Hey, I was just wondering something.
Lots of games train you to do stuff, kind of accidentally.
For instance, I used to play flying and driving games, and while that didn't really teach me much about flying or driving, it did prepare me for other games. Once I got a sense of the underlying skills, that is.
I read somewhere long ago that the average flight simulator gamer was far more battle-hardened than any real pilot ever possibly could be. Real pilots simply don't have thirty or fifty air battles a night, at least not ones they can walk away from. In other words, real pilots were pretty much noobs by comparison, in their parallel (and very real) world.
So, what of Second Life? Regular people can't start real businesses anywhere near as quickly as they can in here. In a way, there's this incredible fast-paced struggle on the grid where the strong survive, while the weak start over to try another tactic. It seems like a long time, but seriously - a few months to even a few years is an eyeblink in realtime.
What is this doing to us - are we going to expand into future worlds battle-hardened for success? Twenty years on, are we going to see some of the same names in the same inworld 'industries' (for lack of a better grandiose term)?
The humble IBM PC put the likes of Microsoft into a commanding position of unbelievable corporate power, that rocks the world even now. It's long gone, but Microsoft is not. Are we going to see the same sort of effect in virtual microcosm?
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Desmond Shang
Guvnah of Caledon
Join date: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 5,250
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12-30-2008 15:44
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Ralph Doctorow
Registered User
Join date: 16 Oct 2005
Posts: 560
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12-30-2008 16:05
I've wondered the same thing as well.
One issue is that businesses in SL don't proceed much faster than in RL since they are both really running at human speed. It is possible to get into them though for a whole lot less money, although not a lot less time. OTOH, I keep trying to use Alt Click Drag to fly the camera around my Excel charts ... |
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Cristalle Karami
Lady of the House
Join date: 4 Dec 2006
Posts: 6,222
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12-30-2008 16:13
I'd say that SL has created a crop of graphic artists/designers where there might not have been one before. And those that really excel at the marketing angle may have an inside track in the web marketing arena of the future.
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Weston Graves
Werebeagle
Join date: 24 Mar 2007
Posts: 2,059
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12-30-2008 16:19
I think you're on to something here.
Back around 1982 my mother bought an item for her grandkids for Christmas. She wasn't sure exactly what is was, but it was kind of a toy typewriter that hooked into your TV. She asked me to play Santa and hook it up for the girls on Christmas eve. (This was the 1/2 of my family that celebrated Christmas.) I came over and found it was a TI-99 computer. It ook only a few mintues to set up, but then I stayed up the rest of the night learning Basic programming language. By morning I had a rudimentary kaleidoscope with symetrical lines that moved and bounced off the screen sides at random. I KNEW this was something I wanted to be doing until the end of time and that it was somehow important in ways I couldn't explain. Mother was so heartbroken I had taken to this toy far more than the girls ever would, she searched high and low for me one as well shortly afterward. Today I fully believe I am gainfully employed because of my affinity for computers. Though I am no IT guy, I am more comfortable with them than most people in my (baby boomer) age group (with no formal training) because of that silly little toy so many years ago. People in my office call on me first before contacting the IT deptartment, and they almost never have to call IT. We cannot guess what SL is doing for us, but I have as much a gut feeling it is not a waste time as I had about that TI-99. At the very least it offers us opportunities to do a lot of different things with our brains to keep them young and sharp. It is probably doing far more. |
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Phil Deakins
Prim Savers = low prims
Join date: 17 Jan 2007
Posts: 9,537
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12-30-2008 16:41
Twenty years on, are we going to see some of the same names in the same inworld 'industries' (for lack of a better grandiose term)?  _____________________
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3Ring Binder
always smile
Join date: 8 Mar 2007
Posts: 15,028
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12-30-2008 16:49
Hey, I was just wondering something. Lots of games train you to do stuff, kind of accidentally. For instance, I used to play flying and driving games, and while that didn't really teach me much about flying or driving, it did prepare me for other games. Once I got a sense of the underlying skills, that is. I read somewhere long ago that the average flight simulator gamer was far more battle-hardened than any real pilot ever possibly could be. Real pilots simply don't have thirty or fifty air battles a night, at least not ones they can walk away from. In other words, real pilots were pretty much noobs by comparison, in their parallel (and very real) world. So, what of Second Life? Regular people can't start real businesses anywhere near as quickly as they can in here. In a way, there's this incredible fast-paced struggle on the grid where the strong survive, while the weak start over to try another tactic. It seems like a long time, but seriously - a few months to even a few years is an eyeblink in realtime. What is this doing to us - are we going to expand into future worlds battle-hardened for success? Twenty years on, are we going to see some of the same names in the same inworld 'industries' (for lack of a better grandiose term)? The humble IBM PC put the likes of Microsoft into a commanding position of unbelievable corporate power, that rocks the world even now. It's long gone, but Microsoft is not. Are we going to see the same sort of effect in virtual microcosm? it's made me confident in RL adventures. i wasn't really afraid to start my own business, but i also didn't know how to begin. having an SL experience has built my confidence. now, all i need is capital. even with today's economy, my area is begging for a particular niche to be filled - i just pray i obtain the capital (or investor) before someone else decides to try it. just gotta find someone who has loose change to invest with - in reality, that's not really something you go around casually asking people about like you can in SL. LOL _____________________
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Anti Antonelli
Deranged Toymaker
Join date: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 1,091
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12-30-2008 17:24
I'd say there are probably boatloads of folks who have found through SL that they have a knack for marketing or design or "detecting and filling a niche" that they wouldn't have suspected otherwise, and that's certainly a good thing. I'm personally not sure how much those types of skill can be learned from scratch in a place like SL; it's tempting to postulate that SL is good at revealing skills that were present all along, and honing said skills through repetition while instilling confidence in those able to translate their skills into something that matches their personal definition of "success". But of course I may be wrong there. It's almost a variety of "nature vs. nurture" argument and there's plenty of room for reasonable people to disagree at great length.
 My personal experience has been that I seem to have some skill in the areas mentioned above, but my success as measured by the usual metrics is constrained by the fact that I haven't been willing to put the hours into SL that would grow my business into something of note. It's fun though, it makes me a bit of spending money over and above tier and such, and I do feel better prepared than I would have imagined to take it to another level, in this world or another, should the opportunity present itself. _____________________
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