OFF WORLD BLOG

ActiveWorlds

So I initially signed up with a public ActiveWorld, because I wanted a feeling for the in-world experience.  If I am to build and develop in this platform, I figure all experience is good experience, right?

As a “Tourist” [non citizen = not paid up member of the community] I got to wander and play with temporary avatar customisation – the Avatar engine is quite powerful, if initially confusing [mind you, no where near as confusing as OpenSIM or 2L was when I first encountered it]. Outfits are composed of modules, and you have a restricted but fairly extensive array of controls for general morphology, outfit, accessories and so on, the avatars remind me of in-game appearance of a game that slips my mind for the moment. Camera control is relatively sensible – pageup to look up, pagedown to look down, l/r to turn l/r, up = forward, down = backwards – all good. Control with an arrow key moves you faster – useful for covering distances. You have a number of camera perspectives to choose from, that either include your avatar or not.

Gravity is interesting, each region can have customised physics – so underwater and in-space you can alter the environs to physically simulate that. In some regions, you can turn off gravity’s effects on you [the +/- key] lets you fly. Movement is smooth and, coupled with your visibility settings [how far into the distance you can see objects] the world opens up nicely around you as you travel. Yet to find map/other heads-up displays that might make navigating large spaces easier.

Player registration on the terrain is fairly positive [have yet to “flail awkwardly” as I do in 2L or OpenSIM when encountering crenulated terrain] but then, have yet to encounter any real variation in terrain – lots of flat places, must investigate terraforming tools when exploring build options. Textures seem to wrap nicely but overlapping or clumsily placed objects strobe oddly at the joints – must keep that in mind when making things.

Discovered movers [things that transport you, like lifts, jetpacks, cars] which are fun and have noticed the integrated web tools, inventory console for keeping track of places, things and so on, seems functional.  The soundscape and animated objects [animated textures and particle generators] if used carefully their effects can be lovely, if plopped in randomly, for little reason they are cheap and nasty, and add lag to an area. [Mental note: investigate what cases lag, so it can be minimised in core areas]. There is a “sameness” to much of the building I have seen,, much like it has been made of identical modules, will investigate building next as mechanisms for constructing stuff are still a little of a mystery.

First impressions – promising, fairly noob friendly [at least getting around is] and heaps of potential. Will kids see it like that – it is not a game, per se, the in-world experience is not as “natural” as most 3d games, will that matter? I think not if the experiences are couched in sound pedagogy and people are there for a purpose.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 6:29 pm by wonko and is filed under ACTIVEWORLDS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.