Core77

Interesting progression of articles at the NY Times over the past month on the rapidly (like, brushfire rapidly) expanding phenomenon of virtual product crossover.

First, on June 6, this article in the Technology section talks about the popularity of websites like Cartoon Doll Emporium, that allow kids to virtually dress up their online avatars with enormous flexibility, and then chat about them. Then the Business section examines the difficulties and opportunities of selling virtual versions of real consumer goods on Second Life on June 11. And last week, the Fashion & Style section runs this eye-opening bit on the joys of dressing up your virtual WWF wrestler or Grand Theft Auto thug--especially among otherwise fashion-averse men in their 20s and 30s.

Replicating familiar real-world objects in virtual worlds is not a new thing by a long shot, of course. Players have been duplicating their homes, cars and selves in Second Life, the Sims...heck, some of us tried to re-create our hometowns in SimCity back in 1992. The trajectory that's being traced in this latest series of stories is important from a design perspective though, because it is in some cases inverting the flow of concepts between real and virtual. This has implications for how objects and clothes get designed and sold in the fairly near future.

Traditionally, as far as the consumer is concerned, a real object is real, and a virtual object is either fictional (Lieutenant Worf's phaser) or a replica of something real (a Ducati cafe racer). Sometimes fictional objects get replicated in the real world, like the B-Wing Fighter we built from a box of plastic parts after watching Return of the Jedi for the 19th time, but the idea of creating a virtual prototype of a real object first, and then manufacturing it as a viable, salable consumer good is really quite new. The closest things we've had in the past have been some very limited virtual customization options on e-commerce websites, such as the ones Mini and Adidas have built.

What's budding in the virtual world right now is the appropriation of the "virtual sandbox" aspect for commercial purposes. Rather than just creating virtual things that are fun virtually, designers (and sometimes users) are creating virtual things as a way to test out what they'll be like in the real world. Christopher Healy's article describes how a shoe designed by Vans for Tony Hawk's Project 8, a skating video game, became a hot seller when released in a real version. It's being followed up by a sequel shoe in the sequel game.

This shouldn't really be surprising; marketing is all about aspirational imagery, and virtual environments are frequently done up to be nothing short of a perfect immersive aspirational experience, custom-built to make you like the jacket on your virtual back, and the board under your virtual feet. Wanting to replicate that experience in real life is predictable human nature.

Where this might get weird for designers is that it isn't so much of a reversal for those of us who sketch or push CAD all day. Industrial, graphic and fashion designers are already quite comfortable with a flow of concept from virtual to real, given that it's what we do for a living. What might end up resulting from this new twist on e-commerce is a world that looks more and more like your job.