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| Graphical/Avatar Chats : Background on Chats - Avatar - Links of Interest |

| Graphical/Avatar Chats : The Palace - Virtual Places - WorldsAway - Worlds Chat Gold |

What is a chat?

A chat is a program used to communicate over the Internet, often for group communication (an Internet version of the telephone's party line).

Chats originally began as completely text-based environments, such as MOOs, MUDs, and talkers. With graphical/avatar chats, there is a graphical representation of the user with the possibility of a graphical background. They are non-textbased chat programs.

What is an avatar?

The image representing the user is known as the avatar. This avatar can be anything, depending on the chat program, from a flat drawing (Virtual Places, WorldsAway) to an animated GIF (,i.The Palace), to a three-dimensional figure (WorldsChat, Cybergate). As the avatar, the user may move around in the virtual room with only the restrictions of the chat program imposed upon him.

Genres

Graphical/avatar chat software may be classified in two main ways:

  • web browser dependency
  • appearance/manueverability: flatness(2D) vs. depth(3D)

    As the term suggests, software are either browser dependent or they function as stand-alone applications. Browser dependent software require the use of a web browser. For example, Virtual Places requires either Netscape web browser (version 2.0 or above) or Microsoft Internet Explorer. It cannot function with any other browsers. On the other hand, stand-alone applications work independently of browsers. They are self-sufficent in regards to software -- all that is needed is the application itself and a connection online.

    Aesthetics can easily affect the mood and the learning ability of the user. It is important to immerse the user in an environment that is esthetically pleasing in order to maintain interest. Thus the dimensional appearance of the chat software plays an important role. The chat software may present the world in a flat/two-dimensional interface or a three-dimensional world similar to the one in which we live.

    In a two-dimensional setting, the avatars are flat images which may or may not appear to be three-dimensional. In fact the overall setting may very well appear to have depth (i.e. The Palace) while being flat. The difference is in the avatar's ability to move. As figures in a two-dimensional world, avatars can only move in four basic directions: up, down, left, and right.

    On the other hand, three dimensions can be disorienting for those unfamiliar to the world of virtual reality or or 3D games like Doom and System Shock. Often based on VRML or similar coding, the worlds and the avatars within appear to have as much depth as anything in the real world. Everything works on the Cartegian right-hand grid, a three-dimensional space allowing the user to move up, down, right, left, forward, and backward.

    Links of Interest

    2D Chats 3D Chats Games
  • Donny World
  • Ichat
  • The Palace
  • Virtual Places
  • Worlds Away
  • Community Place
  • CyberGate
  • Cyberpark
  • Moondo
  • Oz Virtual
  • Pueblo
  • Worlds Chat
  • Castle Infinity
  • Meridian 59
  • The Realm
    • The following are links that may be of interest for general information about avatar chats and online communities.

  • Broadband Networks for University Research and Instruction
  • Center for the Study of Online Communities
  • Cybertown
  • Electric Communities Habitat
  • Lucasfilm's Habitat
  • Resources on Virtual Communities
  • Virtual Environments for Education, Research and Life
  • Virtual Reality
  • The WWW VL: Educational Technology - Educational VR (MUD) sub-page

    Got any suggestions or comments? Or more links? ;)
    Please e-mail me. Thanks!