Virtuality and the rise of the avatar | Patrick Collings 2008
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Transcript of Virtuality and the rise of the avatar | Patrick Collings 2008
Virtuality and the rise of the avatar
Patrick CollingsSagacite Brand Agency
March 2008
This presentation builds on an earlier one dealing with social media, user generated content and virtual worlds. That presentation can be viewed at http://www.slideshare.net/pjcollings/brands-in-the-digital-arena-patrick-collings/
Thanks to Fallon strategic planners Aki Spicer and Avin Narasimhan for bringing the work of philosopher Jean Baudrillard and the quote from William Gibson to my attention.
what are we going to look at
understanding virtuality
the concept of virtual worlds
second lives become real
brands in virtual environments
follow the avatar
key takeaways
virtualityvirtualityis already part of our lives
“The matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games. … Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts. … A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding”
The Metaverse is a fictional virtual world where humans, represented by avatars, interact with each other and software agents, in a 3D environment that uses the metaphor of the real world.
Jean Baudrillard (1929 - 2007)
French philosopher who tackled the concept of virtuality in society, specifically "hyperreality" where the real object has been effaced or superseded, by the signs of its existence. Baudrillard argued that we lived in a world where we seek simulated stimuli and nothing more
our children brought virtuality homeour children brought virtuality home
we trade incurrenciesthat we neveractually hold
we immerseourselves inthe game
our work haslong beendigital
our work haslong beendigital
clip from the matrix of morpheus and the red and blue pills
virtual worldsvirtual worldsthere are more than you think
what is a virtual world
promotional clip of sony’s virtual world demonstrating some of the common features and functionalities of
virtual worlds
bit like an unscripted video game
comparable to internet in 1990s
regarded as the first steps towards web 3.0
By 2011, 80% of active internet users will have an avatar
Gartner Consulting
your kids probably alreadydo
barbiegirls
webkinz
clubpenguin
zwinky
neopets
imvu
second life
gaia
habbo
redlightcenter
kaneva
unique US visitors in Sept 07, in millions
virtual worlds and gamingare of the same genre
second lifesecond lifewhere all the brands went
the virtuality of second lifeintroducedthe reality of avatarsto adults
players built their own worlds2
players could sell what they owned4
1 players created their own stories
players owned what they built 3
from september 2006 to march 2008, the number of second life members grew from 800,000 to 13,000,000
they came
during the same period the number of simultaneous second life users grew from 10,000 to 57,000
they played
in the space of 16 months the average value of transactions per day on second life went from $500,000 to $1,200,000
they paid
in february 2008 nearly 55,000 people had a positive linden dollar flow, up from 44,600 in september 2007
they profited
from the beginning of 2006 to the end of 2007, the size of second life grew from about 100m square meters to 900m
they stayed
typical unit is an “island” of 65,000 sqm
by 21 march 2008 there were 13,292 private islands
they evolvedavatars continue to become
more realistic (even if it is in a fantasy way), as does their
environment
32average age
45% females
49average hoursonline per month
North America Western Europe Far EastAustralasia South America Other
the virtuality of brandsthe virtuality of brands not so simple
great virtual land rush
what went wrong
no effective advertising channels2
indifference and hostility from residents4
1 rush to live the hype
replicated real world strategies 3
life goes on
200,000 products
including brands that are not officially there
what should brands do
1 be aware
at the moment that is probably where south africa-focused brands should be
see virtual worlds as evolving stories21 be aware
RPis very big in second life
merge real life and second life storiesmerge real life and second life stories
see virtual worlds as evolving stories21 be aware
don’t try conquer, immerse 3
see virtual worlds as evolving stories2
treat virtual worlds as petri dishes4
1 be aware
don’t try conquer, immerse 3
“...if you believe that role playing behaviours indicate people’s latent deep-seated wants and aspirations then your company could potentially use these worlds as a staging ground for new product designs to get early customer feedback”
Accenture
innovate and produce multiple options
branded entertainmentthe rules that we are developing for
are the ones we should be applying
follow the avatarfollow the avatarfor our futures are intertwined
avatars are crossing over
existing when we are offline
testing our understanding of what constitutes a relationship
avatars do not only exist in virtual worlds
they play in our games for us
we make movies about them
avatars appeared in their own movies, progressing from extras to star
clip from the polar express. see next slide
clip from beowulf showing how in less than three years the animations
had become far more lifelike
Ray Winstone
John Malkovich Anthony Hopkins Angelina Jolie
and they became them
reuters “embeds” journalist adam pasick in second life and renames him adam reuters
adam also covers real life events from second life
and starts to lose his real life identity
all of which leaves me with questions
will we acquire brands for them2
will avatars become brand ambassadors4
1 will wandering avatars represent us
or let them influence our brand choices 3
takeawaystakeaways
virtual worlds are increasing 2
brands need to rethink the rules4
1 virtuality is part of our lives
their future lies with the youth 3
bandwidth constrains 6
their impact is still to be realized8
5 look to branded entertainment
avatars exist beyond virtual worlds 7
“One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real, the virtual from the real.
In the future, that will become literally impossible. The distinction between
cyberspace and that which isn’t cyberspace is going to be unimaginable”
William Gibson
For ongoing coverage of and commentary on virtuality, virtual worlds, avatars and social media in general please visit the Brand Architect blog at http://www.collings.co.za/
Patrick [email protected]+27 (0)83 616 0967