Plan a Project

So, you'd like to plan a project and perhaps are a little unsure about what exactly this entails, or indeed what the possible benefits or pitfalls might be.

Let's take a a quick look at some of the benefits that investing in a virtual world such as Second Life can offer (*courtesy of ITSMA Ezine):

• Shared real-time experience. A website is an isolated, one-way communication channel, but Second Life allows visitors to interact in real time using many different media at once. For example, an avatar visiting a virtual meeting hall can view a video while text messaging with another avatar watching the same video.

• A new forum for explaining complex products and services. By combining different communications channels in Second Life, companies can let customers see and experience products and services that are difficult to conceptualize in traditional media such as print. For example, PA Consulting has built a "smart home" in Second Life where visitors can play with futuristic high-tech and energy-saving technologies for the home. On Dell's Second Life island, visitors can enter a giant 3-D Dell computer to see the inner workings of a PC. Most important, if visitors have questions, a virtual representative can answer them in the moment.

• Inexpensive prototyping and customer focus groups. For example, PA Consulting built a virtual bank branch for a client to gauge customer reaction to the space and to give bank representatives a chance to try different sales techniques on visitors.

• Training and recruiting. Second Life is becoming a valuable training ground for Cisco, which recently conducted its network academy instructor training series inside the virtual world. Meanwhile, PA Consulting uses its virtual island to ask job applicants questions in real time, just as during a job interview, as do other organizations, including Microsoft, HP, and the Vancouver Police Department.

• Global reach and accessibility. Second Life meetings can replace in-person meetings and teleconferences. Dell, for example, has a virtual conference center for meetings and events and a theater for product announcements and webcasts. Cisco holds its monthly user group gatherings and events with partner companies in Second Life and has a virtual trade show floor where the company holds product launches for the press and analysts.

However, enticing the above may sound, there's a lot of other incidental factors to consider, which arguably might be considered to be possible pitfalls:

• Legal Considerations. Virtual Worlds such as Second Life are ephemeral by definition, existing only virtually, they can be a minefield of legal complexity, and as such, real-life legal issues related to Copyright, Libel, Defamation, Pornography, Intellectual Property Rights, Digital Rights Management and Gambling - along with a host of similar topics might be a major cause for concern, if not taken into initial consideration.

• Time Considerations. It's a commonly held conviction that spending time using computers and other such modern marvels of the technological age can be extremely time consuming. Aside from the time that it takes to become familiar with all the nuances and complexity of entering a virtual world and learning to use the associated software successfully, there's also the hidden costs of lost productivity, due to not being able to work on other things!

• Monetary Constraints. Although many virtual worlds, such as Second Life can be entered and experienced for free, to make effective use of them, most require some type of regular payment to allow access to all of the facilities and features of the virtual world. Additionally, a good number of virtual worlds charge additional fees for owning land, building items or structures, uploading textures or other data.

• Inappropriate Content. Second Life has a good number of areas which can only best be described as adult in nature, and although some people may venture that an individuals right to express themselves online however they see fit is laudable, others may say that encouraging people to explore their sexuality in what amounts to a very public and sometimes very graphic manner, should be avoided at all costs.
  
  Clearly, if your project involves education or commerce then it's highly likely that distractions of a sexual or pornographic nature would be most unwelcome, so this is also something that merits careful consideration at the outset of planning a project.

So, how exactly can Brightfield Virtual help with my project?...

Brightfields major asset is it's professional, friendly staff and it's extensive knowledge of creating things and relationships of value in Second Life.

Brightfields working model might best be described as holistic, due to the fact we offer our clients support, advice, positive and regular feedback regarding your project during all it's stages, whether that might be initial planning, marketing or research, during the creation stage, or after the launch of the finished project.

Similarly, Brightfield is proud to be able to offer a lot of other value-added services to complement your project. These include services such as staff training, event planning, community building and avatar makeovers, to name but a few. Unlike some other organizations, we believe that our job isn't done until we've provided a comprehensive, well-rounded and inclusive service - to you - our much valued customer.