Next Generation Virtual Television
A Wishfarmer Labs Research Brief
What's a Virtual TV, Anyway?
Currently, virtual television is the television-like experience, presented in (or from) virtual worlds. Sometimes audiences sit "outside" (in their web browsers), and watch events taking place "inside" (somewhere like Second Life). Sometimes they are inside, watching content "from outside", that may have been created traditionally - or virtually.
But it could be so much more.
Assertion: Virtual Television Does Not Yet Leverage Metaverse
Existing incarnations of virtual television do not yet take advantage of the unique capabilities of the metaverse.
This is not due to audience preconceptions: Audiences are eager to be engaged in innovative new ways.
The currently limited interpretations of this medium stem from knee-jerk replication of the traditional broadcast media model. To take things to the “next level,” we have to throw that away, and go all the way back to the real objectives.
What should the objectives of virtual television be? Well, as we see them:
To be highly visual, and to be animate
To entertain, amuse, interest, inform, engage
To be communicable (be a “spreadable” medium)
Barriers to Innovation: Mostly Conceptual
Let's examine the key elements of current incarnations, the false barriers to innovation. Toss these:
The “view screen”: The traditional concept of a flat ‘screen’ as viewable area need not be observed in a metaverse. Chuck it, and start over from scratch: What would a ‘view area’ be like, if television had been invented in a metaverse instead?
The “speaker”: Similar to the screen, there has always been an ‘audio signal’ alongside the video. In the real world, this is always been linear: You don't tune the video to news, and the audio to heavy metal (well, we do). You also don't complain about the plot twist, and hear someone in Italy respond. Explore these possibilities.
One-way model: Arguably the root of all the conceptual obstacles, real-world television is presumed to be primarily passive on behalf of the viewer: Content comes in, and they consume it…period. Old-school media hacks (ex: dial-in vote) don’t even scratch the surface of what could be accomplished in a metaverse. This is the most obvious direction of innovation, but is also the largest frontier. Read Stephenson’s “Diamond Age” (regarding “racting”) for inspiration.
What follows are some very rudimentary techniques, all of which are feasible in one form or another. Some require only changes in the way things are done - most require both that, as well as some clever technology. Some may require audience ‘education’, but more than likely metaverse audiences would not have any problems adjusting.
Road to Innovation
Most of the ideas presented here relate to virtual television being viewed inside a space like Second Life.
It may be hard to believe right now, but this diagram may help you make sense of the following discussion (click to open it in a new window).
E
ffects++
Let's go back to the old standby: The ever-mighty pie-in-the-face.
Wouldn’t it be cool to “throw” a pie at the virtual camera, and have it “come out” of the other side? And what if they could throw one back? Funny, huh? Well wait till someone loses an eye, then it won’t be funny anymore.
Now skip past food fights to Real Applications: A public seminar including analysis of some set of statistics. The presenter skips PowerPoint-like slides, and is using a live graphing object that illustrates his topics. But instead of simply showing this, each screen also provides a remotely-controlled copy of the same graphing gadget, for viewers. Now everyone has their own close-up private presentation, live. At the end, a signal is sent from the view screen to destroy the display objects.
There are many creative avenues arising from this which are not even touched on here. Explore them.
Audience++
Get out your copy of Neal Stephenson’s “The Diamond Age,” and refresh yourself with the concept of “ractives”: Clustered, semi-interactive single-user movies where viewers fill the role of the main character, usually for key story junctions. Yes, “Dragon’s Lair,” in a sense – except that many of the character roles are filled by professional remote actors.
These also come in multi-user versions, where a single live broadcast is still viewed by multiple audiences – but at key moments, there are opportunities for audience interaction.
This is also similar to various sci-fi ideas that have been around since the 1960s, such as the futuristic passage in Ray Bradbury’s “Illustrated Man” in which one character sits in front of a large television watching a serial. At a key point, the actors turn to the camera and say “What do you think we should do, Margaret?”. A light above her television indicates that she is now ‘live’. She stumbles, but eventually speaks in character, and the actors turn away from the 4th wall and continue the scene, changed based on her input.
Worth noting: Bradbury anticipated here the need to ‘dumb it down’ a bit. Not everyone is prepared for live improvisation, but even rare brief interactions greatly improve the “potato” effect of traditional TV.
Immediately after her “scene,” Margaret’s phone is buzzing off the hook, friends all congratulating her on her micro-role.
Taking this to the next level still, consider interaction between viewers.
Here is an example: In today’s episode of “Metasleuth,” a fiendish fiend has stolen the hero's mojo. With investigations mired, the cast turns to the entire audience: “Can you solve the crime for us before the deadline in 1 hour?”
An “investigator’s kit” is delivered to viewers from the view screen, including a small CB radio used to communicate with other viewers of the show. It also includes the necessary clues, such as a lead pipe, or candlestick, or whatever.
While players race to solve the crime, the stars of the show eat lunch, engage in small talk and occasionally look at the 4th wall telling the audience to hurry up because the hero's mojo expires soon.
Screen++
T
he astute reader will already have recognized the potential to actually change the “screen,” from capabilities already described. Not only can the video surface itself be changed in real-time, but objects linked to (and nearby) the screen can be controlled by various techniques.
Combined with the ability to rezz objects on demand, this supports dynamic “set dressings” for the view area – deployed and changed, on queue.
For example:
1. During the previously-mentioned presentation covering statistics, the viewer itself can be instructed to provide UI elements such as a button to get a copy of the raw data collected by the presenter.
2. The screen could make use of various kitschy effects such as shaking, bobbing, twisting, which occur in response to control messages from the director.
But that’s just kid's stuff. Let's take it to the next level:
3. During an episode of an in-world serial, the screen rezzes an ocean surface floor, a few low-flying clouds, some seagulls and a tiny desert island to sit on – to go with a the theme of the show, where the protagonist is stranded on a desert island.
4. During a newscast about current RL events, the screen rezzes three walls to form an enclosed “room.” Each of the new walls is a display panel set to show a series of textures – photos or graphics related to today’s news coverage
Of course, all of these ‘scenes’ destroy themselves when they receive the appropriate signal. Keep in mind that any of these objects, rezzed by remote, could be as simple as a floor panel, or as complex as a functional, animated device.
To Be Concluded?
It shouldn't take much to improve on the “real world” version of television, because – let's face it – real world television sucks.
The dimensions in which the “medium” can be expanded, in the metaverse, are dizzying; But we needn't be dizzied.
Just a dash or two of the abundant virtual “spice” should be enough to get started in a big way.
Shameless Plug
Are you interested in pursuing some of these ideas, or related concepts, or something completely different?
Are you looking for a dedicated team combining both inspired creative designers and world-class technologists? Do you need a team like IDEO, combined with a team like Xerox PARC, who is still cool enough to understand the relevance of both?
Do you want to hire someone to turn your drawings of stick figures on napkins into something you can blog about?
Stop nodding your head to a computer . . . and come talk to real people about a virtual world.
Wishes outside. Realities inside.