Really

Yesterday, I had the chance to talk with Remy Malan of Qwaq Inc. about Qwaq Forums. Qwaq Forums is a business oriented virtual world platform (like MPK20, and ProtonMedia), that is based on OpenCroquet. However, if I understand correctly, the Croquet part is mostly the back-end of the system, and Qwaq have added their own interface, asset management, and other features geared towards the enterprise. Rather than being peer-to-peer (as Croquet), Qwaq Forums is a hosted service which provides a virtual world where users can create rooms for different purposes. The system comes with a set of built-in templates for different styles of meeting rooms and project areas, for example. There are some limited tools for creating 3D content in the environment, but the philosophy is to not replicate functionality that is available in other tools, so the expectation is that users will import 3D models created with tools like Maya and SketchUp(!).

Other neat features are application sharing, integrated voice, and communication via https on port 80. The network part of it was actually one of the things that impressed me most, given the trouble I have connecting with Second Life through our client. When I started up Qwaq, it tried a couple of protocols and ports, figured out my proxy settings, and then connected to the server, without any intervention on my part.

Avatar support was minimal in the demo I got. Remy and I were represented as block figures moving around the room. Fully articulated avatars are in the works however, as well as a way to stream webcam video on avatars. Again, any avatar customization will happen using external tools, like Poser.

Qwaq has tried to make everything as easy-to-use as possible, but if necessary you can add your own scripting via Python, some sort of XML RPC to connect to external apps, and if you’re really serious, you can get down to the Squeak Croquet layer.

Qwaq is probably the most usable business oriented virtual world I’ve looked at, both from the perspective of available features and their cost structure (flat rate monthly subscription fee). However, I found myself missing some things. The obvious one is the lack of avatar support and customization. I think that being able to express yourself through and identify with your avatar is crucial to achieve immersion. Without immersion, you no longer feel like you’re interacting with people in the virtual world. With too primitive avatars, I find myself feeling like I’m looking in on the world rather than being part of it. Also, while the reliance on outside tools for content creation makes sense, I think it will limit the amount of creation done by users to those who whose job it is, as opposed to something everyone can do.

The other missing piece I think is going to be a problem for all “business virtual worlds”: isolation. By setting up private environments that are not connected to a larger world, you are limiting users to the content and interactions that they bring in only. There is no way to cross-fertilize with ideas discovered during random explorations of the world. I can’t bring in new presentation tools or fun animations created by some random resident. I can’t hold a post-meeting networking/sky-diving session (unless I build it myself). In other words, while Qwaq Forums and the others may be good business collaboration tools, I worry that they may not be any fun. And if they’re not fun, how effective can they be?