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UIDesign  
Updated May 15, 2008 by johan.ma...@gmail.com

This page is for discussion of the principles we will use to develop the UI.

Desktop UI

Previous Work

I believe that the closest mature application we currently have on our desktop to what an ideal viewer might look like is in fact an instant messenger gui. Of course, reference to web browser UI is also appropriate.

Due to the length of time which IM and web browser UI's have matured in design, it would be foolish to not learn from their lessons and consider them models to work from.

Specifically I invoke pidgin IM and firefox web browser.

Concept

Immersion

The most obvious difference between the internet as we have used it until now, and the next generation of VWs for which we are designing our viewer, is that it presented as a 3D space. While this is quite visually evident, I hold that it is in fact not the biggest driver of adoption for VWs.

Existing websites have had 3D applets for a long time, without much interest. What makes VWs different is that we can immerse ourselves within these 3D spaces to such a degree that we are able to suspend our disbelief sufficiently to think that a virtual space is an adequate substitute for a real space.

Our viewer must support this integration of what is real and virtual by making our interaction with the world as integrated and genuine as possible.

Avatar

I hold that a VW is an essentially social medium, and that personality is a byproduct of society. Therefore, the avatar as an embodiment of identity, is the central unifying theme of a viewer, and as such should have a central and unifying role in the UI.

Human beings, much more than they care to recognize, adapt their personality constantly to their social environment. While you think of yourself as a coherent "me", an objective analysis would show that our behavior is all subtly different whether we are talking with friends, lunching with superiors at work, having an argument with family, or sharing an romantic moment with another.

This variability is not only natural, it is absolutely essential for the effective functioning of an intelligent social animal. It helps us adapt and cope with the bewildering scope and complexity of human society.

In the real world, social adaptation is limited by the laws of physics and biology: we cannot change our arms or eyes, we must make due with changing only our shirt or contact lenses. Changing things like our voice, words, or manner of speaking is possible, but is constrained by our mind or acoustics.

In virtual worlds, we are freed somewhat from such constraints, and are allowed to explore and adapt to news kinds of novel societies in new kinds of ways; ways that feel somehow more natural to us. We all feel "out of place" sometimes in this modern world, and we all would enjoy an environment where we feel more at home.

A virtual world viewer should do more than just view a 3D scene over the internet, but should emphasize and enable what I feel to be the core motivation for joining a virtual world: society, giving rise to the virtual personality, embodied by an avatar.

Viewed this way, a virtual world viewer is less an extension of the World Wide Web, and more an extension of Instant Messaging.

Virtual World Use Cases

  • User desires to enter a Commercial Space to purchase Goods
  • User desires to enter a Work Space to engage in Commercial Tasks
  • User desires to enter a Community Space to meet Friends
  • User desires to enter a Public Space to attend Political Meeting
  • User desires to enter a Education Space to Learn a Subject
  • User desires to enter a Private Space to engage in Adult Activities

Each of the above general use cases on a VW involves at least 3 central ingredients:

  1. an activity which satisfies a human desire
  2. a virtual space which is known to be able enable such an activity
  3. an implied personality a social animal must assume for effective pursuit of the activity

Creating Spaces

The human desires are intrinsic to our nature, but we can enable creation of the spaces where those desires can be exercised by enabling end-user created content creation.

The question for us, is whether our viewer is simply a means of viewing the spaces created by authors, or whether the viewer should enable direct modification (not to be confused with interaction) of virtual spaces withing the viewer itself.

This is an open question.

The example set for us by web browsers is that we can view and introspect the spaces we inhabit, but that we cannot write to them. A separate application is required for web authoring.

Identity

We will say that when we speak of "personality" (or behavior employed by a person in a social setting), we are speaking about identity, and identity is manifested by an Avatar.

While we consider that most "normal people" would choose to pursue all the activities in the use cases with the same identity or avatar -- and indeed nothing is stopping them -- we consider that the ability to assume alternate identities for different spaces is a central feature of all social internet applications.

Therefore the primary preliminary interaction with the viewer will be choosing Identity.

Yeah, but really I only ever want one Avatar. Really.

While the avatar is a central, unifying design concept, and switching identities should be made easy, we should not ever assume that everyone must have, or must enjoy having, multiple identities. Whenever the list of avatars is exactly one, all avatar selection will always default to that identity without disruption.

Another reason for supporting multiple avatars is that the viewer may be used for servers that offer different functionality, e.g. SL/OpenSim vs. realXtend. Given that we have external asset servers we need to store, and be able to easily chose, different avatars depending on the new world. Another possibility is policy decisions, such as no sex allowed. Meaning that you have to have a child friendly avatar in store, instead of your usual kinky appearance.

Location

However, new users would unlikely have the sophistication to connect their desires with abstract idea of "choosing identity", or even what an avatar or identity really is. They're just not thinking in our terms.

To support users who prefer to think, not in terms in terms of "who am I", but rather "where should I go", we should support a secondary preliminary interaction for choosing location.

Preliminary Interactions

The first decision the user faces is which desire he intends to realize in a virtual space. Before he can realize it, he must first either understand Identity or Location.

If the user has no Identity, we provide a default avatar and location for that avatar to be realized in. This is provided by Avatar Creation wizard. When the avatar is created, the user is advanced to the Location Chooser screen.

If the user has an existing Identity, it can be entered into the viewer's storage through the Add New Avatar screen, where it is remembered between sessions. From there the user is taken to the Avatar Selection screen.

If there is only one Avatar in the Avatar Selection screen, it is not shown, the avatar is logged in, and the user is taken directly to the Viewer Window.

If there are multiple Avatars, the user must select one to log in, and the Viewer Window is shown in place. If another Avatar is currently logged in and a Viewer Window is already being shown, then the new Avatar is logged in and displayed in another Tab withing the Viewer Window.

If the logged in Avatar has a previous location in the world, it is realized in its last location.

If the avatar is new to the world, he is taken to the World Explorer screen.

From the World Explorer screen, the user is able to search or browse for locations or people of interest within the world. Once the user has found a location or person of interest, this screen will enable realization at that location, and the World Explorer screen is closed.

Internet Device UI

pass

Console UI

pass

Comment by nlin.mes...@gmail.com, May 22, 2008

We need to think about the different target demographics and what level of interface complexity they will want/tolerate (e.g. internet-savvy users, first-time computer users, gamers, senior citizens, schoolkids, etc).

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