DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds

Week 5

Applications of Virtual Worlds

6pm – 9pm

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

Kathryn Merrick and Owen Macindoe

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Announcements

Task 1 is due next week: Ensure you have given permission for Sahi

Kipling and Illykai Pussycat to enter your land Ensure you have your real name, Second Life

name and land coordinates in your report

You will give a 5 minute presentation in class next week:

We will go in alphabetical order Each speaker will ask a question of the following

speaker No slides please, just a demo and overview of

your virtual spaceDESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Lecture Overview

History of virtual world usage

Demonstrations: Applications in

Second Life

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Early Applications of Virtual Worlds

Earliest applications of virtual worlds are: Social spaces Games

This still accounts for a majority of usage, but this is changing…

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Zork, A text based adventure game (1980)

Emerging Applications of Virtual Worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

EducationMilitary Training

BusinessMarketing Media

Collaboration Arts

Social InteractionGames

???

Educational Applications of Virtual Worlds (I)

SolSys (1989) Text-based virtual world Students build working models of future

political, economic and cultural systems

Active Worlds Areas for teaching architecture, biology,

languages, art, design… Conferences about education in virtual

worldsDESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Educational Applications of Virtual Worlds (II)

Second Life Real world

universities are building virtual campuses

Virtual institutions to teach about virtual worlds. Eg: Architecture Island

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Advertising material for Ohio University’s Second Life campus

Military Applications of Virtual Worlds (I)

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Mid 1990s: Marine Doom created Military version of Doom Teaches soldiers how

to coordinate missions

Lockheed Martin uses VRML for US Navy training (1998)

Immersive training for equipment operation and maintenance

Sgt. Sinque Swales playing SOCOM 3

Military Applications of Virtual Worlds (II)

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Second Life Large scale

simulations of real world battle fields

Simulation of battlefields in Iraq

Medical Applications in Virtual Worlds

VR technology 3D diagnostics Surgical training Pre-surgery

planning MIS visualisation Medical education

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Surgical planning, diagnosis, and MIS support tools

Business Applications of Virtual Worlds (I)

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Boeing uses immersive virtual reality systems for visualising aircraft design

3D immersive walkthroughs give clients an idea of options for aircraft interiors

Business Applications of Virtual Worlds (II)

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Island Records and Tower Records have shops in OAVirtual, Sense8 and Active Worlds

Avatars browse online shops and can hear audio samples of merchandise

Island Records in

Active Worlds

Marketing Applications of Virtual Worlds

Real world businesses use virtual worlds for advertising:

IBM, Coke

Other businesses are purely virtual:

Virtual real estate Digital media

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Coca cola presence in

Second Life

Media Applications in Virtual Worlds (I)

1996: British Telecom, Sony and the BBC broadcast the World Cup final in Memory World

First time a prime time TV show was mirrored in a virtual world

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

1996 World cup final in Memory World

Media Applications in Virtual Worlds (II)

Real world media eg: Reuters Reports on virtual

events Maintains a virtual

presence for advertising

New media outlets dedicated to virtual worlds

Eg: Second Life Times

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Reuters have a dedicated Second

Life branch

Collaborative Applications of Virtual Worlds

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Performance/Arts Applications in

Virtual Worlds (I)

Traveler (circa 1996) Artists read poetry, make public performances

Second Life Real world DJs mix music for parties

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Advertisements from the Second Life blog

Performance/Arts Applications in

Virtual Worlds (II)

Second Life: Museums: International

Space Flight Museum Galleries: Brandenburg

Museum Libraries: IBM digital

library

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Charity Applications in Virtual Worlds

Second Life: Relay for Life

benefits the American Cancer Society

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Advertisement for Relay for Life

Tutorial

Preliminary project critiques: Work in your groups

Work on Task 1

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, September 2007

How to Critique Other People’s Work Effectively

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Aim of a critique: Identify strengths of a work Enable others to improve on weaknesses

of a work

An effective critique does more than merely identify weaknesses

Communicating Feedback on a Design

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

The way in which you communicate your thoughts can affect how they will be received:

Start by identifying strengths of a work Query potential weaknesses and propose

solutions

Receiving Feedback on Your Work

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Treat a critique session as an opportunity to improve your work

If you don’t understand what someone is saying about the strengths or weaknesses of your work:

Ask questions!