Last year, ComputerWorld published an article on the top eight corporate sites in Second Life. The rankings are: 1. IBM; 2. Pontiac; 3. Sun Microsystems; 4. Dell; 5. Reuters; 6. Cisco Systems; 7. H&R Block 8. Best Buy Geek Squad.  It’s not difficult to see from this list that many of these companies are in hi-tech industries.  Some may argue that these firms are more engaged in Second Life because they have the skills and resources to.  While this is probably true to some extent, I think there is another much more important reason for these firms’ SL investments: to be ahead of the learning curve for the next-generation 3D Internet.

Second Life is most well-known for the ability of individuals to take on an alter-ego in the form of an avatar.  While this concept is appealing to some people, others also find the concept laughable.   But the much more universal appeal of Second Life comes from the 3D virtual reality of the environment.  Currently the Internet is dominated by textual information (such as this blog), with multimedia added here and there.  This is NOT a “normal” way of experiencing things or interacting with other human beings.  What Second Life demonstrates is a more realistic environment where individuals “walk” and “touch” like they do in real-world, if not quite yet, it will be that way soon.

The implications of this new way of presenting information in a connected Internet is huge, from new product development, marketing, to basic business operations.  Yes, many still complain that Second Life platform requires too much computing power.  But that’s similar to the difficulty of watching video online before broadband becomes popular.  As computing power increases according to Moore’s Law predictions, the platform will eventually become a piece of cake for most users’ computers to handle.  Or if the Second Life Grid (the platform underlying Second Life) is not the best way to support 3D virtual reality, someone else along the way will come up with a better way of doing that.  It’s just a matter of time.

For hi-tech companies, this potential shift represents another significant wave of change since the birth of the Internet.  The structure of today’s online environment may become obsolete under the new system.  Rather than being sitting ducks waiting for the wave to push them along, smart companies have already taken on this learning task and have championed in this yet unknown territory, on the surface for marketing reasons but deep down for much bigger revolution of business ideas and processes.

Although the 2006 EPN study on Second Life (PDF) is quite old judging by the Internet age, I have just discovered it as a newbie to SL.  What I find interesting in that report is the general conclusion of enhanced psychological health and happier life due to participation in Second Life.  Converging on a point I raised before in my blog, this report suggests that, for most people, SL does not threaten to replace real-life but rather functions as a supplement and extension of our real life.  It’s all interconnected in our own mind and therefore has a real impact on who we are as an individual.

USA Today ran a short story on the integration of brain signals into video games. The featured company, Emotiv Systems, is about to start selling a neuro-headset that will be able to sense and transmit your brain signals into computerized video games. Video games will then integrate those signals into the play. While I don’t have the luxury of time to play much video game, I am fascinated by what this technology could mean to our virtual experiences. Take the example of a virtual world like Second Life (SL). While its 3D environment offers users a much more realistic experience, the ability of users to express, experience, and exchange emotions are still limited. If we were to add a neuro-headset, however, the opportunity for emotional exchange would become much greater. Musicians giving live in-world concerts will be able to feel the vibe of the crowd, and SL couples will be able to feel each other’s rush when they “kiss”. Does that mean a second life will be more addictive because it will be so real? Or does it mean that it will be less possible to separate a real self from a second-life avatar?