week 8 - 3D worlds and socialising

When I first entered the tutorial and Adam told us about this whole 3D, virtual reality chat world where people from all over take the form of some sort of tourist or any other being and freely roam the skies of the cyber world. To me this seemed like fun as it would be like the regular chatting you do on MSN but in a video game.

Besides the obvious 3D difference between ActiveWorlds and MSN is how i interacted with the people around the virtual world in which I was in. I felt as though it was easier to communicate with others as you could see who and where they were. It was fun to feel like you actually existed within your conversation, not just words on the page. It encouraged a different kind of communication. In this 3D world, Your conversations are totally open for everyone to see. Unlike MSN, it was not private in any way.

Msn allows you to chat to other people, but you have to already know them or at least already have their e-mail address. This is unlike Activeworld, where you meet people when you visit their worlds or have them visit yours. That's why the socialising is different; on msn you talk to your friends as yourself. On Activeworld you can create an environment, become a character and talk to others who have done the same. The fact that Activeworlds is 3D obviously makes a difference because it allows the creation of the worlds and everything that comes with it.

In all, today’s tutorial made me realise how advance technologies of today are as I never imagined something like Activeworlds even existed but it sure is cool :)