Virtual World News: Best Virtual Worlds for Business, Second Life Not Recommended

By Avarie Parker

Last week Nick Wilson from Clever Zebra, a firm that advises companies on emerging 3D technology, discussed “the major players” in the virtual world arena to a Second Life audience.

(Nick Wilson from Clever Zebra presents in Second Life)

The event held at their SL location(http://slurl.com/secondlife/Zebra%20HQ/127/87/23) was attended by about 20-30 residents and lasted one hour.

During the presentation Nick outlined his picks for the top VW’s for business and outlined the pros and cons of each. A brief outline follows:

1) Active Worlds – http://www.activeworlds.com/
• $6.95 per month fee to become a ‘citizen’
• Healthy group of developers
• Easy building tools
• Firewall available
• No productivity tools, white boards, ppt presentations, etc.

Recommended Uses:
• Rapid proto-typing
• Experiment privately behind a firewall
• IBM and Wells Fargo have worked in the space

2) Proto Sphere, by Protonmedia – http://www.protonmedia.com/
• Free demo
• Learning and knowledge management training
• Integrates blogs, social networking web 2.0 tools
• Search functionality
• Shareable office applications
• Firewall issues
• Content creation controlled by proto sphere
• Steep learning curve for available tools

Recommended Uses:
• Training
• Sales Training
• Insurance adjusters using to view auto accidents in 3D
• Global virtual meetings

3) Qwaq Forums – http://www.qwaq.com/
• 30 day free trial
• Collaboration Application
• Voice issues
• Pre-built content via templates
• Low system requirements
• Easy to set-up, about 10 mins
• Poor graphics, immersion, and avatars

Recommended Uses:
• Remote teams working on regular office documents
• General VW experimentation

4) OLIVE, by Forterra Inc. – http://www.forterrainc.com/
• Contact sales to request a demo
• Government, military, education simulator
• Training and simulation
• Low system requirements
• Functional on mid-range PC
• Easy to use
• Firewall ready
• Bulky install
• No video or ppt presentations yet

Recommended Uses:
• Training and simulation

5) Second Life – http://secondlife.com/
• Free account and download
• Largest social virtual world
• Business to consumer focus
• Highly unstable
• Advanced system requirements needed
• Steep learning curve

Recommended Uses:
• Not recommended for Business use with the exception of possible experimentation

Future Players – VW’s to watch out for

Project Wonderland – https://lg3d-wonderland.dev.java.net/
• Free Download
• Sun Microsoft
• Ugly interface
• Open source
• Java based
• Modular architecture
• API’s available, easy to integrate with almost anything

Vastpark – http://www.vastpark.com/
• Free download
• 5 applications – creator, browser, viewer, publisher and Vast Server Core
• Build your own world
• Firewall ready
• Licensing available for educational and corporate use

Multiverse- http://www.multiverse.net/index.html
• Build your own world
• Netscape developers
• 2000 avatars in one place
• No virtual office document sharing

Project Chainsaw, Nortel – http://www.nortel.com/
• Nortel Networks
• Voice emphasis
• Browser based
• Ecommerce capabilities, i.e. – shop in 3d environment, talk with sales staff and other customers

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