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This week's guest on Metanomics was Dr. Yesha Sivan, an Israelean entrepreneur and senior Lecture at Afeka Tel Aviv College of engineering. He's the founder of Metaversed Labs (MVL), a think-tank that's helping to design the standards upon which the future Metaverse will be built.
Sivan feels that, for now, virtual world platforms are mostly for entertainment purposes. He suspects, however, that in 2 or 3 years 3D virtual platforms will develop and serve as practical venues for everyday business collaboration, like creating and developing products. “The Metaverse will be big.”
15 years ago Dr. Sivan got his first internet connection and was using the first available browsers. He recalls thinking that the technology he was experiencing for the first time was going to bring about “fundamental change” impacting the way we are communicating, doing work and learning. Looking at Second Life for the first time invoked a similar sense of anticipation and interest forming the question “How can virtual world simulations unite to more effectively interface with real world business and enhance communities?”
Dr. Sivan feels we are just starting to develop what he calls "the full Metaverse”. Right now there are limitations on graphics, concurrency, and how easy things are to use - all elements that will need to be overcome before Dr. Sivan's "full Metaverse" can be considered a reality.
Current technology has about as far to go as GOPHER (a menu-based information service) did. The leap to full web browsers made the difference. By incorporating graphics, people suddenly started to recognize the potential of these technologies, which formed momentum and took technology further. The difference was in the definition of new standards.
Defining standards makes it easier for companies to develop the core technologies available to support millions of users. A much larger set of developers and companies can then enter the business, and real progress can be made. “It took Google 10 years to become what it is," said Sivan, "We used to have Alta Vista and that was it for search." Innovation will drive things further, but without proper standards Google wouldn't be possible.
In his analysis of various platforms, Dr. Sivan developed a "3D3C" theory; a summary of what it takes to become a “true Metaverse." He displayed a cross-section of various worlds on a chart, and gave each a rating in four categories:
- 3D Environment - How sophisticated are the graphics? How smoothly do they load? How useful are the camera controls?
- Community - Is the world populated? Are there tools to aid in community-building efforts? How sophisticated are those tools?
- Creation - What types of things are possible to create by the users? How easy is it to create those things, and how accessible are the tools?
- Commerce - Is commerce encouraged? Is it integrated into the world itself?
Using the 3D3C model as a premise, several major firms spanning 8 European countries are on-board with standards development of the Metaverse. "The Metaverse 1 Initiative” starts in April 2008, but already governments are getting involved with the funding efforts and work is underway. A formal website is coming up.
Next Session In 2008
Metanomics will be taking a short break and starting up again on January 7th. Guests in 2008 will include Robin Harper of Linden Lab and David Wortley, Director of the Serious Games Institute (SGI) at Coventry University. See you then!
Tools to aid community building efforts is one area where SecondLife is currently lacking. We at the Metaverse Republic are working to build such tools, but it would work far better if they were built into SecondLife itself.