THOUGHT (aka Centric's Blog)

On March 6th 2008, approximately 30 residents of a virtual world descended upon an event staged 100 meters above Yosemite valley. Far in the backdrop, one could see two towering globes. Both the terrestrial globe and celestial globe are works by Giovanni Maria Cassini (1790 & 1792), now prominently displayed on David Rumsey’s island in Second Life. While this sounds impressive, you soon begin to realize that the entire region around you is home to numerous historical maps. Maps that were given a second life in a virtual world.

It is fitting that paper maps are given a second life of their own, in a virtual world that prides itself in offering its residents a second life. The unique nature of this platform is its ability to be robust, scalable, and most of all fully immersive. Because virtual worlds are so tactile it lends itself well to education - and that is why 30 residents from various parts of the world gathered at David Rumsey’s launch event.

As residents settled in, they were given a chance to view a special presentation appropriately titled “Giving Maps a Second Life with Digital Technologies.” Following the insightful presentation, residents called in to a live Q&A session via conference call. Here residents were given the chance to ask David Rumsey questions regarding his work in Second Life and beyond. Although we’ve known it all along, this is when it truly sunk in for me - the residents of second life really crave meaningful interaction and jump at the opportunity for education. They really do!

The questions asked during the call inspired us to look at the work we have done to date. It challenged us to think of new creative ways to further evolve David Rumsey’s island into a more collaborative and educational space. As a matter in fact, one resident asked “when will we be able to see a collaborative project in second life?” in response to David’s comment on wanting to bring in hundreds of his maps into Second Life. Certainly, the virtual plane is the perfect platform for disseminating hundreds if not thousands of maps. The work however can be a daunting task. This is one of the way that residents can collaborate on a project.

As the event came to an end, residents mingled and explored the various landmarks that helped frame this wonderful event. I have selected the accompanying image because of two important reasons. First, because it captures the awe of Cassini’s globes as residents looked on. The later because these residents really made the event a success. Working as event staff, they were available to guide visitors and educate them on the history, origin, and the technical implications of giving these maps a second life.

On behalf of David Rumsey, and the team at Centric I would like to thank you all for coming to the event, and we look forward to seeing more great things come out of David Rumsey’s island in Second Life.

If you missed the launch event, you may view the video presentation here and as always, there are lots more to be seen at Centric’s Flickr page.

Well, more accurately, David Rumsey Maps in Second Life is in MIT Technology Review, but we do get a nice mention.

Thanks again, David, for having the vision to let us experiment in this emerging medium. I can’t wait for the event on the 6th–and to unveil the next additions to this space!

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20357/

While we’re putting the finishing touches on the Rumsey Maps islands in Second Life, we’ve opened them to residents. And, so far, the first impressions have been positive:

New World Notes

Not Possible In Real Life

Ambling in Second Life

And the photos have been spectacular:

Krystine Qinan’s Set

Bettina Tizzy’s Set

Aaron Kukulcan’s Set

The official launch happens on March 6. Expect a press release with full details shortly.

So, today we’re proud to announce a much deeper relationship between Centric, HiPiHi, and 3Di–a relationship that brings unparalleled marketing, story development, and technology development expertise to the Chinese virtual world of HiPiHi.

And we’re aiming straight at the heart of the entertainment market.

Why? Well, when people get into virtual worlds, they get really, really into them. As in, television viewing shrinks, conventional web browsing shortens, and other forms of media go by the wayside.

Long-time gamers aren’t surprised, but others are concerned: What does this mean for the future of entertainment? Is this another blow to theater attendance? Or is this a fringe effect that we shouldn’t worry too much about?

Actually, from our point of view, it’s a convergence of almost everything that’s happening today–from marketing to entertainment and beyond.

From the marketing point of view, we’re moving past the day when you could pound simple messages into someone’s head over and over, day after day, for 40 years, to create powerful brand icons. Marketing today is 2-way. It’s give-and-take. It’s a conversation. And what sparks conversation are powerful stories.

At the same time, entertainment today is rapidly moving past the "pack them into theaters" method of distribution. Today, people want to play in the same worlds as their entertainment. They want to see the stories they create make it out to the big screen. They want to talk with, interact with, and extend their favorite worlds, places, and characters.

And virtual worlds like China’s HiPiHi are the places where the most interesting interactions will take place–on both the marketing and entertainment side.

You can read the press release for the full scoop.

As you may have seen from our press release, Centric has aquired Green Apple Media, a Webby Award-winning studio that specializes in developing rich media sites for entertainment clients.

"Now, what the heck did you go and do that for?" you ask. "I thought you were an agency working in social spaces and virtual places."

Yes, we are. And skills on the rich media side of things are more important than ever for both areas of marketing. Almost no virtual world project we’re currently doing doesn’t include some aspect of rich media and web development. In fact, many of them look like complete brand or product launch campaigns, from the development of identity to collateral to website to social media program to virtual world development to launch and post-launch marketing. So it makes sense for us to bring a leading Flash and motion graphics development studio in.

And it makes sense to them. Steven Apple, founder and CEO of Green Apple Media, told me, "Studios are looking for a complete solution now. The website is the start, now we have to span the social networks, and even reach into virtual worlds." So now, as Centric’s Vice President, Business Development, Steven Apple has the team he needs to give them a complete promotional solution–from conventional interactive development to virtual worlds in China.

So welcome Green Apple Media to Centric, and welcome the additional capabilities they bring!

November 8-11, 2007: X|Media|Lab Beijing

Ken Brady, our General Manager/Asia Region, will be one of the mentors at X|Media|Lab Beijing: "Creative Economies, Digital and Virtual" running from November 8-11 at the Great Hall of the People and at the Cyber Recreation District. If you’re in the area, look him up! His HiPiHi username is Neko.

December 4, 2007: Harvard Workshop on Virtual Worlds

Jason Stoddard will be speaking at Harvard on "Virtual Worlds: Enabling Digital Humanities" in a 2-hour hands-on session from 9-11AM. Also appearing will be David Rumsey, of David Rumsey Maps, a client that Centric has been working with to deliver unique virtual world experiences based on current-day and historical GIS data. Contact Jason via email, Second Life (Fallon Winnfield), or HiPiHi (JasonS) if you’re in the area!

You get used to what you see. It’s a fact. Walk down the same five city blocks everyday, and they become invisible. Live for years in the same house, and you won’t see the architectural details that visitors will notice in 60 seconds.

It’s like that with virtual worlds. You get used to them. And so, you can drop into a cool new location in Second Life or HiPiHi, and say, “wow, this looks really good”–without also thinking, “given the limitations of the platform, of course.”

Let’s clear something up: this post is not about Second Life or HiPiHi bashing. Because both of those worlds are already in existence today, hosting lots of avatars today, and people are building things in them today. VastPark isn’t there yet.

But. Wow.

I was treated to a demo of VastPark by Bruce Joy, the founder and CEO of the company. And. Yeah. Wow.

It has shadows. It has physics that work, and look convincingly random and fractal. It has a sense of size and drama. It has avatars with a POV camera that is buttery-smooth and almost hyper-real. The textures are beautiful. And the scripting language seems to be efficient and easy to use (my tech credentials have long since faded into my past, so don’t hold me to this.) And did I mention it has shadows? Like, you know, those things that are cast when a light source is nearby.

Let’s get a little deeper. Apparently, VastPark is also modular. Their Creator application is in beta, which allows you to put together virtual worlds. There will be a Client application as well. The functionality of the Client and Creator applications can be remixed, so you can deploy a Client-only world (no building by those pesky residents, oh no, you know, they might want to make genitals or something), or you can add functionality from the Client to the Creator to give residents the ability to build whatever they want (because you are enlightened, and know that the more power you give your residents, the more successful your world will be.)

And . . . if MetaWSS works the way they say it will, this could be a game-changer. Imagine, instead of sending the prims (or the mesh) and the textures to the client, you send a description: “bottle123a49c” or something like that. The client can then decide to pick a super-high-res mesh of the bottle for display on a high-end PC, or a lower quality mesh to display on a 3D client that works within a web browser, or even a cartoon 2D model to display on a phone.

Are your socks still on? Mine aren’t. Vastpark has huge potential. Watch these guys in the future.*

*Some restrictions apply. Of course, I didn’t see this running with tens, hundreds, or thousands of avatars. I saw a limited range of demos. I saw only the Creator application. Not the Client. It only runs on PC (grr-gnarr-argh-&#W(&(&@^$@^#!!). All of this or none of this could happen. It may not play with the IBM-Linden-HiPiHi standards. It may be crushed by Google’s entry into virtual worlds. The pricing model they mentioned seemed designed to limit its uptake. And a meteor may land on Bruce’s head tomorrow. Or a meteor may strike the earth and make humanity extinct. I just report what I see, and this was pretty dang cool.