By Preetam Rai, Teaching and Learning Centre

I had a problem — I wanted to attend some talks hosted by universities in the US, but it was physically impossible for me to participate because I live in Asia.

This is when I first became interested in Virtual Worlds. I could become part of a virtual community that allowed me to listen to these overseas speakers and to communicate with the rest of the participants in the session. It was the ability to communicate with other attendees in a 3D space that attracted me to explore the platform more.

Life in a Virtual World

Second Life is one of the most popular virtual platforms. Below is a screen shot from Second Life, featuring my avatar.

Your avatar is a 3-D representation of you in the virtual world. One of the first things that you can do when you get into a virtual world is to design your own avatar.

While the avatar represents a real person, the avatar is not necessarily a replica of that person. One of the attractions of virtual worlds is that you can choose whatever physical appearance you like.

Using the avatar, you can communicate and interact with other avatars in the Second Life community via text or audio. Here you can see me interacting with the avatar of someone who could be anywhere in the (real) world.

In the illustration below, I was at a (real world) conference in India and the person represented by the avatar I am talking to was in Bahrain. The person could not make it to the physical conference but was able to interact with some of us there via Second Life.

Space in Second Life

Second Life is made up of hundreds of islands. As with the real world, users can buy their own island and build on it the way they want.

There are a few methods to get from place to place. Like in the real world, my avatar can walk from one place to another. But since it is the virtual world, we can also do things that we cannot do in real life, like “flying”.

Here you see me flying over some Japanese themed buildings. The “fly” feature allows you quickly move from one area to the other within an island.

Another useful navigation concept in Second Life is Teleporting. Your friends can “pull you in” to another island by sending you a teleport request.

Why Use Virtual Worlds?

Recently, companies have shown an increased interest in virtual worlds because of the potential for better interaction with far-flung customers.

People who are looking for meaningful online interaction — including educational institutions — are also drawn to this online platform.

Some of the main attractions of virtual worlds are:

1. Interconnectedness: People have already become used to staying in touch with each other over MSN and other messaging platforms. Virtual Worlds are seen as an extension of messaging.
2. The need for Telepresence: Companies need to find ways to reduce ever-spiralling travel costs. Virtual worlds offer a platform where people can conduct meetings, presentations and product demonstrations with colleagues and customers anywhere in the world — without leaving their office.

Some of the other popular virtual worlds available today are There, Hipihi (From China), Habbo (popular with teens) and Twinity.

Virtual World Usage

So what are people doing in Virtual Worlds such as Second Life?

1. Attending Events and Conferences

Here you are looking at a panel discussion hosted on June 23, 2006 in Second Life by the Berkman Center at Harvard University.

(Photo by Pathfinder Linden)

Users can build spaces that match their particular event and this provides context to the activities. Second Life is increasingly being used to run virtual events – from shareholder meetings to concerts.

2. Building, Buying and Selling Virtual Goods

Most of Second Life’s economy is built on the trade of virtual goods – clothes for your avatar, tiles for you house, furniture for your lounge etc. People can make money by designing and selling these digital artefacts.

Those who are more technically inclined can add behaviours to objects by using a scripting language. Users buy these objects for their own use in the virtual world.

Here I am building an object in Second Life.

All these transactions take place via Linden dollars, a virtual currency that is used in Second Life. Linden dollars can be exchanged for real world currencies. The first millionaire (in US dollars) in Second Life was Anshe Chung, a Chinese-German entrepreneur who bought virtual real estate, developed it and then resold it to others.

3. Telepresence and Collaborative Working

I mentioned earlier that people can attend conferences in virtual worlds. Companies are increasingly thinking of moving beyond such one-off interactions to more daily usage of virtual worlds. This helps them reduce the costs and delays associated with travel. Some virtual worlds allow users to embed their PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and Spreadsheets and hold collaborative sessions to discuss these.

The following video introduces Virtual Workspace 2.0, a 3D space that is being used by (real world) companies.

Virtual worlds may also offer a level playing field for disabled users who can more easily participate in events and work with their colleagues.

From the CNN article, Online a virtual business option for disabled:

.David E. Stone, a psychologist and visiting scholar at Harvard University, has been studying the benefits of virtual worlds for the disabled. The environment of Second Life, he says,
“offers the opportunity to those who are disabled to be productive members of the world economy by doing very useful work.

In the real world, he notes, disabled people usually cannot enjoy the satisfactions of work — intellectual stimulation, professional (and sometimes personal) relationships, and a sense of self-worth. But the disabled people who do real jobs in Second Life, he says, are able to benefit from work in all these ways.

4. Learning in Virtual Worlds

Below is the virtual Space Flight museum, built and maintained by space enthusiasts in Second Life. This place often features in virtual field trips conducted by teachers.

The 3 dimensional features and the built in interactivity provides the participants with a near-realistic experience while participating in simulations. Earlier computer-based learning involved the use of Flash-based simulations where the students sat in front of a computer and individually work through “page-turners”. These single-person activities leave out a very important aspect of real world situations — collaboration.

Also on Second Life, participants can collaboratively take part in a fire rescue mission, build a house or fly a plane. The following presentation is about using Second Life for hospital simulation: Virtual Hospital Simulation Exercises Involving Face to Face and Geographically Separated Participants.

What’s next?

The idea of interacting in a virtual environment is still a new concept to many people. Virtual environments such as Second Life are set to change the way people perceive geography, space and the meaning of community.

While people can see the benefits of virtual collaboration and interaction, many are still skeptical of its ability to replicate the real world environment. However, when viewed as extended, alternative spaces for shared activity, virtual worlds provide opportunities for interaction, collaboration, communication and learning.

Resources

Here are some more links for you to explore:

• Educational Institutions in Second Life
• Global Kids Second Life Curriculum (probably the best resource collected in one place on Second Life)
• Number of video tutorials on Second Life topics – from how to navigate to how to build objects