I stole the blog title from 37 Signals recent post, Describe 37signals in 20 seconds or less. Describing anything in a succinct way is rather difficult, Made to Stick is an entire book devoted to the subject. In the book Chip and Dan Heath talk of how the “curse of knowledge” inhibits our ability to make something simple.
That’s when the Curse of Knowledge kicks in, and we start to forget what it’s like not to know what we know.
They talk about a study done in the 1990′s where one volunteer is designated as a tapper and one as a listener.
Tappers received a list of twenty-five well-known songs, such as “Happy Birthday to You” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Each tapper was asked to pick a song and tap out the rhythm to a listener (by knocking on a table). The listener’s job was to guess the song, based on the rhythm being tapped.
Being all well known songs this seems pretty easy. However listeners guessed only 2.5% of the songs: 3 out of 120. The interesting thing is that before the experiment, tappers predicted that listeners would guess correctly 50% of the time.
The tappers got their message across 1 time in 40, but they thought they were getting their message across 1 time in 2. Why?
When a tapper taps, she is hearing the song in her head. Go ahead and try it for yourself – tap out “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It’s impossible to avoid hearing the tune in your head. Meanwhile, the listeners can’t hear that tune – all they can hear is a bunch of disconnected taps, like a kind of bizarre Morse Code.
We in the virtual worlds industry certainly suffer from the curse of knowledge. We already have the song stuck in our head. So how do we break through that? Like the guys from 37 Signals and their post, how would you make virtual worlds sound interesting to the mainstream user in 20 seconds or less?
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I have read a couple of your screenplays. You’re right. You do suck. But besides that, I do see a vision in you that puts you at the head of the curve with all of these technologies. Good luck, and quit trying to write screenplays for good.
Wikipedia certainly is under the curse: “A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars. These avatars are usually depicted as textual, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional graphical representations, although other forms are possible[1] (auditory[2] and touch sensations for example). Some, but not all, virtual worlds allow for multiple users.”
Ok, here’s my try (I am not a native English speaker, sorry):
“Imagine you’re wearing the favorite dress you never actually bought, look like you always wished, even if you’re now having fur and move like a cat, and you meet friends from all over the country or even the world. You’re skiing through blizzards without fright or dancing Salsa which you never learned. The music is surround sound and your loughter is being heard in India, because the little microphone in your computer transports it to the loudspeaker of your new friend.
This is all happening within one hour while your body sits in front of your computer and the reason is that you were bored. But instead of watching TV you created a wonderful little version of yourself in the computer and you have fun with other real people who are too far away to meet in person, but close enough to explore this virtual world together.”
hmmm – more like 40 seconds I’m afraid. Snap, I’ve been struck by the Curse of Knowledge! LOL
I like your definition, Gaby. Its a bit lengthy though :P
And I am afraid business guys not interested in "living another life" (or too afraid to admit it) won't grok it …
Gaby,
I like it but as you mention, it fails to come under the 20 second time limit. It might also open up more questions then it answers. This is no easy task and reminds me a lot of aspiring screenwriters trying to pitch their movie in 20 seconds – how do you boil it all down? What do you leave in? What do you leave out? If you can boil it down, you're more likely to sell. "Die Hard on a bus" instantly sells the movie Speed. Sadly the only thing I've seen that describes virtual worlds in a similar way is maybe "3D chat".
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