LGWIV: Chris Klaus keynote

Here’s some rough notes on Chris Klaus’ keynote this morning. Seems to me like he’s almost pitching Metaplace. 😉 It’s nice to see industry leaders all pushing in the same direction.

Chris Klaus, Kaneva

Virtual worlds have been one of the more exciting segments for everyone here. I tried to write a videogame when I was a kid, ended up in security instead. Now I want to help change the world by enabling kids with the tools that we are seeing, and with games and vws we can do that.

Wanted to talk at a high level about main themes we are seeing in the industry. We are seeing patterns, divergence emerging. Some are entertainment, some are more serious and business oriented. Also will talk a bit about Kaneva.

Opportunity: 80% of Internet will engage in a VW by 2011 — Gartner. Consumer need: entertainment, connect me, enable me to express creativity and individuality, in an immersive 3d environment that is easy. Business need: engage with customers where they spend time, in our own space, without needing to develop tech from scratch.

8bn market for VW goods by 2018
addressable market 50-60m
Convergence with social networks.

#1. watch 3d TV with friends and other stuff around rich media within a virtual world.

#2. Target community. Very different from world to world. Long term we will see VWs move to niche communities.

#3. Brand safe environments. A success criterion is whether there are self-policing mechanisms.

#4. Does your brand fit the world? It doesn’t make sense to have a MCD’s logo tattooed to a dragon. To fit in brands, the easiest world to build is a modern day one.

#5. Real time engagement — webcasts into the world, like interviews with TV cast members, stuff where you can see an engagement. Not just in world — Twitter, videocams, etc.

#6. Rewards and incentives, something lacking in most of the worlds to date. The games do it well, but it is a missed opportunity in virtual worlds — builders are rewarded but what about everyone else? Look to games for models: level progression, badges, leaderboards and ranking, etc more.

#7. Fun & casual games. Dancing, treasure hunts, trivia, card games, etc — icebreakers. and allow the community to make them! And tie them into the reward system.

#8. Hollywood at home. Augment reality, mirror events in real time. there was the Screen Actors Guild awards show, and we did a simulation of the red carpet, etc. Represent patterns people are familiar with, people want to be in them. Mirror worlds, traveling to LA, NYC, Shanghai…

#9. encourage creativity. The tools right now are too complex for this. But new paradigms are coming — and around all kinds of digital content, not just 3d assets. Music festivals, etc.

#10. Package the experience. Starbucks provides a reliable experience everywhere in the world. VWs don’t do this yet.

About Kaneva: Latin for “canvas.” Want to be a hub to lots of creative experiences. STAR System: Synthetic Theme-based Augmented Reality. Allowing partners to have their own STARs.