“Free the Avatars!” IBM & Linden Lab Team up to Let Avatars Loose to Advance the 3D Internet

If IBM and the virtual online world called Second Life have their way, New Zealander Nathan Keir, better known as his avatar, Kermitt Quirk, one switched-on gecko with a shock of green hair will soon be free to travel to many virtual worlds, keeping the same name, look and even use the same digital currency.

Virtual worlds can seem like carefree, unconstrained environments where you can virtually do and say just about anything you can imagine. But there’s just one tiny problem; there’s no way to get out. Currently, once your mini-me is built, it will never leave the confines of the world in which it was created.

However, IBM and Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, believe that the time has come for avatars to be freed. At the recent Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo at San Jose, Calif., the two companies are announcing exciting new plans to develop open standards that will allow avatars to leave their own virtual community to visit others.

"As the 3D Internet becomes more integrated with the current Web, we see users demanding more from these environments and desiring virtual worlds that are fit for business," said Colin Parris, vice president, Digital Convergence, IBM. "IBM and Linden Lab's working together can help accelerate the use and further development of common standards and tools that will contribute to this new environment."

The companies want to create “a truly interoperable 3D Internet.” Basically it’s like passports for avatars. The digital doppelganger you made for Second Life will soon be able to hang out, or even live at, There.com, The Lounge, Virtual Laguna Beach and Entropia, among many other virtual worlds under development.

“[Currently], for every world I touch I have to build an avatar,” said Colin Parris, the I.B.M. vice president in charge of virtual world technology. “It’s an obstacle to the development and spread of virtual worlds, both in the consumer and corporate space.”

The logic behind the move is pure genius. The growth of the Internet has always done better with open standards. The more people who are allowed to communicate, inform and entertain each other freely on a network, the more valuable it becomes. Economists refer to the principle as the “network effect.” This effect is what made the Internet all that it is today.

"We have built the Second Life Grid as part of the evolution of the Internet," said Ginsu Yoon, vice president, Business Affairs, Linden Lab. "Linden and IBM shares a vision that interoperability is key to the continued expansion of the 3D Internet, and that this tighter integration will benefit the entire industry. Our open source development of interoperable formats and protocols will accelerate the growth and adoption of all virtual worlds."

I.B.M. also met recently with companies and researchers to discuss the future of open standards for virtual worlds. They discussed the plans needed for establishing an organization to promote the technologies of an interoperable 3D Internet. The companies included Cisco, Google, Linden Lab, Sony, Intel, Multiverse, Microsoft, Motorola, Philips and several others.

You may not be able to afford a trip to Greece this spring, or have the means to hop on a Virgin Galatic for a ride into space, but if IBM and Linden Lab have their way—at least your avatar will know no boundaries.

Posted by Rebecca Sato

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Links:
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0313677.htm
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/free-the-avatars/