A Day at the Virtual Ballpark With MLB.com [UPDATED]
I got a closer look yesterday at the virtual baseball stadium being built for MLB.com by the Electric Sheep Company in Second Life. The park itself, still in the final stages of construction, consists of a pretty cute diamond, scaled down to SL dimensions, surrounded by a lag-friendly number of seats in the stands. Hank Hoodoo of the Sheep also answered a couple of questions I’d had about the project.
I’d wondered on Wednesday what kind of technology would be behind the re-enactment of the Home Run Derby that’s to be held on Monday. The Sheep (who sponsor this blog) have apparerently designed a heads-up display that will allow someone monitoring events at PNC Park to launch baseballs to approximately the location they’ve been hit to in the real-life derby, and to update the scores on the virtual Jumbotron. I like this behind-the-scenes use of SL’s HUD functionality. This is the first case I’ve heard of in which a HUD is being used as a kind of media output device, rather than to control what the person wearing the HUD is doing / seeing.
The Jumbotron in the park also appeared to be video-capable, which would be great, although I still have no word on whether part of the plan is to show the live stream from the RL event alongside the re-enactment. Here’s hoping. [UPDATE: Electric Sheep Chris Carella now reports that the Derby will indeed be streamed live to the Jumbotron in the virtual stadium.]
Hank also showed me the disembodied heads of the player replicas that will take to the batter’s box. Pretty cute. Immediately made me want a bobble-head avatar of some sort. Can someone make me one, please? But with Walker’s head on it, not David Wright’s.
My only other question had been whether the park would stay open to the public after the Derby, and the answer, happily, seems to be yes. There are no plans to close the park other than during future MLB.com events, Hank said. I also had the opportunity to meet two guys from MLB.com who were looking over the build. They were clearly impressed with what the Sheep had done and excited about the possibilties in Second Life. MLB.com may be the perfect client for a company like the Sheep. According to a recent article in Wired magazine, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which runs MLB.com, is “by far the most sophisticated Web operation of any pro athletic organization.” The MLB.com guys I met at the SL stadium were quoting some truly staggering numbers about how much traffic they get on their Web sites and feeds. Perhaps this virtual Home Run Derby is only the tip of the iceberg?
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Walker, what I’m trying to understand about this set-up is whether the people or avatars of SL who get the bobble-headed avatars with the RL baseball players’ heads remain agents of their own, able to hit the ball where they like, or where chance takes them, or whether the information from the RL game is somehow controlling the HUD or affecting the avatars’ choices. That is, are they acting, or re-enacting, or what are they doing?
They’re re-enacting, re-creating the homers, etc., by means of the HUD — which isn’t a public thinget but something that the operator uses to control how the re-enactment plays out. It will all be based on what happens during the real Home Run Derby.
well Mark I suppose there’s a certain fun in having a simulation of a game grab your av and make your av go through the paces against your will to pitch exactly like those RL players but wouldn’t it be more fun to play on your own? See if you could hit the home run on your own? I’m just wondering why simulation/re-enactment even needs your avatar then. Why not have NPCs do it?
A great article, I could not get in to the real place yet, I did take some photos from the outside. I have a very deep appreciation of what is possible with an event like this from my Wimbledon Proof Of Concept, a technical demo rather than an architectural and graphical feast. Could I represent the experience with the data from the event. Product placement, banner ads, fan experiences, Score HUDs, player avatars etc I would love to know how long it took them to get the place going? But I guess that is commercially sensitive :-)
Anyway I am hoping to attend the event, bought my ticket, and I know it will be very good. See you there?
MLB to Simulcast Home Run Derby in Second Life…
Major League Baseball is working with the Electric Sheep Company to bring the 2006 Home Run Derby to Second Life. The event includes live streaming video, scoreboards that display statistics, and a real-time 3D re-enactment that gives everyone a front-…
[…] I see the limited number of tickets to the virtual event (going for L$1,000, which is about $3 USD at current exchange rates) still aren’t sold out. They went on sale Thursday morning and only eight tickets have been sold since I bought mine a day later (14 left as of this writing). There has been some blogger press but mostly from places like 3pointd who follow Second Life. Haven’t seen much mainstream press yet, but we’re bound to see some more tomorrow. If you are going to “be there” let me know. […]
I have now had a sneek preview too now. Most impressive. I am looking forward to the event. Even though its a bit late tonight :-)
[…] Why watch the 2006 Home Run Derby on your TV when you can watch it live in Second Life? Manroom recently ventured into this strange virtual world and now Major League Baseball is having a go. This year’s Home Run Derby will be simulcasted into the world of Second Life and will feature live streaming video, scoreboards, and a real-time 3D re-enactment of the derby. […]