The importance of a conference such as Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education should not be underestimated when it comes to putting virtual worlds on the map. Most of the chatter I’ve seen has, unsurprisingly, been about Ebbe Altberg’s keynote speech. Nalates Urriah has taken a very interesting and in depth look at Linden Lab’s nextgen virtual world based on this speech.
Avataric looks at VWBPE from other perspectives, including how even in a virtual world being shy has its challenges as she braved being a host, as well as a participant, at the conference. There’s even an inworld/real world crossover with a husband hitting a wrong button. This wasn’t as painful as it may initially sound!
Beyond that the conference touches other parts of the virtual world sphere with links to OpenSim and Unity 3D demonstrating that education and virtual worlds are willing to tackle new technology when opportunity arises.
The conference also involved communities such as Chilbo and Seanchai making their mark in the education space. Interactive storytelling as a teaching tool is a development I’m eager to see progress, but Seanchai play an important role in bringing storytelling to new audiences full stop.
Second Life itself wasn’t ignored either. Oz Linden appeared to discuss Second Life with educators and in doing so also gave us some insight into the work being done on Second Life that will benefit all residents, such as those funky new graphics options to save settings for different scenarios. For example you may want lighter settings for busy events, which will soon be an easy to change option…. I hope anyway!
The discussions, the panels, the issues raised are all part of the wider virtual world experience. Virtual Reality is a hot topic right now, and so are virtual worlds. The future looks bright but having an engaging conference such as VWBPE to point at when people ask what use virtual worlds are, is an important step in realising the potential that virtual worlds have to offer.
Second Life, OpenSim, HyperGrid, they haven’t gone away, they are still thriving and events such as this exemplify why. They also provide us all with more information on where virtual worlds are heading, in the short term at least.