Stephen PrenticeA colleague forwarded me reports from The Guardian that Reuters is pulling their reporter out of Second Life. With everyone talking openly about the “R” word these days this hardly rates a tremor on the shock scale. Frankly, things have been a little quiet on the “Second Life” front for a few months and we are definitely well down in the trough on the Gartner Hype Cycle. But be careful about lumping all virtual world activities into the same trough of disillusionment. The majority of virtual world participants are still too young to understand what recession means, let alone have lived through one, and the online gaming market continues to move steadily forward.
Philip Rosedale, Linden Labs CEO, always had visionary ideas for Second Life and many enterprises have taken the plunge over the past couple of years. Reuters formalised departure is just the latest in a long list of disillusioned participants, although most have not seen the need to publicly announce their decision.
But the current economic gloom may yet hold a silver lining for virtual worlds (as a generic technology rather than any specific instance). As business leaders seek to control costs the business travel budget is about to get slashed, or at least severely curtailed. As the end of 2008 rolls around a lot of people are going to be looking with a slightly less jaundiced eye, at any technology that will allow meetings and collaboration without the need for expensive travel.
Virtual Worlds are going to be high on the list of potential candidates for consideration. Not, I hasten to add, the public variety whose meteoric rise (and fall) have dominated the headlines over the past couple of years – but the slightly boring, very practical (sorry, no designer outfits for your avatar!) and decidedly focused on productivity variety. The needs of the enterprise will dominate, so tight control over avatar Identity and security will take precedence over atmospheric lighting, gently swaying tress and rippling water. They will also lurk inside the corporate firewall or on secure shared service environments, so don’t expect to see much in the public arena. These are collaboration tools, targeted at productivity, information exchange and learning and anything that doesn’t aid that will be ruthlessly eliminated.
For most of us 2009 is looking like a tough year, but for virtual worlds with the right focus, 2009 could be a year of strong growth and we could all find ourselves spending more time in a virtual workspace whether we like it or not!
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