3D Manchester

I’m keen to know more about Manchester in Second Life. I have now visited three times since it was built last year and it has been fairly empty on each occasion. Apparently the aim of the project was to promote the Manchester brand and raise awareness of the city. I wonder if URBIS and the MDDA consider it to be a success.

Urbis in Second LifeThere’s been a lot of talk about 3D virtual worlds being the future of the internet and I think there’s some truth in that although I’m not sure it’s quite that clear cut. Also, just because 3D virtual worlds are the future, I’m not convinced the virtual world in question is Second Life in its current state.

When I log in to Second Life I am always disappointed by the chunkiness of the experience, it’s frustrating at best and computer crashing at worst. I have been told I need a better computer to experience Second Life properly but my computer meets all the SL recommended system requirements and I have a healthy 8mb broadband connection so there must be plenty of people who have a similar experience to me.

I like the idea of Second Life and I’m looking forward to seeing how Linden Lab develops its virtual world in coming months. Last year they announced that they would be opening up the source code for Second Life’s servers, allowing anyone to run their own version of Second Life. This is in addition to the already open source Second Life Viewer which can be modified and redistributed under a Commercial or General Public License. Opening up the source code for both the server and the viewer will no doubt mean the technology develops and I’m sure we’ll start to see variations in the way it’s deployed.

So will Second Life be the virtual world we all inhabit in the future? What impact will individuals and organisations running their own Second Life servers have? Are we headed towards a 3D internet?

I’d like to hear your comments.