Working in a Mixed Reality World

1
Working in a Mixed Reality World

• 2008 WCIT
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Dr. Lawrence A. Rowe FX Palo Alto Laboratory
2
Outline

• What is a Virtual World?
• Culture and Economics in Virtual Worlds
• Business Use of Virtual Worlds

3
Virtual Reality (VR) Came First

• The screen is a window through which one sees a
  virtual world. The challenge is to make that
  world look real, act real, sound real, and feel
  real
• Ivan Sutherland

4
How is Virtual Reality Related to Virtual Worlds?

• Virtual reality creates an immersive experience
  by controlling sensory input to the user
• Practical applications exist (e.g., flight
  simulators) but expensive
• Video games create an immersive experience by
  engaging the user in intense, attention focused
  play
• Uses conventional display/windows, mouse
  keyboard interface
• Late 1990s on-line games allowed several
  players to interact in a shared 3D world
• Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
  (MMORPG)
• Early 2000s social worlds evolved from chat
  rooms
• People interact build things rather than
  compete in a game

5
Definition of Virtual World (VW)?

• Wikipedia
• A computer-based simulated environment intended
  for users to inhabit and interact via avatars.

• Person depicted by avatar
• People communicate by text or audio chat
• World is persistent

A Meeting or Conference
6
Freedom to Experiment

• Your avatar can be whatever you want it to be
• Age, gender, physical appearance, and species
• Some examples of 2nd Life avatars

7
My Avatar (Larry Jaworower)
8
Types of Virtual Worlds

• Game Worlds
• Players explore the world, fight monsters, and
  complete quests
• Game play involves a single-person or a group of
  people
• Success rewarded with in-game money, items, and
  reputation
• Social Worlds
• Players explore the world, socialize, create and
  trade things
• Game play involves a single-person or groups of
  people
• Users generate content (e.g., clothing,
  furniture, buildings, etc.)
• Success rewarded by reputation, friends, and
  in-game money

Over 250 worlds exist
9
Example World of Warcraft
Fight for fame and fortune

• Most popular game
• 10M registered users
• 400K active players at any time
• Monthly usage fee 12-15

10
Example Club Penguin
Waddle around and meet new friends

• Designed for children 6-14 (parental permission)
• 12M registered users and 700K paid subscribers
• Monthly usage fee 4-6
• Sold to Disney August 2007 deal worth 700M

11
Example 2nd Life
Your world. Your Imagination.

• Most popular social world
• 12M registered users
• 60K active participants at any time
• Monthly usage fee 10 if you want to own land
• Recently valued at 1.1B by Silicon Alley Insider

12
2nd Life Demonstration
13
2nd Life Growth

• Rapid growth in usage
• Economy 8M sales in-world Jan 08

12,906K Total Unique Users (250 increase in
last 12 months)
8/2006
3/2008
58K Current (230 increase inlast 12 months)
User statistics (March 2008) Past 7
Days 234K 14 Days 371K 30 Days 631K 60
Days 1,337K
14
Mixed Reality Integrate Real with Virtual
15
Tcho Chocolate Factory (San Francisco)
16
Monitoring and Controlling the Factory

• Installed video cameras and sensors in factory
• Use to observe factory floor and operation of
  equipment through web-based virtual world
• Eventually will allow remote operation of
  equipment

(Uses Qwaq Forum)
17
Animated 3D Model of a Conche
18
Outline

• What is a Virtual World?
• Culture and Economics in Virtual Worlds
• Business use of Virtual Worlds

19
Real World Issues in Virtual Worlds

• Freedom to do anything in a virtual world because
  normal restrictions on social behavior are absent
• Social and behavioral problems
• Theft destruction of property
• Illegal or immoral activities
• Anti-social and vigilante behavior
• Friendships emotional attachments

Griefing disrupt people or places
20
Economics in Virtual Worlds

• Most VWs have some form of money
• Created by world operator (e.g., World of
  Warcraft gold)
• Purchased with real-world money (e.g., 2nd Life
  Linden dollars)
• Exchange rate
• Official managed by world operator
• Unofficial real-world transaction
• 2nd Life LindeX Exchange (close 7-May-2008)
• Last trade L264 / US1
• 0.0038 / L1 ? micro transactions
• Change from previous close -L1 / US1
• Todays volume L56,815,741 (US215,211)

21
In-world Commerce

• Players buy and sell virtual items
• Avatar accessories (e.g., hair, clothes, shoes,
  watch, etc.)
• Offensive and defensive weapons in game worlds
• Buildings, furniture, trees, roads, fountains,
  pools, etc.
• Scripts programmed to perform behaviors
• 2nd Life buy, sell, and rent land
• Developers buy land from world operator, create
  buildings with furnishings, and create scenery in
  which to place the buildings
• One developer made over L1,000,000 (US4,000)
• Players buy and sell services
• World of Warcraft (WoW) player paid to join a
  guild
• 2nd Life pay to play a game or be paid to
  fill-out a survey

22
Real-Virtual World Commerce

• WoW character sold on EBay for ? US5,000
• Characters with experience needed for guilds to
  succeed in later quests group needs a
  character so they buy it
• WoW gold hunting companies
• Company hires people to play WoW and collect gold
• Convert gold to real world money, pay employees,
  and take profit
• 2nd Life developers
• Buy land, build and furnish home, and sell or
  lease
• VW marketing and development companies
• Millions of Us, Electric Sheep Company, etc.
• Companies experimenting with 2nd Life
• Toyota, Nike, MTV, IBM, Cisco,
  TimeWarner, Telecom Italia, Reuters,
  Universal/Motown Records, etc.

23
Real-Virtual World Commerce (cont.)

• Company sells service using 2nd Life
• Conference Island will host a virtual
  conference or meeting for your company or group
  using their in-world facilities

http//www.conferenceisland.com/
24
Outline

• What is a Virtual World?
• Culture and Economics in Virtual Worlds
• Business use of Virtual Worlds

25
Business use of Virtual Worlds

• Remote collaboration distributed groups meet in
  VW
• Better than a telephone ? persistent space,
  always running
• Better than a video conference ? scalable
  persistent
• Combines text messaging, phone, video, documents,
  animations, multiple-person simulations, etc.
• Marketing and selling real-world objects
• Illustrate features and capabilities
• Provide product information - advertising
• Product sales
• Training and education
• Simulate situations (e.g., crisis response, skill
  development, and diagnosis and repair)
• Lectures and discussion sections

26
Working in a Mixed Reality World

• Spending your work day in a virtual world
• Mobile workers always able to access workplace
• Work from home rather than office
• Requires computing/graphics and network bandwidth
• Productivity is enhanced by having an adequate
  system
• Is aggregated home bandwidth less expensive than
  business bandwidth?
• Need to develop new social rules
• Social and behavioral problems not acceptable in
  business

27
Summary

• Virtual worlds are attracting many users
• Companies that develop VWs are profitable
  businesses
• Follow the VCs 184M invested in VW companies
  in 1Q08
• Every company should consider using VWs
• Good for sales, marketing, training, and remote
  collaboration
• Similar to WWW in mid 1990s
• Social networks will evolve into VWs
• Being in a virtual place is better than email,
  texting, or twittering
• Many problems and opportunities remain
• Technical challenges (e.g., scalability, UI,
  interoperability, etc.)
• Social/political challenges (e.g., behavior,
  government, economy)
• Business opportunities (e.g., virtual services
  experiences)

28
(No Transcript)