Thoughts from My So-called Second Life
I really enjoyed "My so-called second life" yesterday; it had a good line-up of speakers and some really thought-provoking stuff.
I'll declare a certain bias: Esther is a friend and former denizen of Rosehill, but I found her (and Justin's) talk fascinating. I've not used WoW or Second Life myself, and having seen a few folks having trouble extracting themselves I'm reluctant to give them the time they'd need, but they look worth investigating. I got to bond with Helen on the this-stuff-makes-me-feel-old front :)
In particular the comparison of WoW and 2L as games vs social spaces was interesting. Outside I quizzed E&J about ways that MMORPG or similar might be made "casual" and moved to mobile. It was only on the way home that I realised one model for taking these games onto phones might be the one which Twitchr followed - a game which requires small bursts of attention, but sits at the back of your mind throughout the day. Ah well.
The IBM guy talking about use of virtual spaces? I was a bit sceptical about this, but like I say, I'm behind the curve in this area. I loved the use of 3D to present Wimbledon (complete with ball trajectories etc.) but as a general social space for businesses I'm more sceptical: I'd expect to see the corporate world use more specialist tools.
Thanks to Mike for arranging the day, and all the speakers!