Virtual Worlds Forum

Earlier this month, I wrote about a new 'magic carpet' technology developed at Tokyo University, which would allow Second Life users to control their movement within the world using a waist-mounted camera and printed floor-mat. Associated Press now has more details, including comments from research leader Michitake Hirose. "This technology lets you take the actions you'd use in real life and transpose them to the virtual world. It could make maneuvering much, much easier." However, the same piece looks at a separate research project in Toky, at Keio University, which is even more futuristic. It involves attaching electrodes to people's scalps to monitor their brain activity, and then converting that into movements within Second Life. You think 'left', and your avatar turns, basically. "The difficult part is to stop thinking," says research student Takashi Ono. "I want to go left, so I think, 'left' - but then the avatar turns too far to the left before I can get rid of the command in my head." Regular Second Life users may be keen, but it's doubtful many would fancy taking the electrodes option to make the world easier to navigate within. However, this kind of research is at least grappling with the challenge posed by users finding Second Life - and worlds like it - difficult to move around. (via Yahoo News)