3D Chatroom Environments 28/11/2008

Today's tutorial task involved creating an avatar and logging into a chatroom. 

Most of us had chosen to log into 'activeworlds' and have a go creating an avatar and venturing around the virtual world. 

I think in my earlier posts I have already established how I feel about these online virtual worlds - this was no different. The poor graphics, the fact that you have to pay to be a character other than a 'tourist' and the annoying fact that 10 people are trying to have one discussion - was all too much for me to handle. 

However, our class did have a laugh and it was a good social experiment - it was also interesting to see many multi-national companies advertising on the site. 

We were also asked to answer the following questions:

1. Besides the obvious differences, what are the qualitative differences between the regular IM program and a 3D environment?

gI guess that the qualitative differences between a regular IM program and a 3D environment is 'one-to-one conversation'. In a 3D world it is very difficult to have a 'quality' or substantial conversation with one person. IM programs allow you to have private one on one conversations whereas in a virtual world such as 'activeworlds' it is very difficult to do this. Instant messaging allows for greater control, better conversation and is therefore paramount to 3D chatrooms. 

2. What is different about the kinds of socialising that happens in these spaces? Does the 3D aspect make much difference, in other words, are there things possible in one space that are not possible in the the other? Could you think of where this sort of application might lead us?  

I think that in a 3D world you can be creative because you have a character or an avatar, which can take on any form you wish. This enables the participant to create something visual and put a 'face to a name' - IM does not allow this. Programs such as 'activeworlds' and 'secondlife' also allow participants to buy and sell property, create businesses and also participate in activities that are 'sexual in nature'. IM on the other hand is pure conversational. 

Instant messaging of this kind is being hailed as the future of online chatrooms and I think that they may be beneficial for advertisers and the gaming industry as they could use them as a method of selling their product.

Overall another interesting class and equally interesting tutorial.