musings of a social architect: From destinations to distributed network

February 24, 2009

From destinations to distributed network

I really enjoyed reading this fascinating article about Why Reuters Left Second Life. The author, Eric Krangel, captured EXACTLY the reason why I grew tired of developing virtual worlds.

The very things that most appeal to Second Life's hardcore enthusiasts are either boring or creepy for most people: Spending hundreds of hours of effort to make insignificant amounts of money selling virtual clothes, experimenting with changing your gender or species, getting into random conversations with strangers from around the world, or having pseudo-nonymous sex (and let's not kid ourselves, sex is a huge draw into Second Life). As part of walking my "beat," I'd get invited by sources to virtual nightclubs, where I'd right-click the dancefloor to send my avatar gyrating as I sat at home at my computer. It was about as fun as watching paint dry.

Virtual worlds (and especially gaming worlds) are great sources of entertainment. They're immersive destinations where you go to escape from your everyday life. And immersive escapism -- via books, movies, TV, and games -- is often what entertainment is all about.

At Shufflebrain, we're creating a different type of gaming experience: lightweight, distributed mini-games that connect with everyday life by using photos, videos, feeds, and status updates from you and your friends. Our vision is to turn your digital lifestream into an ongoing series of puzzle games that build your brain - AND deepen your social connections.

Feb 24, 2009 8:25:17 AM