Even before the flame is lit for the inaugural Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, action is already taking place in a three-dimensional (3D) virtual world that is the first to be modelled after an Olympic event.

A joint initiative by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC), the Singapore 2010 Odyssey (www.singapore2010.sg) leverages Singapore’s world-class infocomm technology (ICT) infrastructure and innovative use of ICT to present an immersive virtual experience of the inaugural Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. It was launched by Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Acting Minister for Information, Communications, and the Arts at the Singapore 2010 Odyssey Roadshow on
6 March 2010.

At the launch of the Singapore 2010 Odyssey: (From left) RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of IDA, Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Acting Minister for Information, Communications, and the Arts, and Mr Goh Kee Nguan, Chief Executive Officer of SYOGOC.

The Singapore 2010 Odyssey features the competition venues and the Youth Olympic Village for the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. The environment is set in both the current 2010 context and a futuristic world of 3010. Users create their own customised avatars, compete in 3D games, and are able to interact with each other as they learn more about Singapore and the Olympic Games.

Crowds throng the Singapore 2010 Odyssey roadshow during the launch.

“The Singapore 2010 Odyssey is a unique virtual world platform offering many possibilities for learning, social networking and entertainment, as it reaches out to youths from all over the world in a fun and interactive way. The development of the 3D virtual world is testimony to Singapore’s Infocomm capabilities in innovatively harnessing digital media technologies to support major events like the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games,” said RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer
of IDA.

Of particular interest in the Singapore 2010 Odyssey is an inbuilt tool which enables users to try their hand at digital-content creation, and subsequently publish and share these creations with other users around the world.

Olympic values and information about the 26 Summer Youth Olympic sports will be made available to local and international youths through games, multimedia content, and virtual social activities. The in-world Culture and Education Programme (CEP) aims to instil Olympic values and to educate and engage young athletes, inspiring them to play an active role in their communities.

Participants battle it out in the virtual world.

“With the Singapore 2010 Odyssey, people from around the world can interact with one another regardless of physical boundaries and experience Singapore 2010 virtually before and during the Games,” said Mr Goh Kee Nguan, Chief Executive Officer of SYOGOC. Observing how young people today are comfortable with getting to know people even without an initial face-to-face meeting, Mr Lui expressed the hope that Singaporean youths will take this opportunity to interact with other youths from around the world, and serve as virtual “ambassadors” for Singapore.

As he put it, “the success of the Singapore 2010 Odyssey is not only measured in the virtual world, but also in the real world, and it will be (measured) in terms of how supportive we are towards our visitors”