Steve Rathbauer
DMS 418
Writing Assignment
There are many different virtual worlds that you can download and play and even just join strait up online. I have chosen to use IMVU as a point of comparison to Neal Stephenson’s “metaverse” as mentioned in his book. There are many similarities between IMVU and the metaverse, as well as severe differences. I will discuss some of these comparisons along with a more in depth look into IMVU.
In the metaverse you have the ability to customize your avatar slightly but not the same degree that you can in IMVU. In IMVU you can put on different clothes and accessories, buy new ones using credits, or find free ones to attach to yourself. As far as the physical appearance of your avatar, you can change that to pretty much anything. You can adjust physical placement of facial features as well as physical build to the point that if wanted you can make an avatar that looks exactly like or completely opposite from yourself. There are build functionalities in the metaverse and similar functions in IMVU. In the book, the main character was in the metaverse at one point and discovered someone has built an addition onto his house. This is an example of the free will experienced in the game. In IMVU you can’t so much build houses and structures to live in but instead you can customize and create environments in rooms for your avatars to interact with others. For instance you are more of an interior decorator in IMVU than a pseudo architect in the metaverse. In the metaverse, it is described to have a land area to walk and build in as well as a sky area. This is limited through your vision out of windows since you more or less teleport to different rooms in IMVU. These rooms are kind of similar to chat rooms in an Instant Messenger program, but it adds a graphical interface with a character representation of yourself, or rather, how you want people to perceive you.
Initially when you open up IMVU it is really simple to set up and start playing. The beginning orientation I found to be simple and informative. I did not feel like I was lost and not sure what do like other games I have played. This could be due to the fact I am very intrigued when started a new game and explore all the menu’s and options before I even start or in fact it was that simple. When you first start you create your avatar and decide what they are going to wear. You have some options for getting free promo credits to buy things without purchasing credit right off the bat. These are limited though and so are your options because of prices. After this you can join other rooms to chat or decide to make your own. At first I joined other rooms to just see what it was like but then I chose to make my own. You get a couple pieces of basic furniture and room accessories to start off with but you have to buy more if you want them.
There are different people who play on this community that can be categorized into different groups. When I started playing I noticed a couple different selections of people within and surround the virtual world. One type of player is those who create new textures, objects, and clothing objects for your avatar. I categorized these players as the “creators,” or in other words those people who are playing the game to make and sell their creations instead of delve into the experience of the community. These creations can be bought for credits or given freely depending on if the creator wants to make money on their talents or not.
There are then the people I liked to call the “popular” people. These people bought the most expensive clothes and tried to make their avatars look extra sexy. I will not hesitate to say some people definitely put a lot of effort into making their avatars hot in order to possibly make up for something lacking in their real life. These people also tended to pretend they were famous and well known celebrities. I came across a woman who claimed to be Adrianna Lima, the well known Victoria’s Secret model. I had to laugh when she tried to tell me who she was, but then again you will come across those people in a community like that.
After experiencing the “popular” group I ventured to some new areas and came across the next group of people. This group I called the “perverts” and for a good reason. Unfortunately there is not much discretion in a community like this which might be a little nice since young teens are playing this. In the case of this group, these people liked to make crude sexual comments and sexual gestures towards others. This is unsettling at times because the “15 year old high school student” telling you she wants you could be a 45 year old retired bus driver. Pretty creepy when you think about it but it’s bound to occur when there are not strict rules and it is just an open virtual community. It really allows people to be “out there” and feel like they can’t get in trouble for it.
The last group of people I am sure you can find in any virtual world, game, or even software. This group I called the “newbie’s” for clear reasons. These are the people you have grown to deal with when playing any new game you pick up. These are also the people that could figure most of the stuff out that they ask you from a manual, wiki page, or just exploring the game. In other words these people are your everyday lazy beginner. It is really an annoyance that seems to never go away in games but people deal with them different ways. If the person bugging you seems to be a female avatar they tend to get helped more easily. However if your avatar or character is a guy then good luck, you’ll be waiting awhile, so in that time pick up a manual.
The virtual world of IMVU really allows you to be yourself represented online or someone completely different. This choice is up to the user or rather the intention of the user within the community. I never like playing on communities like this because you can never really be certain who you are talking to or what kind of person they are. Aside from this fact most interaction takes place through chatting either privately or out loud. From the time I played the game I noticed chatting got annoying at times because it is all represented in floating bubbles over your head that when you move the camera away from yourself you can no longer see them and they get cut off.
It is a fun experience to chat with people from all over the world and see their take on the game. Most people seemed to be enjoying their time and really liked talking to other people. I found it to be aimed towards people in their teens to mid twenties. Occasionally you can run into someone far beyond that age range but they usually lie about it. I would have liked this virtual world more if there was a more in depth creation aspect in-game and perhaps more opportunities to be “outside” and not just in environments and rooms. Other than that it was a good experience but not likely one I would explore on my own or at least not without friends exploring it with me.
