The end of Second Life's dominance?
Maria Hodges
Wednesday, 10 December 2008 09:26 UTC
Two very broad reports looking into educational uses of Second Life and virtual worlds in the UK, published in November 08, seem to be showing a new trend.
Educators are starting to mention other worlds in addition to Second Life. Chatting to people familiar with Second Life, I get the impression they always thought new, perhaps better, worlds would come along. But now these two reports back this up. At least 80 virtual worlds already exist, with many more in development, but the one that keeps cropping up is OpenSim.
So is this the beginning of the end for Second Life, or are Linden Lab going to up their game?
-
Replies
-
Predicting the future is always hard, but I think this is a safe bet: there will be a time when SL is not the only obvious place to set up your virtual classroom. In addition to OpenSim, realXtend is another project to keep an eye on, focusing on openness and interoperability of virtual worlds.
However, in the end what people will use will depend on their individual needs and conditions. For some of them the openness might be the main lure, for others, a large user base and so on, a bit like it is with operating systems (Linux/Windows). Both will have their uses.
-
I’ve always thought these things will really take off once a networked gaming platform (e.g. PS3) enters the field. Uptake of SL is limited by computers not running fast enough, and clunky keyboard-operated avatars. Games consoles remove these issues, and also offer better scope for peripheral development such as 3-D googles and accelerometer devices.
As chance would have it, an open beta version of PS3’s ‘Home’ virtual world is released today.
-
Second Life could make it possible to give your avatar your own name (or name of your choice) instead of one of their silly ones. That is one of the things that put me off joining it. (Another was the IT services blocking access, but that’s another story! Albeit relevant to the success of these worlds, if people want to access them from workplaces.)
-
