Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is a new technology that brings real and virtual objects together. You really have to see it in action before you can begin to understand it (if video doesn't show, click here):



Your first impression from that video might be "Oh a hologram!" But no, it's not a hologram. The gadget, created by Geisha Tokyo Entertainment Inc., comes with two "cybercubes" and two "cybersticks." You aim your webcam at these real objects, and the software renders video of virtual Alice responding to your taps and... umm... touches.

Ok, if your first impression was not amazement over new technology, then maybe it was bewilderment over stripping, touching, and paddling a four inch tall virtual girl who cries like a child then collapses into a fetal position.

Of course I'm a fan of video games, virtual worlds, and new technologies, but this cyber geisha is disturbing. Maybe it's her submissiveness and distress followed by sudden happiness over a mere teddy bear? What kind of guy has these fantasies? Or maybe I should ask how many guys have these fantasies?

I'm not naive. I've had my own forays into the red light districts of Second Life, but ultimately those online trysts are with consenting humans on a cyber landscape. A computer controlled girlfriend can be as cutesy and unreal as any geek can imagine...

... or maybe I am naive to deny that our imaginations have long been the stage for these fantasies before the technology caught up? The $57 billion worldwide pornography industry drives many new technologies. So today we see cyber geisha, and tomorrow maybe we'll see a new generation of The Sims, or maybe even something practical.

WoW Window into Real World Plots

I have yet to be sucked into any massively multiplayer online games... except for a brief 6 weeks last year when I was a pole dancer in Second Life, but that's a blog post for another day. This article from The Onion sums up my reservations about these games:

Why do we need to go out to have fun? Everything we could possibly want is right in WoW. Fine dining, theater, romantic sunsets—they're all there. The outside world just costs money, and I don't have a magic breastplate to protect me from people's stares. Come with me so I can treat you like the princess you are.

Yeah, I laugh at MMORPG romance, but I understand a desire for a more powerful place in the world and even, more so, the desire for a Second Skin, which happens to be the title of a new documentary about the gaming subculture. I haven't seen this film yet, but it's been reviewed as a balanced look at the benefits and addictions of online games.

Even for those on the outside of the gaming subculture there is some real-world value in studying these online worlds. In late January, economists were discussing the collapse of banks in Second Life, and today, Wired has an article about terrorist activity in WoW. Scientists are using the game to study how diseases spread, and terrorism experts are studying terrorists' tactical decision-making. Anyhoo, any serious article that contains an expert quote from "a level-60 mage" is worth reading.