We've spoken on this blog in the past about the possibilities for game technologies to be relevant for all kinds of non-gaming enterprises: governance, health, education, television, film, radio, public participation, military strategy. When I was working on the Unlimited Learning document for the DfES and ELSPA in 2006, exploring the usefulness of games for schools and lifelong learning, one genre in particular held the most promise for the future: virtual worlds. These online, multiplayer, pervasive environments offer educators and others unique opportunities to play around with traditional models of learning, simulation and entertainment in order to make relevant the issues which the various stakeholders wish to promote.
There's been quite a buzz in virtual world communities about this. At last month's State of Play conference, where the great and the many descended upon Singapore, there was a panel dedicated to the various uses of virtual world technologies for the greater good (in addition to the entertainment functions). This week there's a whole conference devoted to the subject, just up the road in Coventry: Serious Virtual Worlds. I had the chance to ask David Wortley, the Director of the Serious Games Institute at Coventry University and the man behind the Serious Virtual Worlds Conference, a few questions of my own.
Why all the fuss about virtual worlds? Virtual worlds are getting increasing attention because they herald the 3D web. The converging technologies of broadband, wireless, computing, video and sound have matured to the point where multiplayer immersive environments are available in a practical and usable way to a mass audience and an increasing number of people are exploring the potential of virtual worlds for a variety of applications, most notably social networking.
What do virtual worlds offer the serious games community that traditional gaming does not? Virtual worlds offer opportunities for developing and tailoring your own environments and applications in a more accessible way than traditional gaming. Environments like Second Life provide the ability to create your own space and explore new applications in a highly creative way. Virtual worlds are to traditional games what Web 2.0 is to the traditional web.
What do you feel is a particularly good example of a serious use of a virtual world? One of my favourites is the Wheelies site in Second Life. The reason for this is not the site per se, but the empowering effect the development of this site has had on its owner, Simon Stevens. Simon suffers from cerebral palsy and is a very intelligent young man who has endured discrimination and hardship from birth because of his speech impairment. Developing the Wheelies site (where his avatar is in a wheelchair) has had a marvellous transforming effect on his life.
They're not a global panacea - what are some of the criticisms for using virtual worlds for serious ends? The main criticism is lack of security and control in environments like Second Life. Just as in real life, the human imagination knows no bounds for good or evil and the insecurity and unpredictability of some environments limited their use for business purposes. In a social context, they can also have a negative effect if they become a substitute for human contact.
The health, education and corporate communities have been interested in virtual environments in the past. What makes now different from the gold-rush days of LambdaMOO and other mid-90s virtual environments? The most important difference is the way all the technologies have now matured to the point where the virtual environments are more realistic, more usable and more immersive. Just as in games and the theatre, it is the suspension of disbelief that helps to engage people. The technologies to do this are now much more widely accessible and the media and young people increasingly raise awareness in a way which wasn't there in the 90's
Commercial virtual worlds also present another obstacle: that of corporate ownership. How can serious games stakeholders ensure that their messages aren't diluted by a virtual world brand and its interests? This is a hot issue and I guess it will only be resolved when there is a wider choice of platforms and solutions.
Second Life has been grabbing most of the headlines lately, but which future platforms do you see with great promise on the horizon? At the Serious Games Institute in Coventry, as well as working with Second Life, we are developing a relationship with the Forterra Olive platform which has the attraction of a more open interface to industry standard tools like 3D Studio Max. We also like the drag and drop capabilities of Visual 3D which should provide some very interesting applications and we are working with Giunti Labs in Italy and Cisco to explore augmented reality applications.
Closer to home, Blitz Games and PixeLearning have developed their own platforms and companies such as Caspian Learning in Sunderland and Immersive Education in Oxford have provided good platforms for the education sector.
Farther from home, I expect to see some challenges from the Far East.
