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November 13, 2006
IBM sees future in alternate 3D lifePlease note that contributed articles, blog entries, and comments posted on DCCcafe.com are the views and opinion of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the management and staff of Internet Business Systems and its subsidiary web-sites.
The web as we know it today is like a catalogue. If you’re looking for information, you flip through web pages like you might the pages of a book. This is easy and straightforward for people to use, and even easier for website designers to build. It is, however, not the way we really interact with the world. Enter Second Life. For those that haven’t heard about Second Life, it’s a zany 3D virtual world where you, represented by a 3D avatar, can basically do anything you want. On the surface, Second Life is a lot like a game; some find it amusing to use Second Life’s 3D modeling and scripting tools to create new avatars for themselves, objects that might follow them around, or houses to live in. What you build is entirely up to your imagination (but DCC professionals, or anyone else with 3D modeling talent, clearly have a leg up over everyone else). But Second Life isn’t all just fun and games; in fact, IBM is convinced it is a practical business opportunity. Just recently, IBM announced that it would be investing $10 million into developing its presence in the virtual world of Second Life, and it has already held meetings in the 3D forum with thousands of its employees. Its CEO, Sam Palmisano, recently gave an address to 7,000 Chinese workers through Second Life.
IBMs confidence is really only the latest bit of news in the recent past that’s been playing up this exciting online medium. Reuters just opened a Second Life office, and they even have a reporter in Second Life, who, I presume, is supposed to report on goings-on in the virtual world. Virtually everyone (and everyone virtually) thinks that Second Life will breath a second life into the way the Internet works. Most assert, including the people at IBM, that e-commerce will change dramatically with wide use of Second Life. The web today is too much like a catalogue, but most people do their shopping in 3D. This is the new world of v-business (virtual), as opposed to e-business (electronic, or online), where the consumer is fully immersed in the online business experience. A Banana Republic store in Second Life would be able to lay out its clothes like they do in their real stores. And, who knows, your 3D character might have your sizes built into it, and he could try on the clothes and see how it’d fit on you. You might never have to leave the house again! Although this prospect is exciting, we should not get too excited about it yet. There are only about 1.3 million users of Second Life--I say only because you must imagine that only a small fraction of these users are actually regular users, and because the web’s a big place, much much bigger than 1.3 million people. Also, more fundamentally, the graphics have to get a lot better for people to really enjoy their Second Life as much as they do their first. And that might take some time. Right now, the graphics card and processor speeds Second Life requires are demanding, and the graphics are still not that great. One day, though, and that day might be sooner than we all think, Second Life will evolve into a better looking Life than we see today. I imagine that by then, e-commerce on the web will be something like what IBM and all the other Second Lifer optimists want it to be. But until professional graphics develop a little bit more, Second Life will remain a game. You can find the full DCCCafe event calendar here. To read more news, click here. -- Jacob Heller, DCCCafe.com Contributing Editor.
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