Wednesday, May 07, 2008

A New Vision for Second Life

Popular and well-known virtual world Second Life (which I have often blogged about here) has announced that a new CEO - Mark Kingdon - will be taking over in mid-May. Here are extracts from a recent interview with TechReview:

Mark Kingdon: I'm spending a lot more time in-world now. I'm still in that place where I'm surveying the landscape, because it's pretty vast, and I'm collecting experiences that are amazing. It's just mind-blowing that this is all user-generated content. I haven't yet created anything myself other than clothing, but I think that's the next step for me because I like to make things.

TR: Creating things seems like a Second Life rite of passage.

MK: That's definitely the story of Second Life. Once you cross that magical "Aha!" place, it becomes very compelling.

TR: A lot of new users seem to have trouble getting to that place. They get confused by the controls, and aren't sure what to do inside the world. Do you have any thoughts about how to make it easier to get started?

MK: I've got a lot of background in the kind of user-centered design work that's going to be important for Second Life, especially as you look at the first-hour experience. I haven't come to any specific conclusions yet, but I think it starts with understanding what the resident needs in order to make a powerful experience, and looking at the kinds of people that you want to attract and bring in-world. The answers will emerge very clearly from that.

Read full article & interview - 'A New Vision for Second Life'
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