Introduction
The promised land of digital cyberspace is becoming a reality. No longer is
it confined to the pages of cyberpunk fiction, or to corporate or government
research labs. Nor does it depend on expensive high-end hardware or high speed
connections. Rather, this brave new world of virtual embodied experience is
available over the Internet, using standard computers and ordinary modems. The
effects of this nascent revolution are just beginning to be felt, but they will
change the very nature of what it means to be a human being in information space.
The "flavor" of cyberspace we are talking about here is something
different from the much-hyped Virtual Reality (VR), which does require very
expensive high-end equipment. We can it call Avatar Virtual Worlds, or VW for
short. The word "avatar" is from the Sanskrit, and in that context
refers to the form that a god assumes when manifesting in the earthly plane.
The analogy is that we humans are manifesting in a cybernetic plane, through
digital representations that more or less faithfully model our appearance and
behavior.
What is an Avatar Virtual World?
It is a computer-generated space, usually 3D but sometimes 2D, which is downloaded
over the Internet and viewed on a standard computer monitor. Typically, accessing
such a space, or "world" as they are called, requires a client program
and usually these clients are distributed free of charge. There are currently
several different VW platforms available, based on different enabling technologies,
and offering different capabilities and limitations. There is no VW killer app
that has it all.
The defining characteristic shared by all VW systems is the ability to represent
users as figures or characters called avatars. As we travel through virtual
space, our avatars can be seen to move about, and even more importantly they
can meet and converse with other avatars, which can represent people from essentially
anywhere on earth. Avatar forms can be as utilitarian as a suit-clad business
person, or as fanciful as imagination will allow. The act of choosing an avatar
becomes itself a kind of communication.
Many VW platforms, e.g. blaxxun, Sony Community Place and Traveler, are based
on VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language), a set of standards for presenting
3D information on the Web. Additional capabilities required for sharing avatar
information are provided through proprietary extensions to the VRML nodes. Other
systems, notably ActiveWorlds, employ non-VRML techniques. Regardless of the
enabling technology, all VWs allow for creation of highly complex visual worlds,
combined with communication capabilities of varying complexity and effectiveness.
It is in this area of communication that VWs vary the most.
Since humans communicate primarily through talking, it would seem advantageous
to enable avatars with that kind of capability, but in reality very few VWs
do so. The main reason for this is the enormous amount of bandwidth consumed
by the voice channel, restricting drastically the number of avatars which can
concurrently occupy any given space. As broad-band access to the Internet becomes
a reality, this handicap will become less important, but for now it means that
most VWs are text-based.
Text-based avatar worlds also vary widely in the level of communication affordances
offered, especially as regards asynchronous communications, in which the two
parties are not simultaneously present. Some VW systems, such as Sony Community
Place, have essentially no capability to leave a message for another avatar,
while others, such as ActiveWorlds, employ techniques such as "telegrams"
to contact avatars at a later time or in different "worlds". No voice-based
VW currently allows for asynchronous communication.
Another area of wide divergence is that of community building-- that is the
enabling of avatars to create sustainable groups based on some kind of shared
interests, capabilities, desires, etc. The German company blaxxun emerges as
a leader in this field. They have managed to create an entire virtual economy
in their worlds, complete with jobs, titles, and a distinct and explicit hierarchy
of experience and seniority. This makes for a perhaps overly structured, but
smoothly functioning social experience. Communities in other VWs tend to be
much more ad hoc, but are nonetheless often quite coherent over time and through
membership changes. The users themselves tend to create their own back channels
for social structures, wherever these have been omitted from the VW architecture.
Typical of such channels are web pages, forums, mail lists and ICQ buddy lists.
A solution in search of problems
Even in its infancy, it is apparent that VW has potential for facilitating whole
new kinds of social interactions outside the constraints of geographic location.
While this is true also of chat systems, VW has the added power of apparent
physical presence, and with properly designed avatars, a range of gestures and
movements to reinforce verbal or textual exchanges. Likewise, the ability of
avatars to move around and interact with objects in the virtual landscape has
far-reaching implications, especially for such areas as education.
VW technologies are currently employed in several different ways; more can be
imagined and there are surely many others yet to even be imagined.
The most popular use at present can best be described as "3D chat".
There are numerous worlds, created with all VW systems, in which people meet
in avatar for the sole purpose of chatting, visiting, flirting, flaming and
generally socializing. Regular users of these worlds become quite attached to
them, and become as much "at home" as in the physical world--sometimes
more so. It is quite common for users to develop on-line personae who manifest
behavior quite different from "real life", and include sets of friends
(and sometimes even virtual spouses!) that exist only in the VW environment.
This is a natural arena for trying out alternate modes of behavior, and cross-sex
avatars are frequently employed.
These 3D chat environments are a hot-house of rapidly evolving behaviors, and
are a sociologist's playground. Deriving a revenue stream from them has proved
to be difficult, but at least one group, ActiveWorlds, has been able to charge
members a fee for full participation, or "citizenship", even though
basic access is still free. They have also had some success with attracting
advertising placements in some of their worlds, a potential revenue source that
could become important.
VW applications in the education field are also increasingly popular, especially
in ActiveWorlds. One can attend virtual "schools" to learn how to
build in ActiveWorlds, complete with teachers in avatar who demonstrate techniques.
Some established educational institutions are also beginning to experiment with
the possibilities of presenting curricula in a virtual environment, and this
is a trend which bears watching closely.
Some businesses are beginning to experiment with the potentials of VW to enhance
customer interactions and to facilitate internal communications. BMW of Germany
set up a virtual dealership in blaxxun, where users could query a salesperson
in avatar, who would then direct them to appropriate areas of the company's
web site. The aircraft company Boeing has created a space in ActiveWorlds, where
its far-flung work groups can meet regardless of geographic and time zone limitations.
One can imagine virtual companies existing entirely on-line, with the principals
meeting in avatar to carry out company business. Indeed, there is at least one
such company that creates custom avatars, wherein one partner lives in Texas
and the other is in Brazil. Recently, a large convention, Avatars98, was held
completely in VW space, including a remarkably effective virtual convention
center.
In the field of entertainment, Sony is using its Community Place VW client as
a means to enhance its movie products. Several recent Sony releases, including
"Starship Troopers" and "Godzilla", have included on-line
VW environments where users could play 3D games keyed to the movie experience.
The completely immersive nature of the VW experience makes it a natural for
this sort of gaming, and one of the world's premier game companies, Origin Systems,
has created a VW game, "Ultima On-line", which has thousands of players.
The potentials for entertainment seem unlimited, needing only sufficient users
to make the up-front expenses worthwhile.
Other uses of VW technology are just around the corner. Virtual travel agencies
will take avatars to exotic locales, some recreated from actual places, e.g.
Mars or the Amazon jungle, or completely fanciful worlds lacking even such common
referents as gravity and inertia. New theatrical forms will evolve, which will
take advantage of the unique nature of avatars to blur the lines between acting
and everyday on-line existence. Applications will arise in fields as varied
as psychology, architecture, publishing, economics, religion…
This colonization of cyberspace will ultimately affect all facets of human
life, enabling modes of being that we can only guess about now and opportunities
for those who embrace avatar life.