Comments on: A new world of opportunities http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/a-new-world-of-opportunities/ Science fiction, science fact, and all that's in between ... Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:23:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Velcro City Tourist Board » Blog Archive » At home in the office http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/a-new-world-of-opportunities/comment-page-1/#comment-398 Velcro City Tourist Board » Blog Archive » At home in the office Fri, 14 Jul 2006 15:50:16 +0000 http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/blog/2006/06/19/a-new-world-of-opportunities/#comment-398 [...] I think the eventual take-up of telecommuting is fairly inevitable, but it will take some time for old attitudes to be broken down sufficiently to allow full penetration into all the current job types that could benefit from it. However, the real change will start coming through as jobs that are inevitably telecommuter-based come online (pun intended) - namely the jobs that will start to proliferate in virtual worlds like Second Life. I have discussed the prospects for job creation in these realities before: virtual shops will require virtual attendants (because scripted avatars will inevitably be hacked); the virtual construction industries will expand hugely, allowing people to become entrepreneurs from the comfort of their computer-desk at home; content creators of all types will be able to market their work more effectively and exploit the ‘long tail’ phenomenon to their benefit. Once the meatspace businesses see what effect this can have on profit margins, they will begin to understand the wisdom of following suit. [...] [...] I think the eventual take-up of telecommuting is fairly inevitable, but it will take some time for old attitudes to be broken down sufficiently to allow full penetration into all the current job types that could benefit from it. However, the real change will start coming through as jobs that are inevitably telecommuter-based come online (pun intended) – namely the jobs that will start to proliferate in virtual worlds like Second Life. I have discussed the prospects for job creation in these realities before: virtual shops will require virtual attendants (because scripted avatars will inevitably be hacked); the virtual construction industries will expand hugely, allowing people to become entrepreneurs from the comfort of their computer-desk at home; content creators of all types will be able to market their work more effectively and exploit the ‘long tail’ phenomenon to their benefit. Once the meatspace businesses see what effect this can have on profit margins, they will begin to understand the wisdom of following suit. [...]

]]> By: Jose http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/a-new-world-of-opportunities/comment-page-1/#comment-224 Jose Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:00:25 +0000 http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/blog/2006/06/19/a-new-world-of-opportunities/#comment-224 I suspect that these virtual worlds as they manifest themselves further will diverge from the "real" world in fundemental ways that I doubt we can currently forsee. One big potential wrinkle is taxation. As the value held in virtual currencies increases I don't doubt people will find some interesting ways to avoid the taxman. The other biggie is testing new economic systems, my personal favourite is a good ol' fashioned prehistoric gift economy managed by a state of the art reputation system (say 10-20 years more advanced than the one Ebay currently uses). I suspect that these virtual worlds as they manifest themselves further will diverge from the “real” world in fundemental ways that I doubt we can currently forsee.

One big potential wrinkle is taxation. As the value held in virtual currencies increases I don’t doubt people will find some interesting ways to avoid the taxman. The other biggie is testing new economic systems, my personal favourite is a good ol’ fashioned prehistoric gift economy managed by a state of the art reputation system (say 10-20 years more advanced than the one Ebay currently uses).

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