this is a loaded question and there are no exact answers for it but there must be some common features that would make for an easy-to-use, avatar friendly region/campus for multi-purpose use
defined utilitarian features and sound building practices can be incorporated into various styled or themed regions
i suppose you have to take into account whether most visitors/users would be n00bs or if they would have some idea of what is going on
however, i do think that people, in general, have become more savvy since the big days of SL back in 2005 and that you don’t need to do as much hand holding as back then. there was a certain “shiny” nature to virtual worlds then that overwhelmed people and hours could be spent on customising your avatar and learning how to move, chat, and communicate. i think that many in the mainstream would simply “get it” now
that’s not to say that people won’t spend time creating their avatars, but i think there is a certain laissez faire attitude because many people have been exposed to things like Farmville and twitter profiles and are “over” making every new web experience a big deal (been there, done that). some of you will understand what i am trying to say, even though i’m not expressing it well! =p
in other words, i don’t think every region that has new visitors arriving needs a full orientation/tutorial section teaching them how to change their height and how to chat. especially for regions that see younger people and kids – students need very little instruction to figure out OpenSim (this is analogous to eLearning from 2000 when you still explained what a right-click was!)
i think there seem to be two big considerations for the type of region/campus i am asking for your input on - building practices and elements for use
building practices would include consideration for easy use by avatars and for easy camming around. for example, a scale build of a classroom or conference room with 8 foot ceilings would stink and be horrible to use. however, having walls and desks or tables would help it feel like a classroom or conference room
things like open roofs or landing spaces and clearly marked signs help a new user know where to go - “meet me in the yellow coffee shop” or “see you in auditorium 2″, where you would have a clearly yellow-themed space visible from almost anywhere or large numbered signs. perhaps a central info/kiosk area would be a good practice? Reaction Grid had a nice welcome area that was laid out like a small park in a town square complete with signs and benches to wait for others
what other building practices would be good for a multi-purpose region or campus?
building practices are one part of this, the other is what elements do you think a multi-purpose campus should have?
i’m a fan of break out spaces after reading how IBM found that a lot of good collaboration happened before and after virtual world meetings at their Innovation Centre in Second Life. i tend to think of real world analogies, like a small cafe with tables and chairs, where a couple of people could sit and chat (keeping in mind that spaces like that should have 10 to 20 metre chat distance between them for privacy)
i also am stuck thinking that there is a need for formal spaces, like an auditorium setting and smaller rooms, all of which have clearly defined media walls. in Enclave Harbour, i have several spaces for small groups such as a “hidden” open air shack for four people to talk, a campfire for 8 people to use, a formal classroom with wooden desks for 20, an outdoor stage for 16, and several open areas with cafe tables – but that sounds soooo boring to me
in your experience, what are some general design principles to keep in mind and what are some key elements to include for a multi-purpose campus?
building a freebie “campus” – hopefully mixing utility with whimsy
don’t fall in – that would be a bad new user experience!
I’m facing exactly the same question right now.
Personally, I have to add:
* Entrance from all sides of a building. There’s nothing worse than seeing everyone you know looking out at you from across a pane of glass, and not being able to figure out how to get in there!
* Boring works. If its boring, people know what to do with it. People instantly know what to do in an auditorium, around a campfire, etc… Instead of trying to figure out what they should be doing, they can concentrate on the meeting and its content.
* An auditorium and some other meeting spaces need roofs so folks don’t drop in — literally — in the middle of presentations but walk in from the side if they’re late, which is less disruptive.
* The ReactionGrid welcome area is also my favorite. Very well done, and very welcoming. It was also nice because they often had a grid admin hanging around, answering questions — often Kyle himself.
* If people access via hypergrid, then no orientation is needed at all. Clearly, anyone who can hypergrid over is ready for anything. But if folks can create accounts on your grid, then they need to be able to have a choice of avatars (I think many hosting companies already offer this). And at least a link to a biz-friendly freebie store. Thank God for Linda Kellie — a lot of her stuff is very business and education-friendly, and you can’t beat the license.
* For my meeting space, I’m thinking of offering a basic freebie shop with some unique content (probably adapted from LK) and a teleport link to her full Freebie Mall. (I’m doing it in Kitely, and other folks are hosting her mall there, or I can host a copy, too.)
* Breakout spaces: I’ve got a 16-region megaregion, so I’ll have some little islands I can use for more isolated meeting spaces. Also, maybe, a floating island in the sky? Maybe a series of them, connected by bridges? (With plenty of transparent prims everywhere to keep folks from falling, of course.) People remember things more when they’re scared, and everybody is scared of heights! So those meetings should be memorable!
Maria Korolov
25 Aug 12 at 5:37 pm
Great article, thanks. Also the additional ideas of Maria are very interesting. Great weekend.
Nick – 3DLES educational grid
Nick Zwart
25 Aug 12 at 5:58 pm
This is a semi relevant aside comment –
I get the whole concept of virtual worlds but I’ve still always found it funny or amusing that when I’m inworld working, I will sit the avi down somewhere…and eventually it occurs to me to wonder why I do that. It’s not like she’s going to get tired of standing!
Do you guys do that – find yourself emulating real world behaviors as if the avi itself needs that sort of comfort? ;-p
Virtual Clover
26 Aug 12 at 4:53 am
great tips Maria, some ar in today’s blog post – thank you =)
thanks Nick! i forgot to mention Draw Distance and will mention that today
ah ha Virtual Clover! i also do the same – well with Ener Hax but not Simona Stick. for Ener, i’ll seat her in a good spot, typically on a chair at a table! poor Simona, she often stands on the sea floor!
Ener Hax
26 Aug 12 at 11:00 am
Yes! I get tired watching my avatar stand!
I remember once I was getting a demo of a large campus build that had roads on it, and I looked both ways before crossing the street.
And there’s plenty of studies out there about things like personal space — we keep the same distance from other people in RL as we do from other avatars in-world.
Plus the whole losing-weight-through-virtual-exercise thing.
As avatars get more realistic, and virtual environments more immersive, I expect we’ll encounter a lot more of these kinds of effects.
Maria Korolov
26 Aug 12 at 12:06 pm
Excellent post.
Agree with Maria, in a similar vein:
No doors anywhere. Big big entrance openings. Maria’s roof suggestion is a must.
A simple way to find out what’s on when and in good time. ‘Virtually Speaking’ in SL is a bad example of this for me. Aaagh.
Signs in venues lower down and bigger. I know avs can fly but having to orient with a sign half way up the wall or on a ten foot high pole pees me off.
Whimsy – Maybe a sign that recognises an av is close and not moving, ie trying to read it, and is scripted to holographically make itself known and curve round the viewer in a readable fashion… Make use of the flashing line/light on the floor in emergencies on planes paradigm to direct avs on larger sites.
Re-reading this rant it seems that information supply and visualisation at and prior to events could be better for me xx
And yes, more whimsy ))
Moongold
26 Aug 12 at 12:37 pm
In a Campus type environment in a virtual world you will get both experienced and new people to virtual worlds. This means that the entrance will need to include information to help the new users learn (or just as a refresher) how to use the virtual world.
The best thing is to give them the information they need, and not to include things they don’t. So tutorials about changing avatar appearance or how to use the hypergrid would be left out, but moving around and interacting with things would be included.
Of course, at the locations where you have things like avatar component shops, or a hypergrid portal you would include the information needed for them.
As for spaces, you would want to allow spaces that are configurable for the users (lectures and such) to greater and lesser degrees.
This means that you need to include places where very little setup is needed (eg: a typical classroom), all the way up to open areas where the organiser can drop in a build they want for the period of the lesson.
Most, however, will likely be an open space, perhaps covered and a few walls around it to cordon off the area against casual intrusion with a few seating and demonstration/lecture area configurations that can be rezzed (this could be in an automatic rezzer for the location).
This quick rezzing/derezzing system would allow spaces to be utilised in many ways and allow easy configuration by organisers (either through preset configurations, or through custom builds if needed).
There will also need to be small areas that allow students and lecturers to meet in more casual surroundings. Things like camp-fires, coffee shops and such. As these are just virtual places, the appendices has no real mechanistic effect, but it is the social effect and expectations that people have learned from these real world locations that is important. The casual nature of these locations leads to casual interactions, rather than a more formal interaction that is expected from such as a lecture theatre.
And, again, many of these spaces can have a rezzer/derezzer with preconfigured settings so that the space can be quickly adapted to what the users want.
There should also be a place where users can get items, clothing and other bits and pieces to customise their avatar. This doesn’t have to be a complete shopping experience, but having a few freebies (even if it is just a set of shirts with the campus logo on it, or a picture of our favourite, pink haired web blogger :D ) will encourage users to spend time and explore other offerings of the campus and interact with others.
Actually, I think this is the most important thing. A virtual world campus is about facilitating certain kinds of interaction between users. You can have on-line lessons without interacting with anyone, but a virtual world allows multiple people to see and interact within a shared space, and it is this aspect that separates it from, say, a series of lectures put up on YouTube.
Therefore, to make best use of virtual worlds you need to design the spaces to enhance and exploit the social aspect of the medium.
Paul
28 Aug 12 at 6:11 am
I just hope that as it becomes more real, my butt will begin to look more and more like my avi’s butt.
And LOL at Maria for looking both ways! That was hilarious!
Virtual Clover
28 Aug 12 at 2:30 pm
How about something like a drop zone with a simple option:
I AM A COMPLETE NOOB, I KNOW NOTHING. Click here.
I’M FAMILIAR WITH VIRTUAL WORLDS, OPENSIM, SECOND LIFE. Click here.
I’M CURIOUS AND INTRIGUED BUT STILL THINK THIS IS DORKY. Click here.
Or…
I AM HERE TO PLAY GAMES. Click Here.
I AM HERE FOR A VIRTUAL MEETING. Click Here.
I AM HERE BECAUSE I AM BORED. Click Here.
I AM HERE TO SOCIALIZE AND NETWORK. Click Here.
etc. and teleport them to designated paths based on their knowledge levels – kind of how we do it with browsers and os.
Virtual Clover
28 Aug 12 at 2:33 pm
very nice suggestions Moongold – really outstanding and big signs will be added and i like the animated arrow action – that’s very clear instruction without a doubt! =)
mm, high level n00b instruction is a good idea Paul – i’m thinking very high level like arrow keys, page Up/Down, and chatting. that should be possible with images and minimal text (international)
the configurable space is something i was looking at incorporating but not in a holodeck fashion – but i do have a holodeck script that works in OpenSim but i have not used it in over a year! because this is an entire region, i was thinking of making a variety of permanent spaces. i have an amphitheatre i’m working on and was going to have a “theatre” spave for video, some classroom settings, most definitely some casual places such as coffee shop, garden setting, et cetera =)
the store idea is one many people suggest and i hesitate on that deferring that to anyone wanting to use this freebie – but that is a great way to get more users and i love the t-shirt idea for the campus!
brilliant idea on the ‘click here’ bits! if nothing else, those links could pop a web URL (easy to update but breaks the immersive aspect).
Ener Hax
28 Aug 12 at 7:14 pm