Have you ever wished that your elf from World of Warcraft could go buy some snazzy new clothes at American Outfitters? Or that he could get a nice house in the suburbs where he can sit and drink some tea while reading USA Today?
Well, this option may become a reality.
IBM and Linden Lab (the makers of Second Life) have announced that they are going to work on platform interoperability for virtual worlds. So your avatar from Second Life, for example, could travel to There.com and interact with others, go shopping and more.
Other companies, such as Sony (publishers of Everquest and Star Wars Galaxies among many others) and Mindark (makers of Entropia) have also expressed interest in this project. Cisco systems, Intel, Microsoft and Motorola are also looking to work with this new partnership.
In the short term, worlds like Second Life and There.com could become compatible. These two Virtual Worlds are both similar in that the avatars do everyday things. They shop, hang out with friends and drive around in their new cars.
Right now, those of you that have never entered Second Life are probably wondering why people do things they could do in the real world in a virtual one. That is a topic for a whole other day. Just trust that millions of people do this every day.
Second Life and There.com (among others) were just not built to work together, however. So right now that isn’t possible. Huge technological barriers exist that prevent “world-hopping” from happening any time soon.
The barriers between something like Everquest and World of Warcraft is much larger. While both might be games based in a world of fantasy, they don’t have the same “races” nor do they use the same statistical system for the players or items. So if a warrior from World of Warcraft were to enter Everquest with the intention of fighting, how would that work? The “classes” are different enough in the two games that in order to make this possible, some kind of universal fighting system would have to be developed. Not to mention the difficultly in having money and items from each world being vastly different. Can you imagine an exchange rate between Everquest and World of Warcraft? Talk about complexity!
Going even further, how could the aforementioned elf go to Second Life, buy a nice mock turtleneck and slacks ensemble from American Outfitters and then return to World of Warcraft with this outfit on? Not only would it not provide much protection from an angry dragon, but it would certainly shatter the role-playing aspect of the game to see someone in modern clothing. Or imagine how horrible it would be to see a Jedi Knight from Star Wars Galaxies pop into World of Warcraft to fight a dragon.
Ok. I lied. That would rule.
My geekiness aside, these are the types of items that have to be worked out before any kind of “travel” between worlds can happen. Even getting avatars to travel from Second Life to There.com is full of pitfalls that have to be worked out (do items from There.com transfer to Second Life? What about money?). So don’t expect to see any of these changes any time soon.
Still, just imagine the day when you can drive a Toyota Tacoma around in World of Warcraft. Or perhaps just drink a Chinese Coca-Cola after beating up an Ogre.
But that is just being ridiculous, right?
We already have transference between real and virtual worlds. Material goods are only symbols/reminders to ourselves of how we feel about ourselves and others. Although it is true we do not yet transfer such ‘gear’, the much more valuable skills and confidence and strategies can and are continually transferred from virtual to real worlds. WoW and other MMORGs have given people opportunities to develope themselves in ways that fundamentally change their behaviour and success level in all of the worlds they inhabit.
The key phase here is ‘develope themselves’. In a MMORG, you choose the challenges and even identity you take on. These worlds give individuals unprecedented opportunities to see what ‘being’ a different type of person would be like, to actively alter aspects of themselves that they are uncomfortable with, and to dare themselves to try things that they probably would not (or could not ) try in real life.
What is learned about the increasing capabilities of one’s own self does not just stay on one side of the border between the virtual and real world. There is great wealth transferring across those lines. In the form of tested abilities, reduced insecurities, social confidence and competence, ethical awareness, and bravery in trying new approaches to the problems we find in any world we inhabit.
That is an excellent point and not one I have thought about. You are absolutely correct. Skills – of negotiation, teamwork, strategy and confidence are all gained by playing MMORPGs.
Even Second Life, for that matter, can add those skills and more. Networking, a real sense – both social and professional (considering all of the companies are involved in Second Life).
My question would be: These skills that are learned – are they transferred consistently? Do some people realize what they have gained and apply it in the real world? Do they even need to realize it for the effects to happen? I think this question is one worth exploring – if those that play these games show increased confidence and skills compared to where they were prior to playing – and vs those that don’t play the games.