Virtual Worlds, Real Support

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Virtual Worlds, Real Support

• John Lester (Pathfinder Linden)
• Community and Education Manager, Linden Lab
• Founder, BrainTalk Communities

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what is Second Life?

• Second Life is a unique online world
• international community, multiuser, persistent
  world
• not a game
• completely built and owned by the residents
• best fictional analogs are Stephensons Metaverse
  from Snow Crash or Vinges Otherverse from
  True Names

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shoulders of giants

• Arpanet (1969)
• begat MUD1 (1980)
• begat Habitat (1986)
• begat MMORPGs (1996)

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why now?

• Broadband
• Routing capacity/low pings
• Consumer 3D acceleration

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which allows . . .

• A new approach to world building
• Stream all content via broadband
• Extremely dynamic content
• Apply distributed/grid computing

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expanding world32,000 acres, 250,000 users, 2
teraflops of CPU power 43 female, median age
35, 25 international
2005-6
2004-5

• 2003

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demographics

• SL community older and more gender balance than
  most games
• Gender neutral by hours of use
• Median age of 35
• Real world skills translate into digital world

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3D modeling
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Breathing Life into Objects with Scripting
Any object can be given physical behavior,
interactivity, and can communicate with the
world (e.g., email, HTTPRequest, XML-RPC)
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texturing
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property rights

• In Second Life, residents own their creations
• What does this mean?
• Residents retain their Intellectual Property
  rights to their creations
• Residents may buy and sell L for real world
• Residents may license their creations back into
  the real world

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Live Video shared in a Community Space
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Live Music shared in a Community Space
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What happens when you give everyone powerful
tools to shape their world?

• A Waking Dream made Realand Shared with Real
  People

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Emotional Bandwidth
( ) P
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Emotional Bandwidth
Use real-world social cues and proxemics,
animations and sounds, and create your visual
identity
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education

• teach using simulation and experiential learning

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immersive learning

• retention
• motivation
• differentiation

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process teaching
from explanation
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to cognitive measurement and assessment
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first responder and caregiver training

• process
• experience
• empathy

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simulation and experience - teaching caregivers
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Virtual Hallucinations
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communities of support
patients families caregivers
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communities of support

• Aspergers Syndrome
• stroke survivors
• healing depression
• cerebral palsy
• children with cancer

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• forum based community for people with
  neurological disorders
• migrated Aspergers syndrome patients and
  families to Second Life

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"A lot of what's happening in 'Second Life' is
social, and I thought that this could be a
fantastic place for people dealing with Asperger
Syndrome. Give them a simulated environment and
let them practice social skills in a
three-dimensional space.-- John Lester,
founder, Braintalk Communities
support for improvement
http//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7012645/
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Brigadoon
"We are aliens in this RL real world. SL
'Second Life' has showed me it is OK to be an
alien in a strange new world! -- Brigadoon
resident Coos Yellowknife
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Live2Give
To give them a virtual world where they are free
from the limitations of their physical-world
environment. To give them hope and allow them to
be productive members of a virtual space that
they can call their own.
-- John Lester/June-Marie Mahay
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freedom from physical disability
my virtual self has the voice i've always wanted
to have and in many ways it allows me to be the
person i feel i was born to be. -- john
s/Wilde Cunningham
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organized fund raising
American Cancer Society - Relay for Life click
to give
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patient benefits

• distraction from pain and anxiety
• cognitive improvement

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Sharing Real Information
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The 4 Powerful Themes supporting Real Education

• A world where anyone can create anything.
• A world full of real people.
• A world of high emotional bandwidth.
• A world shared.

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Harvards Berkman Center Digital Natives
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Thank you for listening

• John Lester (SL Pathfinder Linden)
• pathfinder_at_lindenlab.com
• www.pathfinderlinden.com