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Group 5 Aparre, Clint Jhuneil Briones John Lawrence Derecho, Jon Michael Espinosa, Ralph Joseph Macatangay, Christian Paul

Group 5 presents an analysis of the virtual world Second Life and issues related to interaction design. Key points include: - Second Life allows for avatar creation and social interaction through various modes of communication. It has developed features for commerce, education, and social networking. - Users can engage in one-on-one or group conversations through audio, text, and video chat. Avatars and an interactive map allow for visual representation and awareness of other users. - Social protocols depend on the specific area but communities have established complex norms. Additional information like location is conveyed visually and through in-game prompts. - Interaction occurs through text, audio, chat, and creative works. Visualizations provide information on

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31 views3 pages

Group 5 Aparre, Clint Jhuneil Briones John Lawrence Derecho, Jon Michael Espinosa, Ralph Joseph Macatangay, Christian Paul

Group 5 presents an analysis of the virtual world Second Life and issues related to interaction design. Key points include: - Second Life allows for avatar creation and social interaction through various modes of communication. It has developed features for commerce, education, and social networking. - Users can engage in one-on-one or group conversations through audio, text, and video chat. Avatars and an interactive map allow for visual representation and awareness of other users. - Social protocols depend on the specific area but communities have established complex norms. Additional information like location is conveyed visually and through in-game prompts. - Interaction occurs through text, audio, chat, and creative works. Visualizations provide information on

Uploaded by

cpmac123
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Group 5

Aparre, Clint Jhuneil


Briones John Lawrence
Derecho, Jon Michael
Espinosa, Ralph Joseph
Macatangay, Christian Paul
A. General Social Issues
 What is the purpose of the VW/MMORPG?

We have chosen the game Second Life. It allows users to create personalized avatars and interact
through audio and visual imagery, it allows creation of communities/groups of likeminded or those with similar
tastes and preferences, replication and enhancement of real and fictional locations, living out of
fantasies/other lives in an online environment, which might prove physically much safer in some cases. Second
Life has developed to include commerce and trade, recruitment and employee assessment, also added virtual
classroom offerings. Second Life was also designed as a social networking platform to encourage social
interaction.

 What kinds of conversations are supported?

One to one, one to many, many to many, through audio, text, and video, IM/Chat.

 How is awareness supported of the others in the VW/MMORPG?

Through a Viewer, a proprietary desktop application, which provides a visual representation of the
user's location, and also through an accessible map. Every individual has an avatar, customizable according to
taste. This Viewer has yet to be successfully "ported" to the growing community of tablet computers, although
apps are available to continue social contact to a limited degree.

 What kinds of social protocols and conventions are used?

This depends on the section of the VW you are in, but there are many, varied, and complex. The VW
inhabitants have developed and matured, bringing either extension of their offline personalities in, or
developing wholly new characters, communities and relevant geographies within the VW.

 What kinds of awareness information are provided?

Visual prompt and triggers, audio, in-world dialogue boxes, control panels, situational information
such as telling you where you are located, and stopping you entering certain restricted areas/if you don't have
an invite. The VW Viewer frames the world, and offers a deep selection of information, history, and
customizable details.

 Does the mode of communication and interaction seem natural or awkward?

Seems fairly natural, once you get used to it, but obviously you need to get used to it! If you're socially
awkward in the real world, this MIGHT be a way to overcome that, or it might be just the same!

B. Specific Interaction Design Issues


 What form of interaction and communication is supported?

Text, audio, IM, also the VW enables creation of art installations, customized venues for socializing
among specific interest groups. The users obviously have the option of continuing their interactions outside
the VW if they so wish, many have done so by creating additional web-based sites, posting to relevant blog
communities, publishing art, music and literature on specialist websites.

 What other visualizations are included? What information do they convey?

Dress, and general physical appearance, not limited to human, allowing every user to make statements
about themselves and their personal preferences visually, and through social choices such as where they
spend time within the world. Representations of other users, images to offer membership of groups,
invitations to tailored events, some of which cross over into the real world, and art installations.

By allowing creation of context/taste specific areas, rooms, lands act, such as gaming zones,
musical/club areas, fantasy, party and adult areas Second Life allows users to congregate among other users
of their choice, in environments of their own choosing or indeed of their own design and construction.

 How do users switch between different modes of interaction, e.g. exploring and chatting? Is the switch
seamless?

Dialog boxes open, can be minimized, and closed, but always available around the edges of the
proprietary viewer application. The interface is keyboard and mouse, which does have limitations, and makes
me think of First Person Shooter PC games, possibly not the connection that the VW's designers were "aiming"
for!

 Are there any social phenomena that occur specific to the context of the VW/MMORPG THAT WOULDN'T
happen in face to face settings?

We speculate that many individuals can choose to live lives that are not as they are in the real world,
while there are still general social and good behavior rules there are segments of the VW where these rules
change to suit the preferences of the visitors. Users can exhibit their art, publish and perform their music,
share self-published literature, none of this might be deemed interesting outside of their own online
communities. Relationships can be based on the virtual avatars, and the characters created online, rather than
those of the physical world.

The Viewer enables profile disclosure to any user within close enough proximity to click on an avatar,
which initially encourages open-ness, but once familiar with this it's a simple matter to manipulate one's profile
to one's own ends.

C. Design Issues
 What other features might you include in the virtual world to improve communication and collaboration?

The Viewer requires a certain level of performance specification from users' PCs, which can cause
problems, and we found the control system for moving the avatar quite slow to respond, although that might
simply be because we have not had time to get used to the system.

We found ourselves wondering whether or not avatars we encountered might be greeting us and we
were simply missing this social contact through not understanding the Viewer context better. This might be
overcome by a proximity chat prompt.

The biggest glaring omission that I could find was a lack of a video interface, a la Skype. If a user can
initiate a chat/IM session then the primary barriers to video that I can conceive of would be bandwidth and
security concerns. Aesthetic considerations would be a design requirement with user feedback, and beyond
that I would imagine there are some behavior management concerns, but if users are conducting themselves
in line with VW conventions then these would be a minor administrative blip around first introduction, and
maybe have some overhead in ongoing management.

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