VL better than RL?

I was interviewed by the Seattle Times for a story they ran on my company recently. The journalist was very interested in exploring how virtual worlds were in danger of being more exciting than the real world. My response was “What would you rather your kid be doing, eating chips in front of a television by himself or having a heart pounding battle with his friends online?” I worry about my kids spending too much time in front of a screen but I’d rather it be an interactive one than a passive one.

Castronova brings up some of the same concerns in his book Synthetic Worlds. I definitely recommend the book to people interested in the subject of virtual worlds but I don’t share the concern. I’m quite happy that there are virtual places for me to visit and explore even if it’s not quite as tactile as the real thing. I guess the main thing is that I know the difference and enjoy both RL and VL for different reasons. Both are a great break from the other.

WarCraft Addiction?

I just read a stat that 40% of people who play WarCraft are clinically addicted. This is according to a psychologist who polled users behavior to determine if they showed addictive traits. Most of these people didn’t think of themselves as addicted but they responded YES to questions like, “have you ever stayed home from work to play WarCraft,” “have you ever had a fight with your significant other over too much time spent playing WarCraft,” etc. The tone of the article was very stern.

I would have answered yes to some of the questions they had asked and I’m a confirmed WOW addict (I removed it from my laptop for my 2007 New Years Resolution). But when you think about it, what is all the fuss about? Playing computer games is a lot like any other time consuming hobby. I have plenty of friends that don’t play computer games but they do play golf. Many of the golf nuts I know will regularly take a day off to play golf with the guys. And my wife is actually very happy that I suck so bad at golf that I’ve never seriously taken it up. She’s got friends who are “golf widows” and rarely see their husbands during the day on a Saturday. I don’t see anyone writing articles about the terrible golf addiction that’s sweeping through the ranks of over 45-year-old men!

Life is an RPG

For me, RPGs are the ultimate virtual worlds. The rules are clearly defined. Your goals are usually communicated in extreme detail. You know your weaknesses and strengths from the getgo. Usually the intro movie gives you the history of how the world you’re in got to where it is today. When you start a good RPG you really feel like there’s a base to build on. You know who your friends are. Ultimately I think that virtual world and avatar products that don’t take some cues from from RPGs are making a big mistake.

If an avatar is purely about personalization and expression, the users likely to settle into a look they like and be done. The revenue opportunity, if you’re in the microtransaction business, however, is in getting consumers to continually aspire for more. RPGs do this through attributes that clothing can have such as defense and durability ratings. The higher the defense the better protection.

Any virtual environment should be able to figure out a way to incorporate attributes even if the object isn’t to keep from getting killed. There are lots of things a player may wish their character could do better and having a system of progressively more powerful clothing is a great way to keep people upgrading.

This is one reason why I’ve never understood the avatar pureplay products. What’s the point? Look at me I made a cool character? Nobody cares if you were able to throw down $10 to buy a neat outfit. Show up in something that a community of people know took you dozens of hours of playtime to acquire and people will take notice. Otherwise it’s just shopping for things that have no meaning.

First Post — avatars without a soul

Everyone one is talking about virtual worlds. I uncover a new one every week or so myself. What strikes me is that most of the places that are presented as virtual worlds have a distinct lack of what really makes up a world. It’s like what an alien would assume life on Earth was like from a single visit with no concept of the complexity of being human.

Sure they have human-like animated characters — usually in low poly, flat textured 3D. But what they usually don’t have is what makes us human — our goals.

Imagine you are suddenly plopped down somewhere with no “moment before.” The moment before is what actors draw on to guide them through a scene. It’s what they use to give them a starting point that’s not in the script. That’s what beginning life in most virtual worlds is like. You’re 25 years old and this is the first day of your life and you’re in a place that didn’t exist until just now.

You are spawned into a world among dozens of other newcomers with nothing but an empty chat form. Typically the first words out of an avatars mouth are like that of a first computer program — “Hello.” I’m usually at a loss to figure out what to do next so I usually end up running around checking out the environment without much interaction with my fellow citizens.

OK, I’ll admit this is not easy stuff. It’s no small feat to provide the technology to immerse someone in a representation of life. For many products that’s as far as they seem to get — providing the technology. Maybe it’s me. I need something to accomplish beyond getting into a vapid chat with the first person I see.

Anyway, that’s the way this will start. A conversation with myself and whoever stops by about how what makes a compelling virtual world. That should take a while…