A couple of articles caught my eye over the last couple of days, with a similar theme to both of them. Firstly, Greg Verdino’s Marketing Blog covers a review of the trends of 2007, and includes a section on the birth of the virtual natives. Whilst much is written about the “adult” virtual worlds of Second Life, World of Warcraft and There, the phenomonon that is Club Penguin went largely unnoticed for quite some time. Until Disney bought it for a huge sum of money this year.
Greg’s point is that kids are growing up in alternate digital worlds, and it will become second nature to them. This links back to an interview Richard Titus at the BBC gave, which is reported on the Uncivil Society blog. In it, Richard said “One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real, the virtual from the real. In the future, that will become literally impossible. The distinction between cyberspace and that which isn’t cyberspace is going to be unimaginable.”
He then went on to say “in a world of superubiquitous computing, you’re not gonna know when you’re on or when you’re off. You’re always going to be on, in some sort of blended-reality state. You only think about it when something goes wrong and it goes off. And then it’s a drag.”
For some people, that thought will cause some anxiety. The world will not only divide into the haves and have nots, but also the connected and unconnected. And I guess that future of connectivity is why No 7 is in Second Life now, getting to grips with it and getting to understand what the possibilities could be.
Tags: Club Penguin, Greg Verdino, No 7, Richard Titus, Second Life, Uncivil Society, Virtual Worlds
