The virtual world dream
2007年08月28日 The Straits Times
Digital version of HiPiHi interview on Digital Life.
Explore the Internet by getting inside it. If Mr Xu Hui has his way, surfing will no longer be just a read-only experience, but 3-D one. By THAM YUEN-C
XU HUI
38, CEO and founder of HiPiHi
He had already made his name in his country's Internet world, garnering a nomination as one of the top 10 Internet heroes in China by 1999.
As a pioneer of the Internet industry there, Mr Xu Hui had served as president and CEO of My Web China, a company offering IPTV, and also JingQi XiShu, one of the first e-commerce sites in China.
But the dreamer in him wanted more.
So the native of Jiang Xi province, in south-eastern China, set out to transform the Internet, from 2-D to 3-D, and created the online virtual world, HiPiHi (pronounced high-pee-high).
'I've achieved my goals, and made enough money to survive, so I want to do something meaningful and challenging, that'll really impact society. If virtual worlds succeed, and bring the Internet into another phase, it'll be an achievement for me,' said the 38-year-old who was here last week for the State Of Play V conference on virtual worlds.
His China-based virtual world, which he began developing in 2005, is now open to some 20,000 users in a limited test. It is often referred to as the second Second Life, but with more censorship.
Mr Xu is unfazed by these comparisons. 'The majority of content created in HiPiHi will not be affected by censorship. There might be no gambling and no sex, but people can still come into the world to socialise, explore, and have fun,' he said. 'You can give people freedom, but some form of control is necessary.'
Why did you decide to create HiPiHi?
There is a lot of attention on virtual worlds now, but the more important thing is that the whole World Wide Web as we know it is turning towards 3-D. Virtual worlds are part of that paradigm shift from 2-D to 3-D.
In the past, and even now, the Internet was mostly text-based. But it is now slowly becoming an experiental environment. You already see 3-D applications like Google Earth that mirror the real world. Virtual worlds are just another application, except that they allow you to incorporate your imagination.
What attracts people to these virtual worlds?
It's a place where people can fulfil their dreams. In the past, people used to travel all the way to the United States in search of the American dream. There was the notion that in America, they will be able to fulfil their dreams. Now, they can just go to the virtual world for that, so it becomes the Virtual World dream.
Technology has always allowed us to fulfil our dreams and fantasies, or do what we thought was impossible. For example, in olden-day Chinese fables, there were some characters who could hear or see from 1,000 miles away, and that was only something fictional.
'My ultimate goal is to work with other virtual world providers towards interoperability, to standardise these virtual worlds so users can move from world to world, and interact between the different platforms, I think this will help us fulfil the real potential of the Internet.'
Then, cellphones came along and made it possible for people to hear each other talk no matter how far away they were, and cameras came along and made it possible for people to see things happening far away. Virtual worlds will let people fulfil another fantasy, of splitting into two, leading two different lives at the same time, if you will.
But anecdotal evidence is starting to show that some people have been neglecting their real life because of the virtual world. Do you think these virtual worlds will bring more social problems?
It boils down to how people use technology. Virtual worlds give people possibilities and opportunities, but it's how they want to exploit them. People can go in to socialise, and make friends, but they could also be in there to cheat on their spouses.
I believe this shows there are already cracks in their relationship. If someone really loved his wife, he wouldn't go into the virtual world and marry another woman. It's not that the virtual world caused the problem, it probably just gave him the opportunity to manifest his real desires.
