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SL the future of the internet?

January 5, 2007

I ain’t sure – and here’s why – it’s too much of a pain in the arse.

Let’s do a hypothetical: the big four banks decide an SL interface is the way to go for their internet banking and introduce it. I can tell you now, if they continue to offer the current web interface I’ll take it over going through the motions of walking up to a virtual counter to go through a virtual conversation to withdraw funds. It’s a trite example but you get my drift.

I’ve shown SL to a bunch of people between the ages of 25 and 65 and the initial reaction is usually flat to say the least – not because it’s new and involves change, but because the feedback is ‘why would I bother?’.

I’ve even done some work to get a company I know to look at SL and I get the same reaction – it’s not that the technology doesn’t have potential, but that it will extend the time taken to do things. I think there’ll be some bridging technology between Web 2.0 and the SL-type interface before there’s even a remote hope of wide user acceptance…

Thoughts? Thanks to Leyah for inspiring the topic ;-)

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Written by Lowell Cremorne · Filed Under Op-ed 

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  • Kat Claxton
    Thoughts...

    I think sl can be used in a capacity that extends beyond the border of a web interface. The visual and performing arts are already using it to expand their audience and customer base to be worldwide, and while this is something that can be handled via a GUI, it is much more effective in a simulated 3-D format.

    As a person who works with folks daily from all around the country and the world, this medium can provide a new method of travel to bridge the physical gaps. While there is television and telephone conferencing today, these are still very 2-dimensional environments. Having a sense of being in a space with another person can contribute to moral and comeraderie in a way that 2 voices on a phone cannot.

    I think that if you want to use this as another version of the Internet, you will be uninspired to take the extra steps just to browse. If you want to treat it like what I believe it to be - a blending of the cyber and physical worlds - and use it for more, then I think you'll agree with me that this is the global community of the future.
  • Kat, they are some great points. The potential for SL in bridging the cyber and real is huge, particularly for people who for one reason or another may not get full 'access' to the real world.
  • jakdracula
    Hi.

    For a hundred thousand years at least, we've processed communication data in 3d space.

    Then the printing press came along, and used 2d space (words) to represent 3d space.

    Since then, there's really nothing that has come along as a mass medium to communicate in 3d space. TV isn't 3d space...so don't go there.

    SL is the first 'thing' that's come along that in many ways communicates in 3d, a way we've been naturally programmed through genetics to communicate.

    I was the leader of the team that built the first Flash Banking interface in the 1990's, we won the Flash Film Festival for ecommerce site of the year for it in 2001.

    I've been a career banker now for a long time... and I think that people won't really embrace the same teller experience they have in RL in SL. I could be wrong, and I usually am, but... maybe the banks will consider a whole new way of banking in SL, and maybe that's why I'm on there!

    ha!
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