Dr. Kiki Sandofrd has posted a very interesting interview with High Fidelity CEO Philip Rosedale; The Man Who Created Second Life Thinks We Can Make an Earth-Sized Virtual World.
I found this a fascinating read and it exemplifies so very well how Philip has not lost his enthusiasm for virtual worlds, indeed he sounds more excited than ever about the concept. We’ll forgive Kiki for calling a company Linden Labs, this is such a common mistake that the URL Lindenlabs.com resolves to the correct website. The articles talks about how Second Life was once bigger than it is now and yet, as I’ve mentioned before, when people look to the future of virtual worlds, they can’t help but look back at Second Life and even grudgingly seem to admit, it’s not the giant flop that some paint it as.
When asked how virtual reality will change society, Philip answers :
If you look at Second Life today, as a sort of a terrarium for looking at that question, it already has. It demonstrates that we go after and exploit and enjoy the benefits of any increase in tools that enable our creativity and our commerce—and that our willingness to engage in business and in transactions with each other seems to be virtually boundless.
He says a lot more, he talks about how virtual worlds can cross boundaries and get people to talk with each other when those people would otherwise be enemies. I haven’t seen enough studies on this to have a firm opinion on it to be honest, but there is the common denominator factor. The issue is surely going to be that if virtual worlds grow as some predict, some of those common denominators will be removed.
However what’s this business about earth-sized virtual worlds, well Philip gets to that in the interview :
In a recent analysis that I did in thinking about this, I figured out that if we used all our computers—connected via broadband to the Internet—to make a virtual world, it would be as big as the landmass of Earth. You and I could go fly around in it, wander into some cave in Siberia that no one had ever been probably, write our names on the wall in there, and come back ten years later and the names would still be there.
Obviously, as soon as someone says something like that, the next question is likely to be whether virtual worlds could ever be the size of a galaxy. Indeed, that is pretty much the next question in the interview, but you will have to read the article on Nautilus to find out more.
The article delves into issues such as human computer interaction, how we will interact with virtual worlds, what we will see, whether or not they will have much impact on human evolution and Philip gives some great and interesting answers.
Some people will agree with Philip, others will disagree and a high proportion will I’d imagine take a wait and see stance. The latter is largely because we’ve been hearing about the forthcoming virtual reality for boom for decades and we’re still waiting for the great leap forward. Patience young padawans, patience.
I still remain unconvinced that the next wave of VR headsets are really going to make the mass market breakthrough. However I should add at this point that I haven’t even tried on Oculus Rift, although we do have a couple at work, I haven’t got around to playing around but I feel there’s something that will make people baulk at prolonged use of a headset.
I’m also pretty sure that people will at first baulk at the idea of being too immersed in a 3D period for long periods of time, initially at least. However VR isn’t just about being immersed in a 3D environment for hours on end, far away from the realities around you. I’m sure use cases will emerge that people aren’t really considering at this moment in time, technology has a habit of doing that.
Whatever the future may hold, it’s a rather exciting period and Philip’s interview is well worth a read, he really does talk the talk when it comes to virtual worlds and virtual reality.