Defying Reality Using Virtual Worlds to Break Physical Reality in Productive Ways

Defying RealityUsing Virtual Worlds to Break

Physical Reality in Productive Ways

Instead of just replicating physical reality, we should identify and leverage

unique levers available to us in virtual worlds to create new forms of work and social interactions.

Being in Nothingness (John Perry Barlow)

Suddenly I don’t have a body anymore … the closest analog to Virtual Reality in my experience is psychedelic … the third oldest human urge, the desire to have visions.

Philip Rosedale (Founder of Second Life)

Based on Second Life, the average of all dreams is Malibu.

The Issue of Virtual Chairs

Why do we need virtual chairs if our virtual bodies never get tired?

3D isn’t a magic ingredient

Boring people are still boring when they are 3D

The Central Dogma of Games

Games are made to slow you down. The inefficiency IS the game.

Can we use virtual worlds to

break realityin productive ways?

Facial and Behavioral

Mimicry

Face Morphing

Voting Results

Digital Chameleons

Personality Gold Mines

Rich, longitudinal, behavioral profiles based on engaging activities.

Rich Inference Markers

Is it possible to infer someone’s real world gender, age, and personality based on virtual behavioral markers alone?

Inference Rules

Condition 1 Condition 2 Precision

Recall

% of Male Chars > 30% 94% 81%

% of PvP Achs > 7% 81% 82%

Sum Hugs < 41 80% 82%

Condition 1 Condition 2 Condition 3 P R

Sum of Duels Played > 42

69%

44%

Arenas Won > 2 Sum Ach Scores <= 1258

% Profession Achs < = 13%

66%

44%

Male

Age: 18-25

Dynamic Mimicry

Infers and leverages your gender, age, and personality to create high-influence agents in the virtual world

Tailored Realities

Everyone sees their own version of reality. These versions need not be congruent.

Tailored Mimicry

Self Perception Theory

Can we make someone friendlier by giving them a more attractive avatar?

Attractiveness is correlated with:• Friendliness• Extraversion

Attractiveness - Findings

Participants in more attractive avatars:

•Walked closer to the virtual stranger

•Shared more personal information with the virtual stranger

Can we make someone more confident by giving them a taller avatar?

Height is correlated with:• Confidence• Personal Income• Leadership

Findings - Height

• People in tall avatars more likely to make unfair splits.• Also, people in short avatars twice as likely to accept unfair

splits.

Does seeing an older version of yourself help you better plan for retirement?

Aging Your Avatar

Actual photo

Digital Avatar

Age-morphedDigital Avatar

Retirement Fund

$0

$1,000

$2,000

2008 2018 2028 2038 2048

Year

Hypothetical Retirement Fund Growth by Condition

Old

Young

Bobo Doll

Avatar Creation

Photograph Feature Tracing Rendering Avatar

Exercising

Self Running Other Running Self Loiter

Watching your virtual self run

Findings

Participants who saw themselves exercise demonstrated higher levels of exercise in the next 24 hours.

Self Running

Helping Each Other

There weren’t places on line you could go to get all the answers. You had to ask other players. There was a lot more give and take. [M, 29]

How does a massively-multiplayer game encourage people to become anti-social?

Social Architectures

We’re used to thinking of altruism as an individual trait, but virtual worlds show that altruism can be part of the social architecture of games.

Breaking rules of physical reality in

productive ways.