Nice world

[miriam_e]

Well, I'm back.

I was looking for a nice place for the VRA to hold their next meeting in and found a wonderful place at http://www.oddessey.org (yes that is the correct spelling). The entry world is one I glimpsed recently. It is an incredibly interactive amusement park world created by a talented woman who calls herself Gammonbrat. There are lots of interesting people at Oddessey.org and they have great intentions of making a very cool universe there. It is free to join. I think I'll be building in there in the future.

I am trying to get the folks at SpacedOut science fiction club to meet there too, or at least have chats in there from time to time. It rather befits a science fiction group that we meet in another world doesn't it.

Comments

OK...

[loco-indahouse.livejournal.com]

I reckon Virtual Worlds are heaps cool...but I don't understand what they're for- like I know that you can hold meetings there and things like that. Couldn't you just have a chatroom for that? Are they just for deco.?

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Not surprisingly, that is a very insightful point, my cool, smart, little niece. :)

Yes, virtual worlds are great. Yes you can hold meetings there, and yes a chatroom is just as suitable for chatting. And yes, in some respects virtual worlds are "just" for decoration, but in the same way that life is "just" for living, or brilliant artwork is "just" lines and color. It is the fact that you can wander around in this decoration, and in some cases interact with it, that makes a virtual world a great place to meet. VR is awesome decoration!

That said, I must admit that moving in virtual worlds is still at such a primitive stage that chatters have to stop moving when they chat because the keyboard and mouse must be used for both.

One last point: if care is taken in the design of a virtual world it can become much more than decoration. It can mean things or be used to convey information. I have been in virtual worlds where people have shown me around very complex places and I have chatted and explored cool new worlds both at the same time.

Have you ever seen Big Brother on TV? I've seen a little bit when other people have switched it on. It sets up a totally contrived and unrealistic situation where people are forced to interact without outside influences. In real life almost all our interactions are influenced and enlivened by books, TV, films, toys, phone calls, etc. Using a virtual world as a chat room adds to the interesting influences in people's interactions.

[loco-indahouse.livejournal.com]

AHEMMMM to the first sentence!


What programs do you need to create virtual worlds? I know it takes like AGES to create them...unless you're smart like you! Hehehe.


Can anyone access a virtual world?