Most of us see WebRTC as a critical way to get grown-up things done, such as negotiating a contract, making a sale or doing a post-operative physician check-up. In other words, pretty much an easier way of doing things we are already doing. Cube Slam, a new Google WebRTC app, shows that WebRTC is potentially much more.
Cube Slam is a simple pong-like game that you can play in a multiplayer mode against your friends or against a computer opponent. I missed the Chucky E Cheese rat that Nolan Bushnell created after he invented the original Pong game, here replaced by Bob the Bear, the mascot of Google’s Ursine Diversion Division. However, Cube Slam does show the benefits of seeing your opponent sweat. Cube Slam is not the first interactive real-time game; a Chess game called Chess Cam by Spacegoo actually has been out for a while. While Spacegoo provides a similar human opponent, it requires that you can actually play chess.
What distinguishes these applications is that communications is not the core of the app; it is ancillary to the overall experience. By simple extension, there are many other games and activities where an online experience would be enhanced by adding a view of your opponent. One that comes to mind is online poker. By making it a requirement that each player have a specific level of camera and view, it would be an experience much more akin to an actual casino table. Or perhaps a more active game like football or tennis?
The wonder of WebRTC is not only that it changes, maybe even disrupts, existing markets and solutions, but that it also has the potential of changing how we see each other. Imagine for a moment a world where interactive gaming becomes common and out of that comes a global village of interaction. If we all play together, is it not reasonable that we will begin to see each other as more human?
WebRTC not only opens doors for these types of apps, but totally new business models. PopExpert is providing micro-consulting, where the consultant meets the client online for a short consult. According to Jeremy Thomas, meditation assistance is a top seller. The next eBay is just around the corner, waiting to be invented. If this interests you, there is still time to register for the WebRTC eco-system event WebRTC World Conference and Expo, June 25-27 in Atlanta. Come see Google demonstrate Cube Slam as well as more than 35 other demonstrations of WebRTC impact. Who knows, you could develop the next big thing -- with a billion WebRTC-enabled devices in the market by the end of the year, you have the opportunity to join Nolan, Bill, Steve, Larry and Sergey, and Mark as one of the creators of societal change through technology. WebRTC and the world in real-time awaits.
Edited by
Rachel Ramsey
