Most of us non-graphic types of people never take a moment to think about how much time is really invested into generating realistic graphics (no matter the context – from TV commercials to real-time rendered computer simulations). Yet if you were to enter a synthetic environment complete with real-time rendered imagery, you may find certain things amiss when you see a water fall with water but no water flowing. It’s the realism factor. When watching a NPC speak and the mouth movement is not in sync with the audio one giggles to oneself at how unrealistic the scenario seems simply for the animation being off. While modeling human behavior (i.e. hand gestures) takes a talented hand it is possible to be lifelike. Think for a moment how complex a single environment can be. So the question becomes: How real is too real? I say it needs to be so real it hurts!

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I keep seeing a myriad of speculation on what Phillip Rosedale is working on within his newly founded company, The Love Machine. Out of the three projects mentioned on the company website, perhaps the third project is the most intriguing “The Brain. Can 10,000 computers become a person?” With little other information forthcoming one can only conjecture what Phillip and his team are actually up to with respect to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in virtual worlds.

The following are a few short remarks I would make on the subject: Hopefully more personality will be able to be infused into VW’s rather than just the run of the mill boring NPC’s and bots that exist out there today. Sure some NPC’s that are stationed in VW’s today provide no more stimuli to the player than talking to a brick wall. I say AI very well could be the next masterpiece to be infused into the virtual world. The caliber of content could be brought to new levels with the revelations that artificially intelligent NPC’s could bring to the table. Although many skeptics remain…Would AI in a virtual world feel more like a glorified ‘smart’ chat room? Is Artificial Intelligence really possible in a virtual world environment? Is there a real possibility of actually confusing another player that is non-human for a real human being? Will these potential AI characters actually be believable enough? Is there a timeline horizon when implementation may take place?

Sure the future of AI in virtual worlds may lie in the hands of Non-Player Characters (NPCs), but what this will actually look and play like remains unknown. This currently untapped market will more than likely see some interesting developments here in the near future. It is my belief that there are currently some covert operations of bringing AI into virtual worlds that just aren’t ready to be publicized yet. Will this new form of ‘humanoid’ be believable enough? Or will humans and AI “lifeforms” exist in the same worldly sphere. Although the inherent complexities of the virtual world are nothing like the real world it still brings a sense of awe to realize that Artificial Intelligence just may in-fact be possible, ultimately increasing the learning opportunities with virtual human interaction. We may someday ask ourselves, is that a real person or a ‘Smart’ NPC…hmmm, now wouldn’t THAT be interesting. Stay tuned…

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New training in Europe brings reality to virtual worlds

Meet the Sims … and Shoot Them

‘America’s Army’ Blurs Virtual War, ‘Militainment’

Twitter OAuth Comes to Second Life

There.com is closing

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1) You know the old saying – “Build it and they will come.” Well first off if you go the route of purchasing technology to build an in-house vw solution, you are buying the technology but not necessarily all of the components to build a full vw simulation. When Visual Purple licenses technology our philosophy is not to hand over the reins and say “here’s the technology, have fun learning how to use it.” Rather we provide training to all core team members on how to use our technology and offer the full gamut of tech support throughout the entire build and implementation processes.

2) Purchasing a generic platform. Let’s buy a license to Second Life and build the training. Well that sounds all fine and dandy but you still have to come up with the assets to place in your plain vanilla world and have a means to control those assets unless you are prepared to have ALL training proctored or “fat fingered” by real people: that costs real dollars every time someone needs to be trained. Not to mention what’s the purpose of the vw? With both of the above listed options there is no clear cut path on building the training material and implementing it. Moreover, there does not yet exist commercially available authoring tools to create true simulations in SL. Although a certain level of customization is available is it all worth the time and manpower and persistent costs to keep trainers in the loop?

3) Onto the customized virtual world solution route. You supply the Subject Matter Experts and content you want the vw sim created around, a timeline is defined and the work gets done. You end up with a real vw sim that costs less to build than traditional e-learning or CBT and saves you money from day one over any other solution. Collaborative, asynchronous or both…hmmm, why wouldn’t you go this route?!

So there you have it, three pragmatic options when considering virtual world platforms and real world approaches to training. Keep in mind this is just a brief overview without getting into all of the nuts and bolts.

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Yes, I will admit back in the day when tablets first hit the market – I was a tablet fanatic. While my awe with them has dissipated a bit the talk of the new iPad coming onto the market brought back some ancient memories. I will acknowledge that I am not an Apple junkie, however I am still intrigued with what the iPad could potentially offer (and not offer). However I am disappointed by the news that they are passing on Flash capability. Adobe claims that Flash is installed on 99 percent of Internet-enabled computers and plays over 75 percent of videos that are viewed online, could this be a transition to the future of the Internet when Flash is no longer supported? What this means to me is that Flash-based 3-D virtual worlds and the future of browser-based virtual worlds cannot function on the iPad (unless you’re using the Unity 3D plug-in). While so many of us virtual world evangelist thought we were close to mainstream adoption another hurdle pops up. Could this potentially be the writing on the wall for Flash? Flash based MMO communities are wildly popular adding to the fact that all 3 major operating systems currently support Flash, I just don’t see how Flash could fall to the wayside.

The fact of the matter is Flash is cool and all, but is it all really that practical. I will even be one of the first ones to admit that we were awed by Flash’s capabilities and recreated our main company website around flash. But that newfangled technology has lost a lot of its glitz and glamour… hey, look the page flies! So my thought is that Flash will not disappear completely, but rather may not be seen on the all alluring Apple iPad (even with potential conversion capabilities in place). Could this be the next game changer, are we really ready to lead a Flash-free existence? What about playing a YouTube video? Can something weighing only 1.5 pounds really cause such a stir? Could this be the tablet that we have waited on for so long or just another step on the ladder to getting a worthy tablet device in the near future? Will the PC market be able to hold up to this – do they have anything under the radar being developed to counter Apple taking center stage?

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The controlled nature of militaries usually results in standards being pushed down the chain. Refreshingly, we are witnessing a rare phenomenon. Bohemia Interactive and its delightfully robust 3D platform, Virtual Battle Space 2 (VBS2), is taking over militaries worldwide by storm.

This bottom-up emerging standard is a testament to warfighters needing to get things done…now! They found a solution that works better than officially mandated and very expensive top-down solutions. We’re seeing VBS2 as an evolving standard for our military with the Marines leading the way and the Army close behind.

Several important announcements around VBS2 are coming soon. Stay tuned!

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Specific examples of collaboration technologies include: forums, blogs, wikis, and social networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn. With the business world becoming increasingly distributed, it is only natural that collaborative technologies pick up more steam. Collaborative platforms are popular today; whether they are being utilized to bring together a geographically distributed workforce or decreasing company expenditures on outdated, marginal technologies. There is a value proposition to it all. Through the deployment of collaboration technologies success stories are in abundance with more and more work being conducted virtually. Today’s collaboration and communication tools have transformed the way we do business. Today, collaboration fundamentals are still being established and there are a lot of first-generation technologies that organizations are learning about and adopting.

Forward-thinking companies are already adapting to a host of collaborative technologies. The workforce has been revolutionized by the introduction of collaboration technologies, with many more new technologies to come in the future. As collaboration evolves it will continue to introduce new ways of working. While all providing a new (and improved) method of communication within companies and amongst co-workers. Corporate innovation is an ever-changing landscape and companies must stay up with the latest and greatest to succeed and prosper.

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So here’s a scary statistic from Information Week: “Teens and tweens spend an average of 7.5 hours per day playing games, watching videos, and listening to music on their mobile devices.” And yet another eerie thought: “While the impact of so much media consumption is unclear, the Kaiser Family Foundation survey of young people from 8 to 18 years old did find that heavy media users got lower grades than light media users.”

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Oh the tainted “G” word; yes, I said it! Games are great, whether they are played on a board for family game night or on-line such as the perennially popular World of Warcraft. But can a virtual world simulation also be considered a serious game? Well technically, maybe yes. For most outside government training, games are a perfectly acceptable descriptor for some training, but the term of virtual worlds layers in added dimensions (pun intended)… maybe games just does not do justice for what can be achieved in virtual worlds. Games and virtual worlds in the same sentence doesn’t exactly inspire one to think or believe that ‘real’ learning or training value will be realized. Accordingly, we’ve adopted the term “serious virtual world,” kinda works, huh?!

Moving beyond the “game” definition, serious games and serious virtual worlds have much to offer. From elaborate engagement mechanisms such as mini-apps or game elements to questing, all of this begs certain questions: where do you draw the line on what is a game vs. simulation, or can one be both? I say game on!

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The Simulation Technology quickly draws trainees into the scenario, rapidly developing a sense of urgency as they are immersed in and engaged by the believable simulation scenario, ultimately living and learning through their interactions. Adult Learning Interactive Simulation Techniques stimulate positive behavioral change in trainees while they train, meaning that improved performance is immediate.

The pre-existing personal experience and formal education of adult trainees has created established habits, information coding, and interpretation methods which need to conform to standard policies and procedures required to achieve the requirements at hand. This past experience, coupled with dominant and preferred learning style, gives trainees the basis upon which to modify and apply their learning processes to meet the changing needs and conditions presented by the simulation. To facilitate the learning experience, Visual Purple employs a variety of Adult Learning Techniques in our decision simulations which include the following:

Being immersed in these proven Adult Learning Techniques and “living the simulation,” better prepares trainees to apply the virtual experiences learned through the decision simulation to the real events they face on a daily basis. This application to real situations produces results-oriented, productive, highly effective and efficient behaviors. Trainees become self-directive since they’ve accomplished the tasks in a simulated setting and are able to apply this virtual experience to new encounters. Their training enables establishment and implementation of their various strategies for success.

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