I fundementally disagree with Rosedale on his comments. In fact, I think browser plugWin and no download virtual environments are absolutely the way of the future. Leveraging existing technology absolutely makes sense. Take a look at 3dxplorer and The new release of Unity fer great examples of this. I have much more detailed thoughs on my site if you are interested.

Great blog by the way!

I don’t think that he is discounting the idea of a virtual world in a browser. I think he’s saying that current technology is not up to the level needed to provide a fully immersive world inside of a web browser. Sort of like trying to surf the WWW with an FTP client.

He even mentions towards the end of the interview (4:05) that LL would consider a browser based SL.

Thanks for tips about 3dxplorer and Unity, I’ll give em a look-see. Haven’t taken the time to look at all the virtual spaces that are popping up recently - except for Lively which I thought was pretty horrible.

Just added rce.universe to my Shiny Mix feeds. Looks like a great way to keep track of the growing virtual world space.

Unity is very pretty. :) It’ll be interested to see what developers build with this tool.

http://unity3d.com/unity/

To me any ‘virtual world’ must include tools for users to create their own content, to interact, to collaborate - this is what makes SL so compelling for me. If there’s no way that a typical user can add to or change the environment in a meaningful way, then it’s just another MMO or virtual chat room. Would the WWW have taken off if it wasn’t possible to easily publish your own content?

Somebody could release the most advanced 3D world/engine ever but if content creators can’t make pay their bills then there’s gonna be nothing but a baron landscape to exlpore.

The SL experience is quite poor quality but what’s keeping the content creators creating is the fact that they can earn a little money. and I can’t imagine a bored housewife downloading Unity3D for a romantic escapade. :)

I think its intresting that he compared SL to the start of the internet. It make me think that alot of use forget, second life is still relativly new yes 5 years (or 6?) but for the amount of power there trying to put inot it, no wonder we get hic-ups.

I hope one day they merge the web and SL together. I also hope they make a low graphic version of SL for basic building. Even like a sort “offline” all but to one sim version that super low lag.

In Response to not many people knowing about second life, well there right. I think the main issue for linden is there image. I can find so much culture going on in Sl but none of that is ever shown until you look more into SL. Look at there home site? its hardly err inspiring….

The only just updated the image from system style avis.

I think essantaily SL is aiming at the same people that used to play the sims online and i know i personaly would feal less embassed saying i played the sim than SL. I think a lot still vein second life as slightly geeky and a bad sad.

This coupled with statements such as the bad weather, and poor economics = Second Life residents, don’t say marketing genius’s

I guess that’s a fair few of my 50p’s

marni
(excuse the spelling mistakes)

Yeah, Marni, is definitely true that most people still don’t know about Second Life - even after the last year of so of explosive growth. I don’t know how many times I have tried to explain SL to people - and failed. Not something that is easy to understand without actually loading up the program and trying it.

I’ve just read an interview with M Linden, the new CEO, and I think he makes some good points. He talks a lot about how they need to improve the initial ‘first hour’ experience for new users - make it easier for them to get up and running and see what SL is all about. I still remember my first few days. very confusing - and I’m a professional nerd. :)

Plus, we are all still learning what we can do in this virtual world. The quality of our content is improving, and we are stretching our minds to encompasse this new world. Remember what the web looked like in the early 90s? ack! Now it’s so much easier to use, more useful, more attractive. I think SL will follow a similar pattern.

on a side note:

Linden needs to hire Philip a stylist for this sorta thing. That shirts awful……