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April 4, 2003
There is a virtual world,
not a game. Virtual worlds offer a grand bait and switch. People
are attracted by activities, games, shopping, exploring.
They stay because they have made friends and become involved
in the community. There are many ways to satisfy these needs
on the internet that do not require a 3d virtual world and an
avatar. How does an avatar add to communication? The EE380 talk
on 2 April describes facial and body expressions, gaze, chat,
and how these are all integrated in There's avatar-centric communication.
The CS547 talk on 4 April describes the cinematographer and chatprop
design in There.. |
Chuck Clanton
and Jeffrey Ventrella are principle designers at There.
They were the lead designers of avatar-centric communication
in There.
Chuck Clanton worked in user interface design of "serious"
software for many years before crossing over to games. He worked
on Populous the Beginning, Dungeon Keeper 2, Sim Theme Park,
and the first Harry Potter games, all at Bullfrog in the UK,
before joining There. He has taught at Stanford, and promoted
the sharing of design knowledge between the HCI and game design
communities.
Jeffrey Ventrella has a MS degree from the MIT Media Lab,
and a MFA from Syracuse University. He has held faculty positions
at UCSD, Tufts, and Syracuse. He is an internationally known
writer on Artificial Life. He worked at Rocket Science Games
prior to founding There with Will Harvey.
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