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By Tim Ferguson, 23 October 2008 13:38

COMMENT

Â…starting to see the full potential of virtual worlds like Second Life.

What are the big trends emerging in virtual worlds?
There is a major move away from simply 'being there' to making that presence a very real and strategic part of the business.

When the internet came along a lot of businesses realised they needed to have a website. But for many, it was a few years before they really started to wonder about what they should actually be doing with it.

The timescales with Second Life are dramatically shorter but still we are only now seeing for ourselves just how big this could be. Take the example of universities. They can not only hold lectures and seminars in-world but they can create fully interactive, immersive environments where students can communicate with tutors and professors and explore virtual learning tools.

Businesses meanwhile are using Second Life to get closer to their customers but also to staff. Everything from internal meetings to product showcases to the development of prototype models is happening right now in-world. In the last few weeks I've even heard about movie studios creating sets in-world to plan scenes and logistics before building on a real-life sound stage.

Businesses are now really exercising the full scope of their creativity and the great thing about this is that the only limit is their own imagination and ambition. That is the great benefit of the Second Life grid. It's a blank canvas of almost infinite potential.

What challenges does Second Life face?
Linden Lab faces the same challenges as any other business, retaining and attracting quality staff and customers or users, staying true to our core values, staying ahead of the competition and making enough money to stay in business and reinvest in the business.

It's a mistake to ever think your business isn't ruled by those common requirements. We've all seen online businesses, for example, who never satisfied the last requirement in that list.

What do you think the future holds for Second Life and virtual worlds in general?
Linden Lab and Second Life are really at the cutting edge of the virtual world phenomenon and much of the innovation in-world is driven by residents.

That innovation will continue to ramp up, engagement will increase and Second Life will increasingly become a strategic part of an organisation's IT use and online presence.

To be honest I can't think of a time I've been in-world and haven't been blown away by what residents are doing on the Second Life grid. That is the real power of the model and that is the reason why it would be really easy to underestimate just what can be achieved in one year, five years or 10 years. But it should be great fun finding out.