At a recent cocktail party, David Wortley set up a video camera to record images of the guests in the room. The video was streamed, live, into a computer-generated version of the party in Second Life, the online virtual world, where participants' "avatars" could watch them sipping their drinks. Then a video of the virtual version of the party was beamed back onto a screen in the real-world room.
"People were watching people watching people watching them," Wortley said, acknowledging, "It can be a little difficult to get your head around in the beginning."
But such scenarios may seem less surreal when you are director of the Serious Games Institute, a center for the development of "serious" applications of video game technologies and virtual worlds for businesses, security agencies and other users. The party took place during a conference that coincided with the recent opening of the center.
Much has been made of the potential of Second Life as an environment for entertainment, marketing or even terrorist financing. But the Serious Games Institute says that it is one of the first places dedicated to helping businesses enhance their own operations by harnessing virtual worlds for things like training, communication and emergency planning.
The institute, which is affiliated with Coventry University and funded in part by a regional economic development agency, has a handful of tenants set to take up residence in November. It plans to operate as an "incubator," helping these companies grow, as well as serving as a hub for networking and research.
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