One Avatar, Many Worlds

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• 	[no subject] whoisvaibhav on 04/08/2008 at 3:09 PM
  Posts: 2 Avg Rating:	Looks like Gravatar's idea translated into 3D :) Rate this comment: (Reply)

• Other games? Shiladie on 04/08/2008 at 3:14 PM

  Posts: 37 Avg Rating:

  With the majority of virtual worlds currently being games, where you have limitations on how you can look depending on how advanced you are in the game. (better armour in WoW, interesting outfits in SL, A Cape in CoH) I'm dubious how widespread this will be.  Essentially I don't see most game based virtual worlds hopping on this, at least for a while. Also the issue of anonymity, Personally I would probably have 3-4 different avatars, each which I would use in different sets of virtual worlds, hardly the unified image that is being attempted, but still usefull. Dubious as I am on it's application I really hope this pulls through, as VW standardization is a big step towards the Virtual reality we see and strive for in Sci-fi. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • 	Re: Other games? Erica Naone on 04/09/2008 at 8:37 AM		TR Staff Assistant Editor
    Posts: 28 Avg Rating:	I agree that avatar portability is very problematic for games. Aside from the strange idea of taking a character from the fantasy world of Azeroth into a science fiction setting, there is the problem of how the items in the avatar's inventory would be translated, and the question of why this would be done in the first place. However, for those using avatars for business purposes, the effort makes much more sense. Business people (who don't work in the field of virtual worlds) probably don't want to put a lot of time into avatar creation, and are likely to want to get it done once and maintain the same avatar, connected to their real names, from there on out. Finally, I envisioned DAZ 3D's MogBox as being particularly well-suited for people who want to take a character into several more socially-oriented virtual worlds, such as a Multiverse world and There (this is just an example, since they haven't announced support for There). Then, a person could use 3D modeling tools to design the very cool avatar they really want, and show it off in multiple locations. DAZ 3D's tool only handles avatar appearance, so it would only grant a consistent look -- it doesn't address the question of how to transport the character's inventory. -- Erica Naone Rate this comment: (Reply)

    • 	Re: Other games? Shiladie on 04/09/2008 at 12:27 PM
      Posts: 37 Avg Rating:	I don't know if they ever will get to the point of a transitional inventory.  This is definitely a step towards having business meetings and conferences in these VW's I for one will probably snatch this up and probably make 2 different avatars that I'd use if the need ever arose Rate this comment: (Reply)

• 	Artwork not credited properly? KarmaInferno on 04/10/2008 at 2:03 AM
  Posts: 1	The art showing the superheroine is by Doug Shuler, based off of a screenshot from the game City of Heroes. http://www.douglasshuler.com/Gallery_firelily.htm# Proper credit might be nice. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • 	Re: Artwork not credited properly? Erica Naone on 04/10/2008 at 9:09 AM		TR Staff Assistant Editor
    Posts: 28 Avg Rating:	I'll look into this right away. -- Erica Naone Rate this comment: (Reply)

• portability is inconsistent with innovation bsenftner on 04/17/2008 at 12:22 PM

  Posts: 1

  How is a committee of companies going to create a standard that allows and enables innovation in the avatar design and capabilities? Even keeping the forms as human-like, the range of issues involved when adding features such as complex animations, physics based secondary motion, advanced facial animation, and so forth... these are all characteristics that impact how the base geometry is constructed, the data structures and organization of this information is impacted, and these additional characteristics should also be included in the portable data set... yet they are dependent upon the specific implementation of the animation system, the physics system, the means of user interface (VR style gloves vs. keys vs. Wii style controllers...) Efforts such as this are premature, and short sighted, IMHO. Rate this comment: (Reply)

• Attached desolation0 on 04/21/2008 at 7:26 AM

  Posts: 13 Avg Rating:

  This lets you set up your basic Avatar to import into each of many worlds. It would be the job of the online worlds who want to use this system to tailor the input they get to their environment. When an avatar gets put into the world they get automatically converted to work in that world. Certain aspects of the Avatar would obviously be tied into the environment it's currently in. Once the avatar has been imported into world A, it has an inventory for world A, follows the physics for world A, gains experience in world A, and likely doesn't get taken back out from world A to be put into world B. Instead a fresh copy of the avatar gets put into world B. The question for online videogames is a bit different. For instance, your social networking avatar likely wouldn't pass as an orc in WoW. This takes art design away from the creators of the game, and likely wouldn't happen except on a few games specifically designed for it. Rate this comment: (Reply)