These are the slides from the presentation I gave at The Wharton School's Tech-Fast on August 5th, 2011 on the history of virtual worlds, best practices, different options, and the future.

1. The Magic Circle Realistic Expectations for Virtual Worlds

2. Before We Start (We Move Really Fast): Definitions & Questions Sim(ulator), Region, 16 acres... 4 by 4. 256x256m.65,536sqm. Eight Football Fields. Rez (from Tron, 1982): Resolution; making something.Avatar: Hindu Deity; Ultima IV; BBS; Social Media; SLVirtual Reality: (coined by Jaron Lanier) “Almost” Reality Who here knows they have an avatar? Abstract concept of Avatar? Our concept of the Avatar? What makes an avatar?

3. What is the Magic Circle? The Regular Rules Do Not Apply

4. Part I: Evolution & the Avatar

5. Who are you? Timothy Allen University of PennsylvaniaClass of 1996 School of Arts & SciencesIndividualized Major:Combined Psychology &Computer Science ...and now...

6. Who are you? Timothy Allen Wharton Computing Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) ...and virtually...

7. Who are you? FlipperPA PeregrineFounding Member,Second Life Community Convention SLBoutique.com

8. Who are you? FlipperPA PeregrineFounding Member,Second Life Community Convention SLBoutique.com OCCASIONAL BANANA

9. Who are you? FlipperPA PeregrineFounding Member,Second Life Community Convention SLBoutique.com STILL THIN ROCK STAR

10. The point being... THE AVATAR Ultimate Blank Canvas Self Expression UnleashedA Path to Freedom Safe, Anonymous SelfExploration

11. Part II: Perception,Participation & Public Space

12. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1975 to 1980: All in the Mind Colossal Cave Adventure, Zork & MUDs: Text & ImaginationMUD: Multi-User Dungeon

13. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1980 through 1990: @ is for @vatar! Rogue / Hack / NetHack: The Genesis of Visual Representation

14. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds: 1990: MOO Bring Persistence; "Not a Game" MOO: Mud, Object-Oriented; Permanently Stored Objects

15. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1993: Virtual Places & the Web Revolution Virtual Web Pages; Start of Graphical Revolution

16. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1993: The Palace Social Chat: A Virtual Comic Strip, “2.5 Dimensions”

17. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1993: WorldsChat Space Station Actual 3-Dimensional Perspective

18. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:1994: ActiveWorlds The Dawn of UGC: User Generated Content, “E-Motes”

19. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds: 1999-2002: Linden Lab Founded; Second Life The Dawn of UGC: User Generated Content, “E-Motes”

20. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:July, 2003: The Tax Revolt Doing the logical thing, SL Residents set themselves onfire to protest the “prim tax.”

21. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:November 14th, 2003: IP Rights Linden Lab grants rights of creations to the creator;covered in SlashDot; FlipperPA Peregrine is born.

22. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:BTW, this WAS before YouTube, Facebook,Flickr, Digg, Twitter & more had traction; infact, SL's users became their early adopters!

23. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:December, 2003: Avalon & Rivers Run Red London based Rivers Run Red opens the Avalon region; the design and branding firm soon brings Adidas, the BBC,Hermann Miller, Avril Lavigne, and more to virtual worlds.

24. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:January, 2004: Land and Prim Limits Land “bought” from Linden Lab; more land meant moreprimitives, which meant more detailed content. Fullsimulators (16 acres of space as 1 CPU) begin being sold.

25. A Brief History of Avatars & Virtual Worlds:January, 2004: The Crompco Virtual Station Crompco Corporation becomes the first company to useSecond Life for corporate training; reduced time ofapprenticeship cycle from nine months to six.

26. Concepts of virtual space... are *almost* always public. Virtual Starwood == The Shining.Private Space == “Security”...hehe Like privacy in Facebook, Twitter,or the Web, does it really exist?

27. Part III: Hyperbole & Hysteria

28. Remember the 2002 map? 16 total regions(also know as “sims”, short for “simulator”)

29. In 2005, the hype is in full swing...25,000 sims (each being 16 acres)

30. 2005: The First Second Life CommunityConvention (SLCC): 150 attendees in 1L;1000s more in 2L. “Mixed Reality”

31. The Gartner Hype Cycle of Technology

32. The Gartner Hype Cycle of Technology

33. The Media Blitz: Major Hype

34. SLCC 2006: 450 attendees...and Mitch Kapor keynoting!

35. 2007: Peak of the Positive HypeNBC, CBS, and CSI: New York

36. SLCC 2007: 1000 attendees, lots ofpress, and time for us to retire!

37. The Fallout: Hype Swings Both Ways Companies didn't engage the SL community. Companies believed their brands were cool enough, peoplewould come flocking to their locations. A community of creative minds isn't easily wooed by marketers.Successful examples: Coca-Cola, Pontiac, IBM, Cisco, IntelBusts: too many to list... but American Apparel was the first.

38. Simon Stevens: Breaking the Rules Independent Disability Issues Consultant • Cerebral palsy affect speech,balance, hand control • Author of "Normality", a playabout his experiences inmainstream education • Passion, commitment anddetermination

39. Simon Stevens: Breaking the Rules Founder of Wheelies Dance Club in Second Life • All are welcome! • Fun support center for those with disability issues • Some disabled choose to create avatars with disabilities • Some choose to walk, dance, and fly • ...and some...

40. Simon Stevens: Breaking the Rules ...and some... CHOOSE TO BUILDAWESOME ROCKETPOWERED WHEELCHAIRS THAT CANDANCE AND FLY!

41. Part IV: So What Works?

43. Includes participation from MIT, Science Center Singapore, Citilab, The Tech Museum in San Francisco, and more

44. Winner of the Linden Prize for using virtual worlds to improve the human condition

45. Visit the region “The Tech 2”

46. Learning Centers

47. Cultural Institutions

48. Open Source Concepts

50. Treated virtual space as a classroom lab

51. Allowed professors to teach subject topics not available on home campus with help from another University

53. Put pedagogy ahead of technology

54. Target assignments to specific tasks in the VW

55. Don’t come into VWs just to look at Powerpoints

57. 36 companies currently listed for trading, with more being added each month

58. Fun way to become familiar with how the stock market works, terminology, and trends

59. Possibility of turning a profit in L$ (Linden Dollars)

61. Key Choices in Selecting a Platform

62. Key Choices in Selecting a Platform

63. The Virtual World Value Chain

64. Google Apps: Are They Virtual Worlds? Colors as Avatars, Spreadsheet as Space

65. 2010: Second Life / VWs in the Web Browser: Viewer “in the cloud” and Canvas Appear

66. OpenSimulator: Free, Open Source Option“Host it Yourself”, Cost-Effective, & Alpha

67. OpenSimulator vs. Second Life

68. OpenSimulator vs. Second Life

69. ...and in conclusion... Unleash your imaginationDo research, but break the rules Avoid the hype Rapid development, embrace change...and most importantly, ENGAGE!

71. Parks Associates: Virtual Worlds and Social Media

72. OpenSim Basics, Paul Vigo for PANMA

73. Second Life: The Official Guide, Linden Lab et al.

74. Very many blogs, all linked from www.PeregrineSalon.com