Posted by Izzy Neis on October 9, 2007
Joi Podgomy is Vice President of Interactive Development at Ludorum. She specialises in online communities for children aged between 8 to 12 years of age and has been working in this area for the last eight years.
Lizzie: What do you think draws children towards immersive environments and virtual worlds?
Joi: I think role playing, that playset, that play house thing and that play pattern has always been there. And I think what’s happening now is that technology is just allowing that experience to be played out in a different way…Allowing them to go into those virtual worlds and actually be that character, be the doll, be whoever they were going to be as opposed to just holding the dolls and playing so….
Lizzie: This is a natural extension?
Joi: I would say so…I think virtual worlds are very much at the beginning and of course kids are always right there in all the stuff. Kids are always right there, right at the beginning when something
comes out. I don’t think the virtual worlds that are out right now have really figured it out. I think there’s a lot of room for improvement.
Lizzie: What needs to be there to get children going?
Joi: I definitely think games…I think the video games right now, especially the first person, real time, strategy type of things? Those ones are really hitting it…If you need that complete immersion you
definitely have to have game play, you definitely have to have interaction between the users, they have to communicate with each other and not be hindered by a specific list of words or pre-defined chat.
Lizzie: Should businesses launch their own virtual worlds?
Joi: Is your audience, you know, screaming they want to get to that next level or is it just because it’s in the news right now? I think there’s a lot of those really basic questions that people have skipped
over. Do you need a virtual world? How are you going to justify the costs? These are questions…I don’t see people having those kinds of conversations. I think the hype is making people skip some basic strategy questions.
Interviewed in London, 24th September, 2007
Virtual Worlds Forum Blog » Blog Archive » Interview with Joi Podgomy
Mwahahahahaha! Well done, Joi!
technorati tags:tweens, youth, virtual, worlds, online, communities, future, joi, podgorny
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Posted by Izzy Neis on October 9, 2007
The BBC and Children’s BBC has launched a beta test for Adventure Rock, a children’s virtual world that presumably stems from the case study of the same name initiated through part of a £500K grant in July. Adventure Rock was the first announced virtual world for the CBBC back in January. Adventure Rock has targeted December 2007 for a full release. According to an Agence France-Presse, the world will be completely free with neither advertising nor premium access charges. And to increase safety, the world will be chatroom-free. “As a public broadcaster, it’s
paramount to make sure children are as safe as possible,” Marc Goodchild, head of the BBC’s Children’s Interactive and On-Demand, told a MIPCOM conference when announcing the world. [via The Straits Times]
One of the interesting aspects of Adventure Rock is that it doesn’t seem to be tied to any particular show or brand on the CBBC. Instead, there’s an ongoing story on the website that users can follow around with. With neither a advertising or subscriptions, Adventure Island seems to be almost entirely about bringing users to the CBBC website–it was once called CBBC World–and continuing the research of the CBBC and the University of Westminster. It also looks like the CBBC is trying to find ways of “continuing the interactive theme,” as an overall brand.
The BBC with Ragdoll also commissioned NiceTech to develop a virtual world for the upcoming show Tronji, but that isn’t set to launch until Spring 2008.
Virtual Worlds News: BBC Launches Children’s Virtual World
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Posted by Izzy Neis on October 9, 2007
Is Google Earth a virtual world? Google is marketing it as such. The company is promoting Google Earth running Google AdWords promoting Google Earth as a virtual world. Search results for “virtual worlds” pull up keyword ads from Google for Google Earth. The company is on the attendee list for the Virtual Worlds Conference taking place in San Jose this week, as is Arizona State University. Both Google and the University made rumor headlines late last month - possibly collaborating on a virtual world.
Virtual Worlds News: Is Google Earth a Virtual World? Google Thinks So
Seriously– just you wait. Second Life will have to battle the might GOOGLE EARTH for virtual world living.
<izzy stares at her count down clock, waiting for the day where the world is replicated online in one might second world - where shut ins and hermits like can party it up at the Sky Bar in LA or go shopping down on the Lower East Side of Manhattan or watch the Cubbies lose AGAIN at Wrigley… while NEVER leaving the comfort of their state-of-the-art luxury computer chair (complete with mini fridge and swedish mesuse devices)>
Read previous rambles:
technorati tags:virtual, worlds, google, earth, online, community
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