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 traditional confinements are suddenly less restrictive. Below I’ve listed 5 of these ‘future’ problems that have the ability to push Virtual Worlds into mass-acceptance and eventually even make Virtual Worlds ubiquitous.
Information Overload
Information overload is caused by the amount of information the individual has access to. Anyone reading the New York times for a week will be exposed to more information someone 200 years ago would in their lifetime and in 2006 we created 3 million times the amount of data ever written in books. Information overload causes delayed or wrong decisions - based on too much, too complex or inaccurate information that becomes available daily.
The economy of Abundance
Chris Anderson’s best seller ‘The Long Tail‘ should need no introduction. It deals with the economy of scarcity getting slowly outdated as productions costs shrink, and storage/price per unit costs reach the cost of zero due to digital distribution. Niche marketing and innovative processes to create new value and entrepreneurship will be an important part of the economy in the 21st century.
Removal of Geographical Restrains
Cory Ondrejka pointed out in his excellent case study of Second Life ‘Collapsing Geography‘ how the internet is breaking down geographical constrains at a rapid phase on several levels. Any organisation is going to have to have to find ways to adapt to the ever expanding ‘market’, increasing competition and long distant work relations - crossing the borders of their countries more easily than ever before over the net.
Growing demand for Conversation
Social Media has long surpassed its hype status and has become an important part of the internet. In the ‘Age of conversation’ it’s no longer just the people that seek to talk to each other, they also want conversations with corporations (rather then to get told), and want to stay connected to friends trough social networking. The web conversations are changing the way we consume, filter, seek peers, profile or entertain ourselves.
Digital Natives become the consumer market
The 40′ers of today will be the last generation in modern, developed countries who will not have a natural affinity with the value of digital information. Television, newspapers and radio are steadily losing its grip on the new ‘Digital Natives‘ (born between 1983 2000) and the teenagers of today grow up with 3D simulated environments and develop a natural appreciation for the digital advantages available to them starting at an early age.
Though the role of virtual worlds is not entirely clear yet, a solution lies within these virtual environments for each of these major, web-related ‘problems’. Visualisation will make the overflow of complex data browsable, cheap innovation and collaboration will help brands become remarkable within the economy of abundance and stay profitable, workfloors will be redefined as worldwide collaboration and decentralisation of organisations becomes more and more of a necessity, brands and consumers will actively seek trusted, avatarized conversation ’space’ to benefit from each other while the digital natives will seek to explore the opportunities that arise, less retrained by conventions of a pre-internet era.
Posted on: March 6, 2008 | Share on:
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