DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds

Week 3 Session

6pm – 9pm

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007

Owen Macindoe and Kathryn Merrick

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Announcements

Please log on to Second Life now! Joe is here to help us with any problems

Anyone who was new last week has now been assigned a group Please check the course web page

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Overview

A sense of place and presence in virtual worlds

Task 1: An Impossible Social Space

Catching up on tutorials

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Place and Presence in Virtual Worlds

Two papers: Kalay, Y. & Marx. J. (2001),

"Architecture and the Internet: Designing Places in Cyberspace“

Champion, E. & Bharat, D. (2002), “Where is this place?”

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Place Versus Space

From Kalay and Marx (2001): “A place is a space activated by social

interactions and invested with culturally based understandings of behavioural appropriateness”

A space is a mere location

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Qualities of Place

Qualities of place: Socially shared setting Uniqueness Physical and conceptual connections Historical context Meaning interpreted by inhabitants

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Making Places

Functional appropriateness: Fit between spaces, objects, and activities, Empirical character Spatial focus Affordances

Conceptual appropriateness: Fit between form, activities, and expectations Subjective character Historical and cultural reference

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

How is it Done?

Design methods: Borrowing from previous examples Analogy using architecture as the

metaphor Virtual character opens other possibilities

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

The Real and the Virtual

Hyper-reality cyberspaces

Abstracted reality cyberspaces

Hybrid cyberspaces

Virtual spaces

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

The Virtual Museum of Arts El Pais and Gu’s (2001) Virtual Conference Centre

Kalay & Marx:Design Criteria 1

Successful virtual places require: Purposes that sustain the place of being

well populated Engagement of users with objects or

people Sense of relative location Sense of authenticity (questionable)

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Kalay and Marx:Design Criteria 2

Adaptability to different purposes Virtual experiences that may not be

available in the physical world Good control over transitions Visual and emotional richness

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Champion and Barahat:Design Criteria

Virtual places must do all that plus: Be evocative of related activities and

previous places Show signs of use over time Imply a setting Make appropriate use of cultural symbols

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

That’s a Long List…

No exhaustive list of place qualities Such lists are inspiration Not all places have the same

requirements! Reason about what’s appropriate Be able to defend your decisions Find examples of good designs

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Introducing Task 1

An Impossible Social Space Design and build a space that couldn’t

exist in the real world Explore Kalay and Marx’s hybrid and

hyper virtual cyberspace concepts Critique session: August 28th Implementation, report, and presentation:

6pm, July 4th

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Assessment Criteria:Design and Implementation

1

Size restriction (1 mark) Circulation (1 mark) Navigational and functional cues (1 marks) Efficient use of prims (1 mark) Functional spaces for socialising (2 marks)

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Assessment Criteria:Design and Implementation

2

“Impossible” elements (2 marks) Consideration of Second Life interaction

norms (2 marks) Texturing (2 marks) Sense of place and consistency of design (3

marks)

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Assessment Criteria:Report

A maximum 1000 word document discussing your design’s:

Virtual elements (2 marks) Functional areas (2 marks) Design principles (2 marks) Strengths and limitations (2 marks) Future extensions (2 marks)

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Presentation

A 5 minute presentation: Demonstrating the design Discussing your design decisions

Worth 5 marks total

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Today’s Tutorial

We’re a bit behind so: Work through the tutorial

sheets Join the class group in SL Buy land with your group

We recommend land in Iwaki

Look at existing builds in SL Practice, practice, practice!

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

For Next Week

Find two outstanding builds within Second Life to discuss in the tutorial

Read Gu and Maher (2004), “Generating virtual architecture with style”. Available on the course website

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007

Bibliography

Kalay, Y. & Marx. J., 2001, "Architecture and the Internet: Designing places in cyberspace“, Jabi, W. (ed.), Proceedings of ACADIA2001, Pomona, USA, pp. 230-240

Champion, E., and Bharat, D., 2002, “Where is this place?”, in Proctor, G. (ed), Proceedings of ACADIA2002, Pomona, USA, pp. 87-97

DESC9180 Designing Virtual Worlds University of Sydney, August 2007