Monday 27 November 2006

Imitating RL


I've noticed a tendency for creations in SL to mimic their RL counterparts. Obvious examples include people's avatars, which I suspect often are designed to be similar to the RL owner (albeit sometimes portraying a view of the owner thru rose-tinted spectacles). Clearly, I'm ignoring a significant leaning towards wings and furries by some residents which I presume aren't matched in RL!

Buildings also tend to take on a RL form more often than not. Why have a roof when it never rains, a bed when you never sleep or chairs when you never need to rest your legs? I guess these things make us feel more comfortable in some way? And, to a large extent, I designed ArtsPlace SL with a physical building very much in mind.

Similarly, many buildings tend to look as though they are constrained by the forces in RL - though there are significant exceptions. In my Eduserv role, I've just built a clear spherical meeting room that I call the MeetingPod, floating somewhere over CybraryCity. It doesn't need anything to hold it up, but the walls are helpful in preventing people falling off (though Silversprite Helsinki will know that there are some teething problems in that area).

1 comment:

Jill Hurst-Wahl said...

I think some of the RL conventions built into SL help us to recognize what occurs in that space. For example, benches. Avatars don't get tired and don't need to sit, but benches tell us that it may be a meeting place or that it is okay to linger.

So when do we need those clues and when don't we?

As for doors (something that is being discussed elsewhere), I'm all for removing them, since I tend to bump into them!