Here's a pic from today's lecture:
The back channel for the course 2127 Media Psychology and Media Development at
Stockholm School of Economics, Fall 2008
Lecturer - Robin Teigland [robin.teigland@hhs.se] slideshows at http://www.slideshare.net/eteigland
(Born in America, married to Norwegian, research in Sweden.)
What do virtual worlds have to offer?
How virtual can be real, or the real be virtual
Augmented reality – A mix of real reality and virtual elements. An industry in its infancy, but promising multiple uses in the future.
One can argue that with the introduction of mobile handsets (cell phones) the augmented reality was introduced to the masses. Suddenly, conversations could take place between people regardless of location.
Second life – world created by users.
Average user age: 32
Male/Female: 48/52
You can create items in second life to sell and share to others.
The ability to bring people together is an important tool for multiple purposes
SSE MBA island
Phd student designed the island, it was built for the purpose to investigate how people can work together virtually to conduct seminars and learn regardless of location.
Guided tour
Film of virtual worlds
“Clearly if social activity migrates to synthetic worlds, economic activity will go there as well.”
Length of stay in Second Life increases as new member rate drops off.
Corporate involvement in Second Life is moving from traditional marketing to other forms of branding, recruiting and concept development.
Virtual world projects generally fail due to technology focus rather than user focus, as well as no clear objectives.
Wikitecture vs. Architecture.
When will the state interfere? Do they do it already?
How do you police the virtual world?
Are the rules different, do the same norms apply as in the real world, how do they differ?
How come corporations hand over control of their proprietary rights to other companies (e.g. Linden Labs, the company that own Second Life)?
Second Life is a multimillion dollar industry
Some people (but not very many) actually make a lot of money from it.