Friday, September 14, 2007

Real virtual worlds: EveryScape in between Fist and Second Life?

By now there is more and more critique on Second Life, see for example Tom Davenport. However, in my opinion Second Life is interesting because of the development of new ICT capabilities and the way people make use of these capabilities (see also a previous post). One of the things fascinating me is that many users are recreating the ‘real’ world as exactly as possible in the virtual world. With respect to a ‘real virtual world,’ I suggested that an interesting platform could emerge when Second Life, Google Earth/Maps, and Flickr (with Microsoft‘s Photosynth) would integrate. I just found out that this is coming sooner then I expected. EveryScape will launch in Fall 2007 and will offer a 3D virtual view upon the real world.

What is not clear to me is what the business model of EveryScape will be. Will EveryScape, just like Second Life, have ‘a fully-integrated economy architected to reward risk, innovation, and craftsmanship’(Second Life: The Marketplace). Will the ‘Scape Artist,’ as they are called by EveryScape, retain the IP rights of their creations? Moreover, what about the rights of the people and companies from the real world? Will the owner of a building in the real world also be the owner of that building is EveryScape? Will EveryScape pay the owner for using the virtual version of the building, or will the owner have to pay EveryScape for using the virtual version of the building?

Have you read more about this? What is your opinion?

1 comment:

Erwin Fielt said...

I found some remarks on the business model of Everyscape in an article of MIT technology review (page 2).
'In a business model based in part on SuperTour's, Everyscape plans to make money by helping businesses build their interiors for a fee.'[...] 'In the future, Schoonmaker hopes to add more interactive features to help businesses function virtually.' [...]