Virtual Worlds

Lecture Reflection
Pre Recorded Lecture on Web 2.0 Technology: Virtual Worlds, Virtual Environment & the 3D Web.

This was an interesting lecture providing in dept views into Virtual Worlds like MMORPG's, to MUVE. First of all I was amazed to find out how many types of virtual worlds actually exist ranging from multiplayer online games, to just venues where you can use it as means to Social Networking. I was amazed to find this many examples of MMORPG's & MUVE's!! It truly is amazing to see the capacities of each one of these virtual worlds and they do offer some valuable insights in an organizational settings.

And I agree with the view point presented in the Lecture about some of these virtual worlds offering real world advantages in an organizational setting. Second Life for example can be used as a collaborative tool. It's great for educational purposes as has been my experience with this particular class. I was a little uncertain about my distance learning experience when I enrolled for this class but the meeting venue in Second Life totally offered me a chance to be in a class like environment with my professor and class mates. The avatar concept really brings about a sense of proximity and that certainly has helped me form deeper connections to especially my project team mates. We have met in Second Life on several occasions collaborating, sharing ideas, frustrations with our avatar and talking generally as well. Second Life has provided a very personal connection to my class which otherwise would not have been possible. A typical online class with pre-recorded material, online reading material, telephone classes etc would have been sufficient. But it would not have been such an ENRICHING and INTERACTIVE experience. Second life class room has allowed us students to ask questions, provide feedback and suggestions, the value of which is so immense than just listening to a lecture or reading a book. I feel and hope that most if not all my forthcoming classes have some form of interaction in a 3D virtual world...

Apart from educational uses, the virtual worlds can have other benefits as well. They are great collaboration tools. It can be used as PR for an organization's product or service. It can be used for training employees in a company. The virtual world especially has one very valuable use - it's ability to help people learn more about teamwork. The multiplayer online games offer this very skill along with the leadership opportunities it presents as we saw in the article "Leadership's Online Labs". Virtual worlds can help an organization reach it's customer and offer deeper understanding through interaction with them. These virtual worlds become even more powerful when integrated with document creating & editing tools like Microsoft Office. It will be really interesting to see how organizations in the future will adapt these virtual worlds in their organizational setting - it will be a totally different world to work in!