make it impossible to distinguish truth from illusion and can lead to confusion between reality and virtual reality. The image can also become independent from reality, it can give birth to a virtual world, with various consequences -- above all the risk of indifference towards real life," he said.

The Pope and Virtuality

Pope Benedict XVI has warned that people are in danger of being unable to discern reality from fiction because of new technologies, and not old books. "New technologies and the progress they bring can make it impossible to distinguish truth from illusion and can lead to confusion between reality and virtual reality. The image can also become independent from reality, it can give birth to a virtual world, with various consequences -- above all the risk of indifference towards real life," he said. 

WTF, REALLY?!

Simon Stevens: Breaking the Rules

Independent Disability Issues Consultant • Cerebral palsy affect speech,

balance, hand control• Author of "Normality", a play

about his experiences in mainstream education

• Passion, commitment and determination

Simon Stevens: Breaking the Rules

Founder of Wheelies Dance Club in Second Life • All are welcome!• Fun support center for

those with disability issues• Some disabled choose to

create avatars with disabilities

• Some choose to walk, dance, and fly

• ...and some...

Simon Stevens: Breaking the Rules

...and some... CHOOSE TO BUILD AWESOME ROCKET POWERED WHEEL CHAIRS THAT CAN DANCE AND FLY!

Part IV: The Slope of Englightenment & the Future

Google Apps: Are They Virtual Worlds?Colors as Avatars, Spreadsheet as Space

2010: Second Life / Vws in the Web Browser:Viewer “in the cloud” and Canvas Appear

OpenSimulator: Free, Open Source Option“Host it Yourself”, Cost-Effective, & Alpha

...and in conclusion...

Unleash your imagination

Break the rules

Avoid the hype

Nothing lasts forever, embrace change

...and most importantly, have fun with it!

And Now: Starry NightTimothy Allen

Contact Me:FlipperPA Peregrine in SL (FlipperPA in just about every other virtual world since 1995 out there)tallen@wharton.upenn.eduhttp://www.PeregrineSalon.comhttp://wrds.wharton.upenn.edu

You'll find me hanging on PANMA and SLED:http://www.PANMA.orgThe Philadelphia Area New Media Association

https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/educatorsSecond Life Educator's Mailing List

Slides will be available on PeregrineSalon.com!