SOCCOMP ACTIVITY: JUN 16, 2009

Adopted from Avatars!
Exploring and Building Virtual Worlds on the Internet
http://www.digitalspace.com/avatars/book/fullbook/chow/chow1.htm#design

BUILD YOUR OWN WORLD (or community or space) 25points

As a group, you will plan and design your own world. This world can be an extension of your SELF or can be a means to satisfy your OTHER SELF. In this world, you may use your true identities or you may assume new ones. You may also use avatars.

At the end of the session, your group should have created the following:

1. A name of your world – 2pts
2. A theme and a description of your world (or space or community) – purpose, promotion, target audience, activities (and restrictions) of the participants, how will you sustain participation or the LIFE in the world. – 15pts

3. A rough image of your world. – 8pts.

4. Probable technical difficulty in the devl’t of the world (optional)


A checklist of world builder's questions (also from the same site)
Before you set out to put in all the work to design a world of your own, you might want to ask the following questions:
• What is the purpose for your world: to teach, to entertain, do business, to experiment, or to express your own creativity?
• How will you design your world to be inviting to visitors and keep them coming back?
• What will be your overall themes and activities for this world: communicating, learning, working, creating, or gaming?
• Will your world support avatars, will it be single user or will it use some other method for people to share the same space?
• How will you promote your world, who is your target audience?
• How will you document your world, its history, its community members and activities, will you design a Web site?
• How will you nurture and manage the communities that will emerge in your world?
• Will you allow visitors to make their own permanent mark on the world, such as building or posting notices?
• Will you provide a set of avatars for people to use and customize or will you allow them to build their own avatar?
• Will you charge people to use the world, how will you keep your project afloat financially?
• What technologies will you use: 2D or 3D scenes, text or voice chat, will your world have avatars, bots and biota, will your world be preloaded or stream in, will you use standard protocols and formats like VRML or invent your own?