Synthetic Worlds: Second Life, Business, and Virtual Gaming

Nikki Price

2/27/12

Engl 197

Edward Castronova, Synthetic Worlds

• “synthetic world”: computer generated space, represented graphically in three dimensions, that can be experienced by many people at once– “synthetic”: crafted by humans– All MMORPG (massively multi-player online

role-playing game) worlds in the game industry– Examples: The Sims Online, Second Life– DOES NOT include games such as online

poker or text based chat rooms

Synthetic Worlds

• “Synthetic worlds hold immense promise as places where humans can enhance their Earth experiences with ones drawn directly from our glorious collective history and imagination.”

• “Ideally, the synthetic worlds we revere and feel most comfortable in will also be Good worlds. We will like them, and they will enhance human dignity and well-being […] The Earth is very nice, but there are experiences we can imagine in our minds that we cannot have here…”

• “Multiplayer online videogames […] have become too fraught with heady implications to be ignored any longer.”

“A virtual world is a world rendered out of a computer”

• Virtual reality: “The result of efforts to craft an all-encompassing synthetic environment”– More likely to be “absorbed” if designed in a way that

appealed to others, that invited them in and tried to provide something that they would like to haveTherefore, all of these “virtual reality” games must entail

some sort of reward.• What sort of rewards do virtual games offer its players?• How are virtual reality games advertised to potential players? http://secondlife.com/whatis/

Synthetic Worlds

• “Looking beyond these simple joys of immersive, interactive entertainment, however, it should be stressed that synthetic worlds may eventually make contributions to human well-being that will be judged as extraordinarily significant.”

What can synthetic worlds contribute to the human experience that would be considered “extraordinarily significant”?

Second Life: Currency• “Linden dollars”• 1 U.S. dollar approx. 300

Linden dollars• “Virtual worlds, especially

Second Life, tap into the talent and hard work of everyone.”

• in 2003, Linden Lab allowed Second Life residents to retain full ownership of their virtual creations – Programmer Nathan Keir,

Tringohttp://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982001.htm

“My Virtual Life”: Business behind virtual worlds

• “Virtual worlds could transform the way they [businesses] operate by providing a new template for getting work done, from training and collaboration to product design and marketing.”

• “People are willing to do tedious, complex tasks within games,” notes Nick Yee, a Stanford University graduate student in communications who has extensively studied online games. “What if we could tap into that brainpower?”

From Second Life Wiki:• “Over the last few years, many large multi-national enterprises and government

institutions have realized that Second Life is a powerful collaboration tool for work such as: meetings, training sessions, and simulations and prototypes.”

• Possible to build conference spaces that can hold 200-300 avatars• Applications within Second Life include Powerpoint presentations, white boarding,

brainstorming, dynamic audience polling, etc. Available in the SL Marketplace.• Quality of Second Life meetings > conference calls or video conferencing

– SL provides a “shared sense of environment […] the next best thing to a face-to-face meeting which is usually preferred, but not always possible due to geographic or budgetary constraints.”

– Example: IBM coordinated a virtual world conference in 2009, ultimately saving $320,000 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsYVF25jHqw

What are the potential benefits and consequences of using virtual worlds for business related purposes?

Virtual Pets

Nintendogs (2005)http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=4ch0bt1xpk4

Tamagotchi (1996)http://www.bandai.com/

tamagotchi/ http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=nYhjYbal8oI

Movement towards communityWhy do virtual games continue to make the transition from

individual game play to multiplayer online communities? What do players benefit from, or see as a reward, from such

communities?Can or do these communities detract players from “face to

face” interactions in their everyday lives?

Castronova: “I fear the power of a simulated world to alter the mind’s conception of it’s own desires. Many people seem to be heavily invested emotionally in rather crude synthetic worlds […] some spend every waking hour there. Is that the result of a rational choice, or rather some form of chemical response similar to nicotine?”