In an earlier article I stated how problems push acceptance. Innovation processes (both of the individual, social and corporate) are usually low the the ‘to do’ list unless you/we/they are faced with a problem. But once we do start looking for solutions to solve these problems, creative and innovative processes are set in motion and [...]

Posted on: March 6, 2008 | No Comments »

This Friday I ‘lurked’ at Orange Island - the big debate of Augmentism Versus Immersion. Though the discussion itself was largely inconclusive it, raised a number of questions I’ve been running into over the course of the Usability Versus Immersion debate as well. The Immersionists were given voice by blogger Gwyneth Llewellyn and Extropia Core [...]

Posted on: March 3, 2008 | 31 Comments »

Virtual culture, future and business blogger Wayne Porter pointed me to the presentation of internationally celebrated inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil at the Game Developers Conference. He tells us (as I’ve said before in 2 earlier postings how games show Virtual Worlds the way): “The games industry fits in well with the acceleration of [...]

Posted on: February 29, 2008 | 9 Comments »

Linden Labs recent release of their new client ‘Dazzle‘ (or see Rheta’s excellent photo review here) reminded me of an old debate I still frequently have with a friend who’s more into games (World of Warcraft and Counterstrike). when I showed him Second Life he was surprised how anyone would be able to ‘immerse’ themselves [...]

Posted on: February 25, 2008 | 33 Comments »

Just now I stumbled upon ‘Linden Lab thinks about RL/SL friends matching‘ over on the mrtopf.de blog, discussing an interesting proposal by Linden Labs (Second Life) VP Marketing & Community Developer Robin Linden:
“Yesterday at Robin Linden’s office hour she asked at some point if we are ok with the following idea: On signup to Second [...]

Posted on: February 18, 2008 | 6 Comments »

‘Myth busted!‘ as Gwyneth Llewelyn puts it. A report of John Urpeth of the British ‘Creative Agency’ Proximity London claims to have debunked several statements and perceptions as they are often found in ‘mainstream media’ on Virtual Worlds. Gwyneth found it remarkable these rapports never seem to hit mainstream media. I was less surprised and [...]

Posted on: February 15, 2008 | 23 Comments »

In and earlier article I mentioned the 7 things marketers could learn from online games, and IBM published a report on how games can teach important leadership skills of the future. Now John Seely Brown, a scholar at the University of South Carolina and Douglas Thomas, an associate professor at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication [...]

Posted on: February 14, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Believe it or not, this is the official website of the largest metaverse project currently being developed. China’s Virtual Economy District which will be an ‘aggressive’ attack on retail everywhere. Ever since October 2007 rumours and facts about the ‘CVD’ have been surfacing in the media. The virtual district is said to be an 80-square-kilometre [...]

Posted on: February 5, 2008 | 9 Comments »