Mobil Avenue

But the real world made a late break into the virtual world with a sceptical intervention from the floor by Lord Puttnam, which was greeted with a burst of applause. He picked up on a panellist’s remark that “brands are the most powerful form expression that teenagers have.” He found this chilling. Secondly, he pointed out that films and TV were creative media. But gaming and their virtual worlds offered little chance for creativity. At what point, he asked, will gamers join the human race and tackle its problems?

Catching up on coverage of todays gaming and virtual world session at Changing Media Summit 2007 the above piece from Ron Greenslade’s post got my attention. It was disappointing to see that the panel missed a great opportunity to share more examples of virtual world creativity with Lord Puttnam and his supporters to move the conversation along. Kevin Anderson who blogged the session did give some good examples (quoted below) which the panel missed out on.

I’m surprised that no one mentioned in their answer to Lord Puttnam’s question the variety of serious projects going on in Second Life. There are support groups for stroke victims and educational places such as a house which explains what it’s like for someone who has schizophrenia. There’s also a huge presence from universities whose students are gathering not just for social reasons, but to attend classes and tutorials. And there are NGOs such as Creative Commons who hold talks and lectures and provide information. I’ve no doubt that’s that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because I’m way behind with my Second Life news these days.

Traditional Media organizations like ITV in the UK are making efforts to tune into the digitization of everything. Here’s hoping that Reuben addresses the above misconceptions within the UK media space during his upcoming presentation at The Wildfire Conference.