THERE.com
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:17 pm
One of the reasons for entertainment being interested in 3D is the ability to immerse an audience in an experience. It appears the biggest problem with 3D for the majority of the population is the complexity of navigating in a virtual world. This means over time audiences will migrate to more complex environments as they learn to deal with them, which is similar to Meiners thinking.CNet wrote:The real question in my mind is why is all the money flowing to iPhone apps and 2D kids and Facebook games? The answer, according to those who spend the most time following these fields, has everything to do with how easy they are to use.
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Even some of the biggest innovators in the 3D virtual world space agree with Meiners' take.
"Using the Internet in a real-time, low-latency communicative way where it brings people together socially hasn't been broadly explored, and now it's beginning to be explored," said Second Life publisher Linden Lab founder and chairman Philip Rosedale, "whether it's Twitter or a 2D Flash game, so those systems generally offer people something, and they're relatively easy to build."
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"If you're an entertainment company or media company, you may be exploring 3D virtual worlds," Sherman said, "but it's just [a small] part of your bag of tricks. You've got iPhone games, Flash games, and social games. You go where your users want to go, or where they're already at."
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A game like FarmVille "does a lot of fun things," said Meiners. "It enables people to have a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, fun, and to share that with others...the experience, but also gifts and such. And it's all very easy to tap in to. It doesn't demand much.
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Meiners also thinks that the popularity of social games, either for adults or kids, is grooming new audiences for future immersive virtual worlds.
"I know people are graduating to more sophistication in their social games," he said. "I think some of it, at least, will lead to virtual world experiences."
This possibly isn't the right thread to discuss these comments, but I strongly suspect that there are a number of reasons for why the cavern re-opened when it did and how it did. I don't have certain knowledge that these are "fact" in themselves, but they have reasonable basis in fact:Nalates wrote:We have seen Uru fail several times due to financial reasons. If Uru fails again, it will because of boredom... lack of interest. My interest in Myst Style builds is that they are likely to co-exist with and survive Uru. Experimenting with Myst Style builds now should give us some idea of what needs to change in Uru to keep it popular.
While I am happy the Cavern opened... that may not have been the wisest move. I think it would have been far better to wait until at least some of the tools were in place for adding fan content. Six months from now those catching up on their Myst experience with Live will be looking for new content. If it is not being provided, they will be experiencing negative 'withdrawal pains' we have been through and Uru will again be losing players.