The Magic Circle presentation @ Wharton's Tech-Fast

The Magic Circle

Realistic Expectations for Virtual Worlds

Before We Start (We Move Really Fast):

Definitions & Questions

Sim(ulator), Region, 16 acres... 4 by 4. 256x256m.65,536sqm. Eight Football Fields.

Rez (from Tron, 1982): Resolution; making something.

Avatar: Hindu Deity; Ultima IV; BBS; Social Media; SL

Virtual Reality: (coined by Jaron Lanier) “Almost” Reality

Who here knows they have an avatar?

Abstract concept of Avatar? Our concept of the Avatar?

What makes an avatar?

What is the Magic Circle?

The Regular Rules Do Not Apply

Part I: Evolution &the Avatar

Who are you?Timothy Allen

University of PennsylvaniaClass of 1996School of Arts & SciencesIndividualized Major:Combined Psychology &Computer Science

...and now...

Who are you?Timothy Allen

Wharton Computing

Wharton ResearchData Services (WRDS)

...and virtually...

Who are you?FlipperPA PeregrineFounding Member,Second Life

Community Convention

SLBoutique.com

Who are you?FlipperPA PeregrineFounding Member,Second Life

Community Convention

SLBoutique.com

OCCASIONAL BANANA

Who are you?FlipperPA PeregrineFounding Member,Second Life

Community Convention

SLBoutique.com

STILL THIN ROCK STAR

The point being...THE AVATAR

Ultimate Blank Canvas

Self Expression Unleashed

A Path to Freedom

Safe, Anonymous SelfExploration

Part II: Perception,Participation &

Public Space

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1975 to 1980: All in the Mind

Colossal Cave Adventure, Zork & MUDs: Text & ImaginationMUD: Multi-User Dungeon

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1980 through 1990: @ is for @vatar!

Rogue / Hack / NetHack: The Genesis of Visual Representation

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1990: MOO Bring Persistence; "Not a Game"

MOO: Mud, Object-Oriented; Permanently Stored Objects

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1993: Virtual Places & the Web Revolution

Virtual Web Pages; Start of Graphical Revolution

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1993: The Palace

Social Chat: A Virtual Comic Strip, “2.5 Dimensions”

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1993: WorldsChat Space Station

Actual 3-Dimensional Perspective

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1994: ActiveWorlds

The Dawn of UGC: User Generated Content, “E-Motes”

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1999-2002: Linden Lab Founded; Second Life

The Dawn of UGC: User Generated Content, “E-Motes”

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:July, 2003: The Tax Revolt

Doing the logical thing, SL Residents set themselves onfire to protest the “prim tax.”

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:November 14th, 2003: IP Rights

Linden Lab grants rights of creations to the creator;covered in SlashDot; FlipperPA Peregrine is born.

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:BTW, this WAS before YouTube, Facebook,Flickr, Digg, Twitter & more had traction; infact, SL's users became their early adopters!

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:December, 2003: Avalon & Rivers Run Red

London based Rivers Run Red opens the Avalon region;the design and branding firm soon brings Adidas, the BBC,Hermann Miller, Avril Lavigne, and more to virtual worlds.

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:January, 2004: Land and Prim Limits

Land “bought” from Linden Lab; more land meant moreprimitives, which meant more detailed content. Fullsimulators (16 acres of space as 1 CPU) begin being sold.

A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:January, 2004: The Crompco Virtual Station

Crompco Corporation becomes the first company to useSecond Life for corporate training; reduced time ofapprenticeship cycle from nine months to six.

Concepts of virtual space... are*almost* always public.

Virtual Starwood == The Shining.

Private Space == “Security”...hehe

Like privacy in Facebook, Twitter,or the Web, does it really exist?

Part III: Hyperbole & Hysteria

Remember the 2002 map? 16 total regions(also know as “sims”, short for “simulator”)

In 2005, the hype is in full swing...25,000 sims (each being 16 acres)

2005: The First Second Life CommunityConvention (SLCC): 150 attendees in 1L;1000s more in 2L. “Mixed Reality”

The Gartner Hype Cycle of Technology

The Gartner Hype Cycle of Technology

The Media Blitz: Major Hype

SLCC 2006: 450 attendees...and Mitch Kapor keynoting!

2007: Peak of the Positive HypeNBC, CBS, and CSI: New York

SLCC 2007: 1000 attendees, lots ofpress, and time for us to retire!

The Fallout: Hype Swings Both WaysCompanies didn't engage the SL community.

Companies believed their brands were cool enough, peoplewould come flocking to their locations.

A community of creative minds isn't easily wooed by marketers.

Successful examples: Coca-Cola, Pontiac, IBM, Cisco, Intel

Busts: too many to list... but American Apparel was the first.

Simon Stevens: Breaking the Rules

Independent Disability IssuesConsultant

• Cerebral palsy affect speech,balance, hand control• Author of "Normality", a playabout his experiences inmainstream education• Passion, commitment anddetermination

Simon Stevens: Breaking the Rules

Founder of Wheelies DanceClub in Second Life

• All are welcome!• Fun support center forthose with disability issues

• Some disabled choose tocreate avatars with

disabilities• Some choose to walk,

dance, and fly• ...and some...

Simon Stevens: Breaking the Rules

...and some...

CHOOSE TO BUILDAWESOME ROCKETPOWERED WHEELCHAIRS THAT CANDANCE AND FLY!

Part IV: So What Works?

The Tech Virtual Museum Workshop

• Allows museum staff to interact with people, world wide

• Includes participation from MIT, Science Center Singapore, Citilab, The Tech Museum in San Francisco, and more

• Winner of the Linden Prize for using virtual worlds to improve the human condition

• Visit the region “The Tech 2”

• Learning Centers• Cultural Institutions• Open Source Concepts• Designs

Campus Collaboration Across the USA

• Auburn University & Redlands Community College worked on a joint program together

• Treated virtual space as a classroom lab• Allowed professors to teach subject topics not

available on home campus with help from another University

• Subject matter experts 800 miles away collaborated through the use of the tools and connection of VWs

Campus Collaboration Best Practices

• Don’t throw students in without orientation & practice

• Put pedagogy ahead of technology• Target assignments to specific tasks in the VW• Don’t come into VWs just to look at

Powerpoints• Mix use of voice & chat; keep one person

speaking, while others can communicate via text chat.

SL Capital Exchange: Stock Market

• Stock Market simulation using actual functioning Second Life businesses

• 36 companies currently listed for trading, with more being added each month

• Fun way to become familiar with how the stock market works, terminology, and trends

• Possibility of turning a profit in L$ (Linden Dollars)

• Low risk, as the L$ to US$ ratio is about 260 to 1.

Part V: Platform Choices

Key Choices in Selecting a Platform

Key Choices in Selecting a Platform

The Virtual World Value Chain

Google Apps: Are They Virtual Worlds?Colors as Avatars, Spreadsheet as Space

2010: Second Life / VWs in the Web Browser:Viewer “in the cloud” and Canvas Appear

OpenSimulator: Free, Open Source Option“Host it Yourself”, Cost-Effective, & Alpha

OpenSimulator vs. Second Life

OpenSimulator vs. Second Life

...and in conclusion...

Unleash your imagination

Do research, but break the rules

Avoid the hype

Rapid development, embrace change

...and most importantly, ENGAGE!

Credits, Thanks, Etc…

• The Gartner Hype Cycle, Gartner, Inc., 1995

• Parks Associates: Virtual Worlds and Social Media

• OpenSim Basics, Paul Vigo for PANMA

• Second Life: The Official Guide, Linden Lab et al.

• Very many blogs, all linked from www.PeregrineSalon.com

• The Second Life Community Convention www.SLConvention.org

Feel Free to Contact Me!

Timothy Allen – Twitter @FlipperPA

Contact Me:FlipperPA Peregrine in SL (FlipperPA in just about every othervirtual world since 1995 out there)

tallen@wharton.upenn.eduhttp://www.PeregrineSalon.comhttp://wrds.wharton.upenn.edu

You'll find me hanging on PANMA and SLED:http://www.PANMA.org

The Philadelphia Area New Media Association

https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/educatorsSecond Life Educator's Mailing List

Slides will be available on PeregrineSalon.com!