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Virtual Worlds Conference Day 2: "Stranger in a Strange Land "
April 6, 2008
As I think back over the two days I spent at the Virtual Worlds Conference, the feeling that I cannot shake is that there was so much I didn’t know. It was as if I had been transported to a different world or country whose language, though vaguely familiar, I did not speak, whose faces were unfamiliar and whose customs and rituals were exotic. It was disconcerting and a little humbling.
To start with, I clearly did not speak their language. We in Toy Nation* of course speak our own tongue. We have our special acronyms, unique slang, odd abbreviations, and arcane terms that make up our special language. The language of Virtual Worlds, however, has a whole set of these elements that were totally unfamiliar. I found myself, like a tourist, stopping the natives and asking them questions like: What is an “MMOG,” a “lock box world,” "skin," and on and on?
Secondly, I didn’t know 95% of the people there. When I go to a Toy Nation event I know or recognize a high percentage of everyone I see. It was strange to not see familiar faces.
Finally, I wasn’t familiar with many of the companies who were present. I knew Neopets, Webkinz and Second Life but who are SlippCat, HABBO, and The Electric Sheep Company?
My conclusion after these two days is that I had better get fluent in the language, know the players and understand the culture and currency because, like it or not, Virtual Worlds and other virtual forms of play are not only coming to Toy Nation but they are already here.
*Why the term toy nation and not toy industry? It seems to me that toy industry is no longer the best term to use in describing all of us who are stakeholders in the toy industry. Toy industry hearkens back to the industrial age and seems to smack of smoke stack factories and to primarily embrace those who make and sell toys. Toy Nation, however, seems to me to be more inclusive of all of the diverse elements that make up the toy industry. Whether you are an inventor, a designer, an agent, a journalist, a consultant, or simply a toy enthusiast, you are a citizen of toy nation.
Posted by Richard Gottlieb on April 6, 2008 | Comments (1)
