Synthetic%20Worlds:%20Second%20Life,%20Business,%20and%20Virtual%20Gaming

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Synthetic Worlds Second Life, Business, and
Virtual Gaming

• Nikki Price
• 2/27/12
• Engl 197

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Edward Castronova, Synthetic Worlds

• synthetic world computer generated space,
  represented graphically in three dimensions, that
  can be experienced by many people at once
• synthetic crafted by humans
• All MMORPG (massively multi-player online
  role-playing game) worlds in the game industry
• Examples The Sims Online, Second Life
• DOES NOT include games such as online poker or
  text based chat rooms

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Synthetic Worlds

• Synthetic worlds hold immense promise as places
  where humans can enhance their Earth experiences
  with ones drawn directly from our glorious
  collective history and imagination.
• Ideally, the synthetic worlds we revere and feel
  most comfortable in will also be Good worlds. We
  will like them, and they will enhance human
  dignity and well-being The Earth is very
  nice, but there are experiences we can imagine in
  our minds that we cannot have here
• Multiplayer online videogames have become
  too fraught with heady implications to be ignored
  any longer.

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A virtual world is a world rendered out of a
computer

• Virtual reality The result of efforts to craft
  an all-encompassing synthetic environment
• More likely to be absorbed if designed in a way
  that appealed to others, that invited them in and
  tried to provide something that they would like
  to have

• Therefore, all of these virtual reality games
  must entail some sort of reward.
• What sort of rewards do virtual games offer its
  players?
• How are virtual reality games advertised to
  potential players? http//secondlife.com/whatis/

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Synthetic Worlds

• Looking beyond these simple joys of immersive,
  interactive entertainment, however, it should be
  stressed that synthetic worlds may eventually
  make contributions to human well-being that will
  be judged as extraordinarily significant.

What can synthetic worlds contribute to the human
experience that would be considered
extraordinarily significant?
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Second Life Currency

• Linden dollars
• 1 U.S. dollar approx. 300 Linden dollars
• Virtual worlds, especially Second Life, tap into
  the talent and hard work of everyone.
• in 2003, Linden Lab allowed Second Life residents
  to retain full ownership of their virtual
  creations
• Programmer Nathan Keir, Tringo

http//www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18
/b3982001.htm
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My Virtual Life Business behind virtual worlds

• Virtual worlds could transform the way they
  businesses operate by providing a new template
  for getting work done, from training and
  collaboration to product design and marketing.
• People are willing to do tedious, complex tasks
  within games, notes Nick Yee, a Stanford
  University graduate student in communications who
  has extensively studied online games. What if we
  could tap into that brainpower?

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• From Second Life Wiki
• Over the last few years, many large
  multi-national enterprises and government
  institutions have realized that Second Life is a
  powerful collaboration tool for work such as
  meetings, training sessions, and simulations and
  prototypes.
• Possible to build conference spaces that can hold
  200-300 avatars
• Applications within Second Life include
  Powerpoint presentations, white boarding,
  brainstorming, dynamic audience polling, etc.
  Available in the SL Marketplace.
• Quality of Second Life meetings gt conference
  calls or video conferencing
• SL provides a shared sense of environment
  the next best thing to a face-to-face meeting
  which is usually preferred, but not always
  possible due to geographic or budgetary
  constraints.
• Example IBM coordinated a virtual world
  conference in 2009, ultimately saving 320,000
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vwsYVF25jHqw
• What are the potential benefits and consequences
  of using virtual worlds for business related
  purposes?

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Virtual Pets

• Nintendogs (2005)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v4ch0bt1xpk4
• Tamagotchi (1996)
• http//www.bandai.com/tamagotchi/
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vnYhjYbal8oI

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Movement towards community

• Why do virtual games continue to make the
  transition from individual game play to
  multiplayer online communities?
• What do players benefit from, or see as a reward,
  from such communities?
• Can or do these communities detract players from
  face to face interactions in their everyday
  lives?
• Castronova I fear the power of a simulated
  world to alter the minds conception of its own
  desires. Many people seem to be heavily invested
  emotionally in rather crude synthetic worlds
  some spend every waking hour there. Is that the
  result of a rational choice, or rather some form
  of chemical response similar to nicotine?