Virtual Worlds Forum

Here's a news story for any of you who get excited by talk of datagloves and VR headsets. A research team at the University of Tokyo has invented a new way to control your movement in Second Life, which uses a waist-mounted camera and 'magic carpet' on the floor, tracking your movements. In other words, you walk around, and your avatar does likewise. The sci-fi geek in me loves this idea. But everything else in me doesn't. For starters, how big is the carpet, and thus how much space do you need for it wherever you use your computer? How does this provide a more intuitive interface than a mouse and keyboard? And how will you handle actions other than walking - a handheld pointer/mouse device? Details are scarce on the research, so I'm loathe to write it off. There's plenty of scope for new spins on virtual world user interfaces, which may well involve physical input. But I sense that this particular approach will have a hard job winning over the cynics. (via Digital World Tokyo)