Physical Presence through Virtual Worlds

I n the new era of globally dispersed operations, increasing travel costs, and the ever-growing need for real-time decision-making, organizations should look for new, immersive technologies for distance collaboration. Virtual environments can provide flexible, cost-effective, and efficient ways for distributed team members, partners, and customers to connect just as they would in the real world. A virtual world is an online, immersive 3D simulation of a real or fantasy world, populated by avatars. The environment has graphically rich user-generated and user-maintained content (see the “Elements of a Virtual World” sidebar). Each avatar is a pictorial representation of a human participant, engaged in individual explorations or group collaborations. Through their avatars, participants can navigate, explore, create, and communicate in the virtual space as if it were an extension or augmentation of the real world—but without its physical limitations and risks. Participants can thus explore complex, abstract concepts and partake in potentially dangerous activities without the constraints of the real world. They can observe personal space, eye contact, appearances, emotions, and gesturing. More importantly, activities and their effect persist even after participants have logged off. Existing or custom-built virtual worlds can be a comprehensive forum for collaboration, reflection, and extended learning experiences. Remote and distributed users can attend team meetings, virtual courses, and corporate events, walking or even flying through virtual spaces. They can speak via microphones, share documents, watch presentations, create objects, and participate in virtual simulations, all while experiencing a sense of togetherness.