IBM likes to use their long-standing relationship with the sport of Tennis to showcase virtual world applications.
Previous projects include Virtual Wimbledon, the French Open and last years Australian Open. What IBM demonstrates with these initiatives is the visualisation of effectively raw data – turning captured real life information (ball speeds, trajectories) via their court-side equipment and using Second Life to take that information and in near real-time republish it graphically on a virtual court.
Extracts from the notecard:
Features of this build include:
* Venue: Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena, Garden Square, Australian Open Shop.
* Centre Court:
- Data integration: Scoreboard, service speed
- Virtual gameplay: Real time re-creation of game currently in tournament play (alternatively use stored data)
- “Be the Player”: View a live game from the first person perspective of an actual tournament player
- Opening roof* Match Update Centre: Match schedule, recent results, and game in play.
* Merchandise:
- T-Shirts, Tennis Racquets, Tennis Balls, “Following Friend”, cap, etc..
- Links to the Australian Open web site if you want to buy a real life version of the merchandise* “Be the Statue”: Have your photo taken as a virtual Rod Laver statue
In other words, quite a lot is going on here. It’s fantastic to see the various applications of tennis-related activities and of the various attempts by other sporting organisations and clubs, this in my opinion is one of the best. Other projects of this nature include:
This time around, IBM has upped the anti a little more and created a competition to run in time with the Open. In conjunction with its sponsorship of the Australian Opentennis, IBM is holding a ?¢‚ǨÀúCouture on the Court competition to find outwho can create the best avatar tennis outfit in Second Life. Here’s another notecard extract….
Who can create the best tennis outfit in the Second Life virtual world?How to enter: Entry is open to users of the Second Life virtual world who maintain a valid account during the Competition dates. To enter, users must submit up to 4 snapshots (minimum of 1 snapshot) showing an avatar created by the user modelling their original outfit. Outfits which are submitted into the competition must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party.
Competition dates: Entries will be accepted from 12am AEDT on Monday January 14, 2008 till 12am AEDT Monday January 21, 2008. The winner will be announced on Friday January 25, 2008.
Prizes: Prizes will be awarded to the top 10 avatar outfits created as determined through the voting process described in the competition Terms and Conditions. Prizes will be awarded in Linden Dollars with first prize the largest (L$250,000)
Expect to see some pretty detailed and extravagant creations, judging by the high number of ‘fashion houses’ present in SL.
Here’s the SLurl. Related information about this project can be found on the excellent Eightbar blog.
Using virtual worlds for the recreation or engagement in sports looks like a category set for growth. Many other sports are already being played in Second Life, including golf and motor racing. Furthermore, sports-related metaverses are also in the pipeline including Football Superstars and Empire of Sports. Also recently announced was a virtual world dedicated to golf called Shot Online. K Zero classifies these types of virtual environments as ‘Vertical Words‘ – learn more about them here.
