Richard Bartle: Virtual Worlds Will Lose to Social Networking

In an interview with the Guardian, 1st MUD designer Richard Bartle says that virtual worlds will eventually be consumed by social networking site or wind up operating only as extensions of Facebook. "That's my glum assessment of the future, yes. There WILL be the glorious virtual worlds we have today, only they'll be of minority interest. Most people will use the technology but not care about the worlds as worlds," he said. "If you want the intelligent stuff, you'll be able to find it; however, if you don't know it's there, you won't know to look.Then again, I see what's happening in Korea with virtual worlds, and I wonder if maybe, just maybe, they do have a mass market future beyond that of the banal?" 

He also comments on the general future of the 3D Web. And the prospects don't look any better there:

Text is very good at conveying information. You don't need a 3D environment to read text, and indeed it could get in the way. Would you want to read what I'm saying here if it were in a 3D setting? Would it help or hinder your ability to follow what was going on?

Also, in an avatar-based virtual world, you're controlling a character. Sometimes, people don't want to control characters, they just want to be themselves. Do I gain anything from having to direct my character to read something I want to read? Or is it an unnecessary level of indirection?

Bartle currently sees himself as "a kind of guardian (er, not this newspaper) for virtual worlds, promoting them when I can and protecting them from ignorance." He splits his time between consulting and teaching game design at Essex University

Comments

[Rand Leeb-du Toit]

I agree with Richard's prognosis that there will be a melding of virtual worlds and social networks and this is partially the thesis of my post here: http://metarand.com/?p=25.

However to dismiss the trend from interactive web (web 2.0) to immersive web would be to trivialize a very important shift. Is the world ready for full immersion - no way, but we have taken some baby steps towards socializing the concept and people are beginning to adapt.

It should also be borne in mind that there are many rich applications for immersion and virtual worlds that extend beyond bringing people closer...for the sake of doing so. Virtual worlds and social networking with a distinct purpose is the future.