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SINGAPORE: The virtual world has always been a fascination of unlimited opportunities and boundaries.
That's what the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC) had in mind when they launched the world's first Virtual World based on an Olympic event – Singapore 2010 Odyssey.
Leveraging on the popular social networking bandwagon, this brainchild product of IDA and SYOGOC will provide a platform for youths around the world to stay connected in a fun and interactive way while learning more about the Olympic values.
Jointly developed by a consortium of Singapore companies - led by ST Electronics - with international partners, the concept of Singapore 2010 Odyssey is similar to Second Life, the popular 3D virtual world whereby users can create their own avatars and be part of a community.
Like Second Life, you can choose to walk or fly as your mode of transportation and some actions like Dance, Wave, Sit, Lie Down, Laugh are available by right clicking on the avatar. Similarly, basic avatar customisation is available.
But there's more to it than just creating an alter-ego in the virtual realm.
"The Singapore 2010 Odyssey is a unique virtual world platform offering many possibilities for learning, social networking and entertainment, as it reaches out to the youths from all over the world in a fun and interactive way," said RADM (NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of IDA.
Riding on the social networking trend
The main highlight of the Singapore 2010 Odyssey is the social networking element where users can communicate via public or private chat and Dr Francis Chong, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, SYOGOC, believes that this feature can help youths to learn more about the Olympic values of Respect, Friendship and Excellence.
"The fact that you are meeting people from different cultures is itself a learning experience. If you don't learn the value of respect, no one will talk to you," he said.
He added that the variety of online games, multimedia contents and social activities available in the virtual world will help to educate the youths in a more innovative approach.
Dr Chong explained: "The world [Singapore 2010 Odyssey] will help to raise interest in YOG [but] it is not meant to be a sports game like FIFA or World of Warcraft.
For example, there are places in the virtual world that are replicas [of the YOG venues]. When you go into the Youth Olympic Village, you will see information about Olympic values, Olympians being presented in a way that is not that boring," Dr Chong explained.
The developers have also rolled out a series of mini-games which allows users to compete against one other. The games are modeled after the 26 sports that are contested at the upcoming YOG. Currently, only five are featured (Archery, Swimming, Shooting, Hurdle and Basketball) while the others are scheduled to be added later.
The dangers behind the virtual world is a well-stated fact, but parents need not worry as IDA said the necessary measures are in place.
"We see the kids as our target audience. In Singapore 2010 Odyssey, we have set some moderation standards to make sure that for this target audience, the content is appropriate," said Mr Andrew Khaw, Senior Director of Industry Development Group.
Community involvement
Fancy building your own property? Singapore 2010 Odyssey allows you to do so from the comfort of your home after a couple hours of training.
Mr Khaw explained the authorities' decision to allow users to create their own contribution into the virtual world.
He said: "This is a virtual community that we want to build [and] the feature of the virtual world is [the] need to have some building blocks. [When] other people want to contribute, they can actually build some of these physical buildings inside the virtual world. It will be your real estate inside the virtual world.
"The idea is to create a community of people. Then maybe you can have some games, posters, flash contents, activities so all the usual things in the rich media can be build and you can invite your friends in there."
During the development stages, schools across Singapore were invited to play a significant role in developing the virtual landscape with training provided by ST Electronics.
Students Choo Ruisheng and Alvis Toh from Hai Sing Catholic School spoke enthusiastically about their involvement.
"We didn't really take that long. This user-generated content is really easy to use. It's user friendly. We only have a few hours of training, about 2 to 3 hours, and we built the school village," said Choo.
For Toh, the whole process was like getting a crash course in Greek history. "We did some basic research on Greek structures. As developers, we made the buildings resembled old Greek structure and for myself, I built this house on a mountain. It was based on the Greek myth about gods living in Mount Olympus.”
Their entire learning journey was best summed up by Mr Preston Tan, a teacher of Hai Sing Catholic Infocomm Club.
"One of the interesting takeaways is that in the history of Greeks, they have a lot of innovations because they were undergoing war. I came to realize that innovation is the key to push a society forward. This is also one key message that that we are pushing to the students," said Mr Tan.
Singapore 2010 Odyssey can be downloaded from www.singapore2010.sg/o - CNA
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