As for an actual holodeck, while the thought would be nice, I think we are ways off from turning energy into matter, even if it is within certain areas only. And to quote Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park “They were so concerned about whether they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should.” The thing is, there is an unlimited amount of things we could do with such a tool, but like any tool if it is used in a manner other than which it was intended, many problems can occur.

For example: Fire can light the way home, keep you warm, fuel an engine, the list goes on. But in the wrong hands it can burn your house down, create deadly smoke or simply create polution as materials are being improperly disposed of. The same holds true for a holodeck. There are a million ideas of how it can be used for fun, education or even just exercise. But think about it for a second. Here is a world which for all intensive purposes looks real, yet is not. The big difference “other than its limited size of course” is that there are no consequences. You could get away with all sorts of crimes and sins, and none would be the wiser. And on top of that, you could relive anything over and over.

Ok so lets suppose that there are safety measures in place to prevent this type of thing. Sure!!! Because things like that have worked so well in the past. If someone wants to, they will find a way.

Olivia, I know this seems kinda like a downer to your article, and forgive me for that was not my intention. Rather consider it a Yang to everyone else’s Ying. If we do not consider things like this you can bet others will. And they won’t be talking about it, they will be abusing the technology.

To summarise though, as long as our virtual reality is still up on a screen, and we are not interacting physically with it, we are safe from such issues.

L.A Noir was said to touch the horizon of “uncanny valley” but to me, still fell short. Don’t get me wrong, its facial animations are by far the best yet in gaming (you heard me Mr.Drake) but after all was still “just a game”. The environments of Home look good for sure, but there’s still something very clinical and clean looking that makes it impossible to forget where you are. Even with graphics as good as Uncharted’s, in 5 years time will look choppy, plastic and messy to us all. Remember when parents were going mad about Mortal Kombat, and would they blink an eye now if they found their 10 year old playing it?

We have a tendancy to live “in the now”, and as such I think we can be blinded by cutting edge graphics, until the next level is acheived it’s never clear how “fake” they really look. Having said that, for my homework I’d like to submit the idea of Skyrim being as real looking as The Third & The Seventh. Of course, sky-bound mamoths would need to be grounded to keep that “real” look regardless. But if Skyrim looked like that, my 320 hours racked up so far would be in the 600’s by now!

Haldane had one of the best one-liners I’ve ever read: when asked what we might be able to infer about the creator from his creation, he replied, “An inordinate fondness for beetles.”

(At the time, beetles made up over half of all known species on the planet. They still represent, what, forty percent?)

And Haldane’s observation that fanaticism is one of only four or five really useful inventions that humanity has come up with in the last four-thousand years is right on the mark, as far as I’m concerned.

Perhaps J.B.S. Haldane best surmises that sense when he speaks of the universe and says “Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.”

Halli

It would also make sense to include a level system (similar to what nDreams employs with Aurora), such that certain public areas or gaming enhancements would not be available until various tiers were reached.

With regard to what *kind* of gaming or experiences best lend themselves to Home — given the technological restrictions such as ping rates that have to be dealt with — I’d love to see puzzle rooms. If you remember that wonderful game show, “The Crystal Maze”, they had puzzle rooms which offered a variety of different challenges. As higher-level areas were unlocked, the puzzles would become more complicated, much like Myst, Obsidian or The 7th Guest.

Ideally, this would all tie together underneath an overarching loyalty program which rewarded consumer purchases, much as airline mileage programs and hotel points programs reward frequent spenders.

In short, the idea would be to make Home *itself* a social game, as opposed to a metaverse which simply exists without purpose. Console gamers are used to having clearly-defined objectives to fulfill, and socialization amongst each other — initially a byproduct of cooperative gaming — inevitably forms the glue which brings the community back long-term.

The templates for all this are already there, and much of it was pioneered in Home by Lockwood. I sincerely hope to one day see the Sodium Hub formula, with the aforementioned additions included, implemented across a wider spectrum of Home spaces.

Halli
CEO Lockwood