coursework > CI
916 > worlds
where the laws of the worlds we grew up in do not exist. These places are inhabited by strange beings, avatars, controlled and created by humans. These are worlds of imagination, of fantasy, of books, of cartoons, of movies, of television, and animation, and online or virtual worlds.
These virtual, or online, worlds exist in cyberspace. They often take the shape of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, which in turn, can be broken down into text-based games like Gemstone or graphical ones like EverQuest.
Often these worlds have built in objectives -- to find, kill, or survive something. Some are set up for dating, hangin out, or shopping. My interest is in the worlds where, if there are objectives, they involve creating things rather than destroying them. Although they are interesting, I don't think my focus will be on gamespaces where monsters or other avatars must be destroyed.
One of the earliest non-destructive online-based graphical worlds was Habitat.
Habitat was designed by Lucasfilms in 1985 to run on a Commodore 64 computer. It evolved into Fujitsu's Dreamscape, then Worldsaway, which split into three near-identical but differently themed VZones worlds (nice short intro movie) described in the following terms excerpted from Virtual Worlds Review:
Getaway environments like beaches, underwater exploration, shopping malls, and casinos make up this world.
A collection of urban environments that are virtual versions of cities like London and New York, this world is home to younger VZones residents. (review by PC Magazine)
A fantasy-themed virtual world with a combination of traditional roleplay of RPG's and the social aspects of a chat space. (review by PC Magazine)
Second Life is currently my first choice of study. It has been given great reviews that stress its compelling mix of designing and socializing. (review by PC Magazine)
The Sims Online is also compelling to me, due perhaps to its lineage from one of the earliest design and problem-solving games I had experienced, SimCity.
There.com is also interesting, although the focus seems to be more about socializing, shopping, and playing than on designing. (review by PC Magazine) (official description and videos)
Aimed at a very young audience, Toontown could be interesting to study simply because of the marketing potential behind it. (review by PC Magazine)
Also aimed at a younger audience, Sanrio's online world offers virtual interaction with the popular Hello Kitty characters. (review by PC Magazine)
New online worlds have popped up, and some "old" ones have survived. Listed below is a number of them with links, reviews if available, and my brief comments on them.
