Milestone in TransWorld Existence : Spanning Multiple Worlds

While Second Life is the dominant virtual world at the moment, it is quite likely that going forward it may not be so ... other virtual platforms could ( and perhaps should ) become available and equally popular ... after all who wants another MS Windows !

However spanning multiple worlds is not easy .. each world has its own client along with its own set of assets that is not available when one is in a different world. It is almost as if one would need a different browser to visit each website on the internet !

To overcome this difficulty, I had in my blog proposed a Global Avatar ID .. which would allow an avatar to move from one world to another just as we move from one website to another. I had listed the significant challenges that presented itself.

Today, the BBC is reporting that IBM and Linden Labs are collaborating to create a very similar concept where Universal avatars bestride worlds.

This is very significant milestone, an inflexion point, in the evolution of the virtual worlds. How does the community react to this ?

Tags: transworld

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tao Takashi on October 27, 2007 at 12:54pm: So I am active in the Second Life Grid Architecture Working Group (SLGAWG) which has as a goal to define a standardized protocol for virtual worlds. If you base your virtual world on top of that protocol you might be able to connect to other virtual worlds with the same protocol.

One big issue is of course identity. On the one hand it is annoying to fill out your profile on each new social network and this will even get worse of you have to define an avatar for each new virtual world you want to join. On the other hand you might not want to connect your single identity to multiple avatars because of various personal reasons.

The thing we discussed in the SLGAWG was to have an identity layer above the agent layer. This means that you have one identity which can e.g. be define by an OpenID provider but you can attach multiple agents to it. Moreover it is of course also possible to use multiple OpenIDs for different uses.

So in the end it depends on yourself what level of control you want to have.

Here is the link to the SLGAWG wiki btw: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Architecture_Working_Group; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by bjorke on October 28, 2007 at 2:59pm: Sorry, I really don't see much use for this. I don't want to shop at Sears with my JC Penney card. If I want people to know that I'm the same person they encountered last week across town, I think I can tell them. Top-down standards are a bad idea for nascent industries. Who is served here?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ken Rigby (MellaniuM, Tele3DWorld) on October 28, 2007 at 4:11pm: I see second life the same as BASIC was to Software Development in the 1980's a great little into to the subject of software: but not usable as a serious programming Language. However, SL is providing the interest in VW globally but limitations as with the BASIC software language will eventually be discovered.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tao Takashi on October 28, 2007 at 4:52pm: I am definitely served. I am already annoyed right now by all those social networks where I over and over need to give my profile etc. If I can simply login with my general account (or maybe 1 of 3 for different purposes) I would be very happy. The same would be true for avatars. I wouldn't enjoy creating a new avatar on each new virtual world.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SuezanneCB-SuezanneC-Baskerville on October 28, 2007 at 5:36pm: Many people prefer to have a credit card they use everywhere, like a VISA or Mastercard, that works at the gas station, the grocery store, the Penney's, the Wal-Mart, etc.

Do you want to have separate cards for each Wal-Mart? Would you like to use a different card for each cash register? Perhaps you'd prefer to fill out a new credit application for each separate purchase.

I don't know well the credit card analogy fits but it is certainly not true that there is no widespread desire for credit cards that are broadly acceptable. The degree to which a credit card is usable at multiple places is frequently mentioned in commercials for credit cards.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by bjorke on October 28, 2007 at 6:57pm: But do you need to use your credit card to walk in the door of each store?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SuezanneCB-SuezanneC-Baskerville on October 28, 2007 at 7:48pm: The analogy doesn't hold.

You do have to log in with a unique identifier at each virtual world at present . That is already the case.

One aspect of the idea being discussed is whether to enable those who wish to to use one id to enter more than one place. You apparently want to deny people that choice. Why do you want to restrict other people's choice about how to access virtual worlds?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by bjorke on October 28, 2007 at 8:39pm: Of course not. And currently they are not restricted in any such way.

But in terms of registration and business dealings, we already have Amex and Visa. It is silly for VW vendors to think they should enter that business.

If people are interested in instituting appearance standards, well then that is saying that people will be restricted to having to put up with the current lowest-common-denominator. Betting that technology will not change seems like a foolish wager. Good luck on getting anyone whose business plan includes aiming high on board with that idea.

The truth is that Visa and Amex were based on an EXISTING standard: money. It has high stability and high fungability. For Virtual Worlds, I truly see no value to providing some over-arching but narrow set of standards to a medium that's highly variable and still forming. Between vendors, great. If Club Penguin and CyWorld want to join their accounts, fantastic. But for some third-party group to think that a "standard" they declare arbitrarily would have value, well, hey, good luck with that, I'm sure the process will be fun.

But I really think it will just burn a lot of energy and create obstacles to innovation and growth.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tao Takashi on October 29, 2007 at 4:14am: Well, we will really have to see how this appearance thing will come out in the end. I think for many areas like appearence, object model, physics model etc. we probably will have several standards in use and the underlying protocol should be able to transport most if not all of them.
Then you still might need different clients for different virtual worlds but maybe you can at least access bits from VW x inside VW y and be it simply your friends list.

Maybe there will be also some multistandard-client at some point but that's hard to predict of course esp. if the protocol is not even around yet ;-); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ken Walters on November 27, 2007 at 7:45am: I know from my point of view I might maximise sales of my art and objects if I had a presence in different worlds. would I need a multiverse avatar? possibly, would I need a way to get my goods to market from one point to make life easier-yes please.
But it would, for businesses, need these worlds to have a market economy, which may apply to some game worlds as well especially where moving money/credits or goods around. Would a weapon in one game world have an unfair advantage or even work in another?

I know SL is slowing down with its economy for the small individual business, many trans nationals wouldn't notice it because they're there for pr and meeting places.

How would a membership be paid, and who to?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Myron Curtis on July 23, 2008 at 7:13pm: The bottom line here, of course, is that the Virtual Worlds will connect just like the soon to be outdated internet did. We will need to have Avatars that will move fluidly among them. I believe that this will also include a means of keeping our possessions and personal info on our own PCs, and not on the V. Worlds servers. While the virtual currencies work, it would be best to include our RL financial systems with some enhancements rather than have to translate among the different V World systems.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Doron on September 23, 2008 at 6:50am: I urge you to check out GeoSimphilly by GeoSim, this one might be one of the best mirror-virtual worlds up to date.

www.geosimphilly.com; ▶ Reply to This