More often than not we here at Visual Purple meet with a client during an initial project kick-off meeting to lay out the project work plan, but by the end of the project so much has changed. It’s like you take a look back in time and think “gee if I had it to do all over again I would have done it this way…” Well I guess I should first say that this happens a lot in life, but when building a project from the ground up you must always anticipate that you could have done it a million other ways- just like building a house. You meet with the architect and draw up the plans, hire the contractor, pick fixtures and finishes and by the time the home is completed you still think, “I should have built the kitchen bigger and added an island or I should have added a window here.” Our goal here at Visual Purple is to help clients leverage our vast experience when considering possible ways of presenting training materials in an engaging manner. All the while thinking outside the box so the simulation is built in a way that the client doesn’t want to go back in time and say “I really wish they would have told me to present the training in this manner.” Well this is where our expertise and years of experience are here to help! Granted one of the many benefits of Visual Purple’s training products is our proven technologies that allow for rapid updates and changes. So unlike a newly constructed house that is more difficult to make any major changes and/ or updates to, Visual Purple simulations can easily be ‘remodeled’ later should the need arise.
It sure seems like Linden Lab was all the talk in the virtual world industry for a few weeks when they launched the much-anticipated Second Life Enterprise. Well the SL Enterprise glitz and glamour has fizzled out and now Linden Lab is even making more changes which has its user base up in arms. The pillar of the virtual world industry, who was the pioneer and stage setter has now gone even as far as increasing their pricing structure for non-profits and educators. Admittedly, SL is still granting Homestead and Open Space to qualifying organizations, but non-profits and educators make up a large part of overall publicity around SL and a 200 percent price spike is quite substantial to these already budget-strapped organizations. We also know they have had internal changes as well, so what does all this really add up to? Did they put the cart before the horse? Did they price themselves out of the market? Is the loyal SL user base still there? Are these really the best business decisions or is this the beginning of the end for Second Life? My projection is that many will now turn to OpenSim grids and give up on the high’s and low’s that has become common place for Second Life. Even fundraising efforts have declined within Second Life. SL’s 2010 Relay for Life only raised $222,804 for cancer research while the 2009 event raised $274,000. Maybe they will surprise us all but as of now the business decisions being made seem to have no real rhyme or reason behind them (at least not to us outsiders), but maybe I will be proven wrong in the future. Will Microsoft be part of the picture…I guess time will tell.
Here’s a link to a prior post on Linden Lab and the Future of Virtual Worlds:
http://blog.visualpurple.com/2010/07/06/linden-lab-future-virtual-worlds/
We here at Visual Purple pride ourselves with the 21st Century Storytelling that we are able to create for our client base. So you may ask “huh?” Well we call it that because our approach to creating custom-built simulations is somewhat unique compared to what others do in the industry. As we all know…people connect with stories. Therefore simulations built around the ‘power of story’ allow the player to connect in a way that may not be possible with traditional methods of training. One big advantage of utilizing stories to deliver this type of training, is that it sticks. Although the trainee may not always be able to remember all of the material presented via traditional training methods, such as table top exercises or e-learning/ PowerPoint methods, when a training product tells a story one can relate to it more and refer back to the story line easier than trying to remember what they learned in a book. It’s just the way we’re wired!
We’re pretty excited! This post has been a long time coming… We are officially announcing a new capability of which we are very proud: ‘Hybrid Simulations’…where we lovingly bake in the best elements of Decision-Based Sims with the cost-effectiveness and flexibility of Virtual Worlds. Decision-Based Simulations are great except when it comes to expanding the world or making rapid changes in a cost-effective manner. Virtual worlds make it easy to expand or update but often fall short when it comes to perceptions that trainees won’t stay on task. We’ve learned through experience that many clients are looking for something beyond the perennially popular decision-based simulation, but aren’t quite sold on virtual worlds, mostly because of the negative perceptions associated with SL-based worlds. Working with select clients over the past 18 months, we have created a successful new approach and began delivering Hybrid Sims earlier this year – marrying the best of both worlds.
These interactive, decision-based virtual environment simulations perform exceptionally well and are produced quicker (in a few months) and at lower cost. We think we like to call it “3D vWorld-DB simulation software” – though our CEO still calls them Hybrid Sims. So, maybe, just maybe, we’ll stick with Hybrid Sims. These 3D animated simulations are custom built and the scenarios play out in a private virtual world. So what other advantages do these custom-built simulations present you may ask? Increased immersion, interactivity, layered decision-making, and feedback to the user (just to name a few). And perhaps the biggest advantage of all, is that this hybrid vWorld-DB simulation, er, I mean Hybrid Sim, is able to run in a browser!
Hybrid simulations also bring their own ‘tool kit’ if you will, which includes the following:
• Idea Generating Tools designed to break current, routine thinking patterns and encourage thinking beyond the status quo through the use of provocation and challenge;
• Focus Tools designed to broaden where, and from whom, students search for new ideas;
• Treatment Tools that are designed to consider real-world constraints, available resources, and other means of support; and
• Harvest Tools that are designed to maximize value received from idea generating output.
Visual Purple isn’t the typical virtual world builder where the ‘average’ virtual world will offer a free roaming character that the trainee can navigate around, our virtual worlds have walls (visible and invisible) and threaded missions to accomplish rather than just the free roaming nature that so many businesses worry about turning an employee loose in, just to “wander” around aimlessly. So there you have it folks, our latest and greatest way of presenting our clients with cutting edge simulation technologies. Stay tuned for more in-depth reviews of the new Hybrid Simulations.
Filed in: Decision-Based Training, General, Virtual World Training | meganrutherford | October 7, 2010 | Comments (0)
Tags: 3d vworld, computer based training, corporate training, Decision-Based Training, hybrid sims, hybrid simulations, Second Life, Virtual World
Marketresearch.com recently released a new addition to their Defense market reports, entitled “The Military Simulation and Virtual Training Market 2010-2020” among the highlights of the report is that the Military Simulation and Virtual Training market reached $8.4 billion in 2009, yes they did say billion with a “B.” The report also stated that armed forces worldwide are quickly taking to military simulations and virtual training as key tools in enhancing training capacity. One of the most influential reasons for the growth in the market is that military forces are looking to reduce training costs due to economic strains in the budgets of the organizations.
