November 20 2006
I’ve been reading a lot about the next generation of the Internet, and certainly it holds tremendous promise. Web 2.0 will soon segue into Web 3.0 and soon our Google Map mashups will seem as quaint as using Lycos as a search engine.
For the intrepid amongst us, Josh at PinotBlogger is blazing a trail by creating by creating a winery island in the online environment “Second Life.”
For the uninitiated, Second Life is an online 3D virtual environment where people can interact, play, do business, and otherwise communicate virtually.
From PinotBlogger (excerpted):
My main reason for pushing to get Capozzi into Second Life is to expand brand awareness by giving one of our target demographics a novel experience. I admit I also just wanted to be first, to do something no one else in the wine industry had done before. But finally there’s also the feeling I share with John (PinotBlogger’s winery island developer) that 3D environments are the Next Big Thing to hit the internets, and I want to get on board that train early.
John thinks that the future will include an internet of open 3D environments that internet users will surf to much as they do web pages now. Imagine a 3D Myspace where you can check out your friends’ homes, flip through and listen to their music collection, watch video etc. As people get more and more comfortable creating stuff in 3D, and as the tools to do so get easier and easier to use, people will be slapping up virtual 3D spaces just like they do blogs right now.
From my point of view, the potential for turning such an environment into a place to better interact with customers, sell wine and provide an interesting and unique level of service intrigues me. And right now Second Life is the best place to cut my teeth exploring such an environment.
Josh is well ahead of his time and he’s on to something here.
What powerful marketing this can be for a winery where the story and the environment sells the lifestyle and the wine. Imagine for a moment the incredible graphics that games on Xbox and Playstation are achieving and then translate those quality graphics online to an immersive environment. Or, to use another analogy, what if the movies “Finding Nemo” or “Cars,” with their incredible graphics, was rendered for a different, adult topic, say wine, and was called “Napa.” What if that amazingly detailed, realistic and lifelike environment was navigable online?
In theory, I could take a virtual three dimensional trip to Capozzi winery, walk through the vineyards at a selected time of day, say sunset, head past a virtual replica of Josh’s wagging dog and ease into the virtual tasting room before buying a couple of bottles and having them sent to me. Commerce is rapidly coming to this environment.
Prior to recently reading a couple of articles about Second Life, frankly, I didn’t get it. But the following links are good background reading and food for thought for something that can realistically be the next significant mile marker in Internet development.
The Economist
Living a Second Life
BusinessWeek Online
My Virtual Life
InformationWeek
Second Life Residents Build Stores Around Amazon.com
Is this whole thing far off, though? Blogs took off in 2003 and have yet to reach their nadir on the cusp of 2007. Corporations are starting to get into the Second Life action and where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. I think it’s realistic that by 2009 Second Life and other virtual worlds will start to make significant mainstream penetration.
If I’m not mistaken, Josh’s first vineyard designate vintage will come out in 2008, making his Second Life bet a pretty good one likely for the investment he’s probably making and the timing.
In the meantime, though, in between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, we’re going to have to slog through the YouTube portion of this lifecycle … and I’ll be glad when it’s over. I got an email the other day to check out the “Thirsty Traveler” and every time I watch a clip of James Suckling on Wine Spectator’s web site I’m reminded that TV talent is taken for granted and there’s a reason that most local PBS stations have public access channels.
Alas, in between now (bad wine drinking videos) and then (immersive 3D environments) there’s still a lot of wine to be drunk, and I may need it, but a clink of the glass to Josh for not being afraid to try something new.
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