over on the sg entrepreneur blog, there’s a roundup of yesterday’s panel discussion that i participated in. they have a brief summary of my comments about twinity:
Directed at budding virtual world creators, Jeremy of Twinity talked about the need for compelling reasons to participate in your virtual world. Why yours? For Twinity, the question for them while creating the virtual world is: How can we put something out there that is interesting for people, and doesn’t take them away completely from their life? Because they believe that even if you play World of Warcraft for 40 hours a week, you still need to live in the real world. It is not possible to have a total divide. As such, he claims that Twinity is the only virtual world that is based on the real world. (I don’t really understand how having more realistic 3D virtual worlds translates to not taking you completely away from your real life? Unless ‘real’ just means physical surroundings.)
probably i should have explained better. it’s not only about real locations – it’s also about real identities, real relationships, real friends and real life. and what i said about the division is that most people can’t afford to live only in a virtual world or only in an online game, purely from the financial perspective.
February 11th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
So if people are able to generate income from virtual settings, that’s good enough to be real life? It certainly is if you are one of the many who use the same physical skill set (fingers, sitting, the ol’ noggin) to work a lifetime in a traditional setting.
That an online world made of people you actually know will compete with actual interaction with them on the scale that WoW occupies people’s lives… Can you play it on an iphone while waiting in line at the post office? Then yes! Does it affix you sedentary to a computer during free time? Tough call.
February 11th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
@Josiecat, yes, you ask some valid and interesting questions there. i don’t really have the answers, and i suspect that almost no one does yet. it’s still too early to know.
February 11th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Uh so, does virtual Berlin get cold and miserable rainy? That’s all I remember about the place. I dunno, I can better imagine spending time in virtual Costa del Sol.
February 11th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
@Josiecat, there are limits to weather integration