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Interview with Connie Sec - Second Life, Blue Mars and more

2010-03-31T01:38:00.000-07:00

Today we bring you an interview with noted 3d fashionista, Connie Sec.

Connie's virtual photography and art are well known on Second Life and throughout the wider metaverse, so I'm happy she took the time out of her schedule. In this interview she shares her thoughts on virtual art, Second Life, Blue Mars and hot industry topics...

Connie Sec

Q - So tell us a little about yourself and your virtual world interests

I began in Second Life (SL) in April 07, expecting some sort of 3D web experience. Before that, I had no experience in 3d worlds, not played any MMO’s such as Warcraft and not used I.M. So I was a total “Noob”. Being in my 1st year at university gave me the time to learn and I realised that I could do things in SL that were fairly impossible for me to achieve in “Real Life” (RL). I found an increasing interest in virtual photography and art that had lain dormant since my school days. As my RL career is in Science, SL provides a welcome break from that side.

I have fun with fashion, but also enjoy the chance to express myself with humor, pathos and the occasional airing of my various neuroses ☺. As time went by, I really did have a second life, fairly separate from my RL. Aside from the social aspects, I love to build a little, and have a sim that I rent prims to some close friends to help pay tier. I have full control over the direction and style of the sim and have basically built my “Dream” home and lived a “Dream” life. Any opinions I have regarding SL or other virtual worlds are colored by my interests, and so, what may be important to me may not be an issue to many others.

Q - You're well known for your stunning fashion shots. Take us through your process, how does the magic happen?

The process can be different depending upon what the fashion shot is for.

If it’s a shot for a designer, who wants to perhaps use it in their blog or store, this places emphasis upon being able to see their creation. I will either have scouted a location already, or I will build a “set” at my studio or perhaps simply use a RL pic as a texture on a prim in the background. I will then go through hair, shoes and accessories that I feel compliment what I am trying to achieve. I then go through my poses, looking for something that works in the shot. I think I have around 300 useful poses in my 2 pose stands and a few more in my inventory for activation in Sims that don’t allow me to rezz anything. Once I have the general shot worked out I then log into Shadowdraft viewer for actual pic taking. This provides further challenges and need for some tweaking. For example, that viewer handles transparencies a little differently to the “normal” viewer, so it usually requires that I mod transparencies on prims and sculpts to that they look as they would in the normal viewer. As the Shadow viewer is a private project by Kirsten that has its own glitches and frustrations, there are other things I may have to do, that I won’t go into, to achieve anything usable.

Connie's homage to Dior and Galliano collections

I then work on the environmental controls. As that viewer can throw real time shadows in response to sun position, I use it to match lighting direction that may be apparent in any RL background I may use, or even throw shadow onto the background. Approximately half the time to completion is taken actually getting the shot with colour, light direction looking realistic. I may even take 2 shots of the same scene with different lighting directions to later meld together in post to simulate 2 light sources.

Post work is firstly perhaps cropping the pic and melding of shots together. I use an old program called Photodraw 2000 to do the simple things that newer programs make overly complex. I then go onto fixing avatar glitches that may be apparent. I mainly use the brush and Iwarp tool in Gimp. I then turn to Mystical tone and colour using a brush tool to increase apparent resolution and sharpness within parts of the image. I find the max resolution of 1024 x 1024 applied to textures in SL a major drawback to getting detail into images, especially as my pics in a square aspect ratio are at 3000 x 3000. I may apply other post effects such as gradient tinting. This all depends upon if I judge a pic would benefit from other post work. I feel post should enhance what I already have rather than be a distraction or a way to cover up a bad shot. That is a very short description of some of what I may do to get a shot, more detail would require 2 A4 pages of text in Word ☺ On the whole I am very lucky to have designers that allow me free reign to try new ways of doing things. That is the way I feel I have improved.

Q - SL is your main home, what do think of the new capabilities in the Version 2 viewer?

New Second Life Beta Viewer 2

I’m not a fan of the Beta U.I 2.0. While the aim of making SL easier to come to grips with is laudable, in my opinion, they have failed. Most people I speak to, feel it is even more confusing than the old UI and I agree with them. On a more philosophical note, SL is NOT a web page, and the idea of making the UI more browser like is flawed because of this. Some love to say Virtual worlds are the future of the Web and the UI for Viewer 2.0 is an illogical extension of that thinking. SL is more akin to a game than web pages (in functionality) and virtual worlds will be a subset of the web, not usurp it. SL is much like your computer, it does many jobs, from chatting in IM to pulling up a program to do something disparate. The SL UI should take its cue from operating system interface conventions rather than Firefox.

While the new features such as an extra layer/ face tattoo and web on a prim is some enhancement and is welcome, I feel it is tinkering at the edges and does very little to drive SL in a direction that virtual worlds will inevitably have to go, and that is greater graphical fidelity. SL will have to break a lot of eggs (content) to move on, such as, improving the avatar mesh, make the AV UV map better and have a more powerful graphical engine to return greater fidelity to the user. The longer they put that off, perhaps, licensing the unreal engine or Cryengine 2, the more pain they will cause the user base and the more chance there will be for someone else to move ahead.

Q - You're a user of open source viewers for SL, which is your favorite and why?

Emerald Viewer

For everyday use, I use the Emerald viewer - it offers greater options than the LL viewer. Some of these include, double the attachment points, a worn tab in Inventory, quicker access to commonly used controls, built in radar, avatar identification and sorting of that information. This is not a complete list of functions that Emerald offers beyond that of the “Official” viewer. It also seems more stable than the official viewer. However I may be wrong as I have not downloaded the official viewer for a year or so now.

For photographic work, I use various versions of the Kirstens “Shadowdraft “ viewer

Non fashion virtual photography by Connie Sec

I've used a shadow viewer in some form for almost every pic since Jan 09. To me they give better results than the traditional viewer. All lights cast a shadow and to me, use of local lighting with no shadows cast by them, even if subtly, is unrealistic and cartoon like. Some try to simulate this in post with a shadow on the wall or floor, however they forget that hair too will cast onto the face, or the nose, depending on light direction, will cast onto your cheek.

Q - Probably the most ambitious high fidelity world to come along recently is Blue Mars. Tell us about your activities and thoughts there?

Blue Mars photography by Connie Sec

I signed up for a developer account in July 09 with the aim of making shapes and skins. Avatar Reality has just released the body/ skin importer. Unfortunately the shape editor is severely crippled, in my view, with the inability to do anything meaningful as far as improving the stock BM AV. Right now in BM you cannot make changes to the AV mesh without severely deforming the animations. They promise improvements are coming. The skin UV templates have been kindly provided by an outside developer. Of course they match no other template in any other program, be it Poser, Daz or even SL. There are opensource programs such as Makehuman, and UV mapping schemes that would make it simpler to create an Avatar. Why must people constantly reinvent the wheel?

My problem now is time. I have a full time job after graduating and have a SL to lead as well, so my time is so constrained that my work on those templates is sporadic. While I congratulate Avatar Reality for attempting to bring a higher fidelity Virtual World into existence, the learning curve in BM for developers / Content creators is so steep that it makes learning to create for SL look like child’s play. This may be its downfall. I will go out on a limb and say it will take BM till the end of the year to get their DEV tools up to a point where Avatar customisation is as wide ranging as SL. A corollary of this is that they cannot go out of beta until the tools are better understood and the bugs and limitations are addressed.

Already there are those that pop in from SL into BM and write it off because of lack of functionality and laugh at the use of chat bubbles (oh so late 80’s), without understanding that it is still in Beta.

Q - Some industry folks are making the argument that virtual worlds are being supplanted or subsumed by casual gaming such as in Facebook with applications like Yoville? What do you think?

Comparing Virtual Worlds to Facebook type-sites is like comparing Twitter to Blogs. While they have similarities, blogs supply a “richer” experience than Twitter. So too virtual worlds provide a “richer” experience than social networking. SL for example has a “social networking” element, however it provides more than any social networking site. To be metaphysical about it, virtual worlds like SL allow you to build your dreams and share them with likeminded souls. Facebook and twitter allow you to share that you like leftover pizza in the morning ☺

Youville?..cute..I would probably play if I was 8 years old. ☺

Q - What's your personal opinion on browser based 3d virtual worlds?

Browser based virtual worlds can be a good starting point for those new to Virtual Worlds.

An example of a in-browser 3d world

It will also constrict, at the moment, what you can achieve as far as graphical power and fidelity is concerned. However, if cloud computing takes off, the game will change where anything can be served up into a “browser”. If someone, in my demographic, is using a browser in, perhaps, a mobile device and wants to play a virtual world and has the choice between a cartoon and photorealism, I feel they will choose photorealism. I point to games as an example. With this in mind, I feel the idea of SL using a browser like interface is a retrograde step in this regard. Why have a browser within a browser?

To expand, there will always be a niche for simple virtual worlds. All media is now fragmented into niches, and virtual worlds are not immune. People now gravitate to where their ideas and prejudices are shared, be it the news service they watch, the blog they read or the communities they join within a virtual world. Virtual worlds have to either target a certain niche, or be expansive, and open minded enough, to be able to host disparate communities. In the end it will be “bums on seats” that will determine if a virtual world survives.

Q - Finally, with all that you do online, how do you juggle the hours in your day?

I sleep grudgingly ☺.

To be serious, I had a lot more time for SL and even BM when I was a student, however, now with a full time job, I have to organise my 2 lives much more. Sometimes all I do is log in, shop, perhaps take a commission from a designer and take pics and log off to do post work. My social life in SL has definitely gone on the backburner, which is a sadness for me. My social life in SL has always been a strong influence upon my photography. So too other peoples work, whether it be photos in flickr, C.G. from Poser and others, fashion sites, photography and art. Finding the time to be inspired, learn and to create is certainly difficult.

Thanks for taking the time Connie!

Thoughts on There.com closing

2010-03-03T05:05:00.000-08:00

The same week Linden Labs unveiled a huge improvement to their Second Life service, another service, There.com announced its shutdown, a very sad day for all.

ArianeBrodie in MTV Laguna Central

Lots of differing views on virtual worlds in the blogosphere at the moment. Raph is down on virtual worlds as a whole, Hamlet Au takes a more positive stance.

My take? The whole argument that virtual worlds are doomed, is I think invalid.

Virtual world features and attributes are being more widely adopted than ever, both in pure social environments as well as gameplay worlds.

At the end of the day, it's fun and will always be fun to escape into a fantasy environment where you can roleplay, party, hangout, be creative, meet new people and do whatever you want.

That won't change, and bodes well for virtual environments, especially as the 3d hardware continues to spread throughout the user population

However, several things have changed in the years since There.com was first developed. Expectations are higher:

1/ people want to jump in the action straight away from anywhere, barriers need to be low
2/ they expect their 3d games now to look great
3/ people are spending more time in facebook and in the browser (and so, less time out of them)
4/ people want to see diversity, new things, a sense of aliveness (the "stream" of new content)

Looking at it through this lens, There.com struggling is understandable:

1/ a large download, then learning many functions takes patience(!) (which users now don't have)
2/ avatars looked dated compared with other platforms like IMVU that continued to innovate
3/ can't tap into where people are ie- on facebook and in browser (fundamental limitation of clients)
4/ UGC works best when there are less limits, just look at the amazing catalog in Second Life

Personally, I think the future belongs to those 3d games and worlds platforms that can get new users into the action in seconds, be exposed to diversity and give them the desire to engage more (and spend money!)

Everyone needs to lift their game (our own world included), and that's a great thing for users and the industry as a whole...

Thoughts on Metaplace - One world shuts, another opens up...

2010-01-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, it was a shock to me to hear the news of web world Metaplace.com closing.

Browser based avatar world, Metaplace

Whilst I didn't spend too much time there personally Metaplace always struck me as a pioneering service, in many ways well ahead of its time.

On paper it seemed to have virtually every "tick list" item for a modern MMO/game:
- Flash based
- All in the browser
- Embeddable to other sites
- 3D importing and UGC
- Scripting and support for game designers
- Marketplace
- Level system
- Missions
- Able to build your own worlds
- Facebook connect support
- Live streaming support, highly concurrent spaces
- Designed by famed MMO creator Raph Koster
- Lots of buzz!

Yet with all of that going for it, it failed to gain traction and the decision made to close the site down (the company itself is continuing, perhaps building its own game based on its technical platform - my guess, no inside info)

With so much seemingly going for it, the key question is why?

Pondering on my own experience on the site and chatting with some Metaplace users and observers there are a few issues that I think were at play...

1/ Avatars didn't seem to "match" the 3d isometric environments

One thing that struck me on Metaplace was the beautiful backgrounds and environments, in lovely isometric view of 3d (pre-rendered) models. Looking like something out of a wonderful picture book, yet the avatars themselves seemed very simplistic and 2d sprite looking. This has a bit of a jarring effect, which seemed the avatars were just stuck on top of the lush backgrounds, and this could have made it difficult to connect emotionally with the avatars perhaps

2/ Avatar customizations?

One thing I've learned in my own experience running an avatar community over the past year is the importance users put on self expression and customization. Everyone wants to wear the style they want, whether emo, punk, futuristic or sexy. Style is important! Actually Metaplace had quite a bit of diversity in looks but perhaps not as much as needed, and it didn't appear the UGC component was applied to helping out in this regard (we have 1000s of user created fashion items in many styles, but still we get users telling us they can't find what they are looking for!). Some have suggested it was the avatar itself being too small, but Habbo and Gaia disprove that theory for many millions of users. For those though used to 3d avatars in other higher poly worlds such as SL, clearly they couldn't accept the MP avatars.

3/ Built for the builders, but not for the mainstream users

This one is a bit clearer, there was a great amount of feature support and tools added for world builders, but less tools or attractions for your average every day user. It seemed like a classic chicken and egg situation - not enough users for attracting game devs, and not enough games/content to attract users? The existing games on the site were ok but not up to the same level as many great flash games now, and the social elements and avatar stickiness perhaps wasn't up to many average users expect. Perhaps MP should have jumpstarted some high quality gaming with internal development and showcase, and in parallel giving users something to get hooked on...

4/ Who was the audience?

This is an interesting one. When I spent some time on the site I was struck how there seemed to be two distinct groups of users. Those older, technically proficient game dev types who loved being able to tinker and create world. And then a very young tween/young teen female set with "HoT ChiCs" clubs and looking for 14yo boyfriends. It almost seemed to confirm the 2d avatars suited the young female crowd and the game APIs suited the game devs.

But there didn't seem to be the missing middle audience, and the older "mainstream" users that you would see on sites like Gaia. I can't say this definitely as I wasn't online that much, but it did seem hard to understand who was the target user for this

Applying lessons?

All of this is very timely as we've just launched our own 3d web world in Frenzoo, funnily enough the same week of Metaplace closing. The shutdown really brought to light a few things that I we're well positioned on, or areas we have to strengthen up and fast...

1/ Matching background with avatar - we've had this problem for some time, having great 3d avatars but only flat 2d backgrounds. This was frankly hurting us for retention and a big driver for jumping to full 3d environments which we've done with this launch - now it just seems to look right.

3d avatar and scene in the new Frenzoo beta

2/ Having strong character and outfit customizations so people can identify with and express themselves through their avatar (a lot easier in a higher poly 3d environment thankfully, although much room to improve around body shapes etc)

3/ Balance content creation and social tools
This is not easy, we've tried early up like Metaplace to have a lot of content importing tools (although not as far as scripting support etc) which has helped a lot build an initial set of content, but in doing so we have lagged a bit in social features (eg parties, hangouts etc), which we're now rounding back to rapidly. Our own experience bears out that this is crucial for average users having a good experience and wanting to return.

4/ Audience... ah the challenge of knowing who you should target, go broader and aim for wider penetration, or go nicher and aim for higher monetization etc It's something we're still figuring out but getting better at understanding how we make those decisions. Usability testing and focus groups are great avenues to do that. We have now realized we need to raise the average age and make the site more mainsteam friendly, which it a road we're heading down at quite a rate of knots...

Final thoughts on Metaplace

All that said, I still think Metaplace had so much going for it and would have been able to be successful over time with more iteration and community building. After all it took Second Life quite a while to get early critical mass. Sadly it appeared they didn't have that luxury or decided to steer the boat to a different direction. Metaplace had many features that were perhaps ahead of its time, and no doubt will be incorporated into other virtual worlds.

PS - It's always sad to see a virtual world end, I joined the final concert in the lead up towards midnight on 1st of Jan and the spirit of those staying to the end was admirable. I give it to the Metaplace folks for handling the shutdown announcements and closing professionally and with a lot of respect for their fans and users. Wish them all the best with the new project, with a lot of learning behind them I have a feeling it will be a success.

Online worlds & Facebook

2009-12-11T01:02:00.000-08:00

Hang on to your hats, this is going to get interesting...

Meez avatar busting some moves

They are two of the biggest trends on the net right now. In one corner, online worlds & virtual chat. These products continue their ascent picking up millions of new users, more content and more revenue. They are places where people love escaping their daily lives into a rich online fantasy world and a countless virtual chat messages are being sent out every day.

And in the other corner, Facebook. We have seen the stratospheric rise of the all conquering blue and white website, with its goal to dominate the planets free time, and a large chunk of its working time too with its endless status updates and army of cute farming mini games.

Hungry to gain more users at low cost, online worlds are hungrily eying Facebook with its hundreds of millions of users as a way to expand their presence.

What's going to happen?

Well to answer this question we can look at what is already happening.

There a number of online worlds with avatars that have made some forays into Facebook, in some cases dipping their toes in the water through to all out jumping right in. The different approaches have varied widely in their level of success in these early days, and no doubt there will be a lot of re-adjusting and scrambling to make the most out of the platform in months and years to come.

But first things first, it's important to define the, broadly speaking, two different types of online worlds out there today, because they both have radically different options when it comes to Facebook.

Download client worlds

Second Life, one of the largest download client worlds

You know, the type that you download and install, show up in your start menus and run standalone from your internet browser.

This has long been the defacto standard for 3d virtual worlds, and the two largest 3d online worlds, IMVU and SecondLife both use this approach as well as many others such as There.com

Web browser worlds

These are the 3d worlds that are websites that you access and experience by using Internet Explorer, Firefox or (insert your favorite browser here).

They are not run separately and most use Flash or perhaps a browser plugin to enable the 3d graphics. Some examples include Smallworlds, Frenzoo and Meez. Traditionally they have been less graphically demanding than their download client worlds, although increasingly that gap is starting to close.

So what's possible?

Now we have the definitions sewn up, let's take a look at what's technically possible for integration into Facebook:

The "Link Elsewhere" approach

Let's look at a couple of examples, IMVU, a client download world has a Facebook application that allows you to show and share your snapshots from the game world, view outfit challenges etc but doesn't let you 3d chat or dress up etc. For that you link to IMVU.com to download the client and then run it separate from your browser and facebook.

Given the huge user base on IMVU and the success of the platform, the number of people using the application is small, likely due to the limited utility it offers within the app. In fact there are far more people who have commented on the fan page on Facebook than user the app. All the action is within their download client.

A similar story with the There.com with their app, "Here and There" that similarly allows you to share your profile / pictures and other limited information. At only 44 monthly active users of the app yet in the millions of accounts on their worlds, it shows the limited appeal of simply a "share your profile" type app:

Self contained experience

One example of a web world who offers a full experience within a Facebook app is Smallworlds. You can join, play, chat and have all the features on the Smallworlds website without ever leaving Facebook. It makes for a richer and more user friendly experience:

At over 100,000 active monthly users and growing, this is an example of an app that is working well.

So what's the conclusion?

Pretty obvious from the above, right?

The level of engagement appears orders of magnitude on the self contained apps on Facebook, proving people in Facebook apps prefer to stay there (simple enough). Forcing people to leave the site to do some or most of the functions translates to a fairly lackluster engagement with the app, so the numbers speak.

Online world operators, take note!

Asides and sundry

1 - What about Facebook connect?

You're right, apart from integrating an online world into Facebook, the reverse is possible - enabling Facebook within the world to help make registration and sharing to friends easier. This does work, and increasingly it's becoming more prevelant, especially amongst the newer websites (for an example, check out Metaplace)

2 - You didn't mention anything about Facebook casual games or apps like Buddypoke?

You're right again, more and more we're seeing cute avatar apps and games that started on Facebook branch out into more sophisticated offerings within the platform, with features and functions akin to some web virtual worlds. The lines are already blurring and in a couple of years they will disappear, in this authors humble opinion.

3 - What about a product (fan) or group page on Facebook?

Yeah, but that doesn't really count - there is no integration between the world and a Facebook fan page, it's just another channel to publish information and interact with users, but no practical linkages between the two.

4 - Online worlds and games?

What works in online worlds doesn't necessarily work in Facebook apps. Pure chat apps on facebook haven't been that successful, the ones that have been usually adapt or incorporate gameplay elements. People like to play games on Facebook, meeting new avatar friends is somewhat secondary.

Pre Christmas Speed Dating Event on Frenzoo

2009-12-10T00:02:00.000-08:00

Frenzoo is again organizing a speed dating event in 3d avatars, Christmas themed. The place, date and time will be Sunday 14 December 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm (EST. Time) in Frenzoo's 3d chat.

In these two hours, people online are to be chatting to as many users of the opposed gender. Also, according to the event's description there will be a surprise effect. Wonder what it could be..

Speed dating event in Frenzoo

2009-11-26T02:56:00.000-08:00

Frenzoo, the online world will held a speed dating event this Sunday, from 9 to 11 pm EST time. This is the first time this type of speed dating chat session has been held. I'm really excited!

Image from www.ehow.com

Between 9 - 11 pm, when you random chat you'll be setup with someone of the opposite gender. I've heard there will also be a special 3d effect happening at that time. The effects are already made and look great. Who knows, you might meet the person to share your virtual life with?

3d fantasy & art in virtual worlds

2009-11-22T23:56:00.000-08:00

Entry in Koinup 3d fantasy art contest

They are realities not bound in reality... fantasies are at the core of dreaming.

As a genre, "fantasy" is loaded with magic, mysteries and supernatural powers. It's easy to lose yourself within a well crafted novel or movie.

Thanks to recent technology advancements, free-form online worlds are now a perfect platforms to actually live out a fantasy experience - they are open platforms where the only real limitations are in the mind, not in the pixels.

Second Life's powerful 3d creation tools and savvy userbase has led to some stunning fantasy sims where members roleplay and interact both in and out of character.

Other platforms such as IMVU have various groups and 3d rooms devoted to fantasy roleplaying (see one of the many Harry Potter fangroups) and on Frenzoo people can mod sims and make their own fantasy fashion and environments.

Fantasy art on Koinup

Some of the best fantasy art is now on show at Koinup, a cross world community for artists and non-artists alike.

A group has been setup and contest currently live to showcase the best of the best, from all the virtual worlds and also games such as The Sims. It's well worth the visit to help spark your imaginations..

Anatomy of a web usability test

2009-09-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

A regular usability test at the Frenzoo office

In developing a new free 3D avatar community on the web, we've learned the hard way about the critical importance of real life usage feedback.

Web usability testing is a well developed field, yet is a practice we've only adopted in a structured way in past months, and it has been a revelation.

There is something reassuring about developing additions or changes that go to directly solving problem areas identified observing real, unbiased usage. Previous guessing about features best for the Frenzoo user (often well intentioned but misguided) has been replaced by practical improvements.

Previously we would rely on surveys, forum polls and usage stats for user feedback, but whilst useful - it can't tell you why a person doesn't know how to get to the closet from the shop, or how to change skin colors, or how to accept a chat conversation.

Now, we run in-office usability testing every 2 weeks, and it drives the majority of our roadmap. It goes something like this...

1. Recruitment

A week in advance, we make some posts in local active discussion forums looking for people who like games/avatars/internet to spend 2 hours helping try a new site. We don't divulge the name of the site, so as not to bias any of them beforehand - the aim is to see how they react and use the site for the first time.

We offer about $US 23 for the 2 hours or work, which gets a good response - especially from University students who have free spot in their study schedule.

2. The right number of people

We aim to get between 4-6 people each session. Less than that and we can't draw some strong conclusions across the whole group. We also need a balance of guys and girls and enough people so they can chat amongst themselves.

We don't exceed 6 mainly for practical reasons - we don't have enough people to individually watch the participants and make notes on what problems they face.

3. The setup

We equip screen broadcasting software on the participant machines and clear the browser cache and settings to default. We then enable the other team members to be able to see the participants screens so usually 1-2 people can observe "remotely", whilst 1 team member is sitting next to the participant to ask questions, take notes up close and help if they are really stuck.

4. The session

The people arrive, we give them a brief introduction and explain that they should use the website and try to do some things on the site. We make these fairly high level to give them flexibility to see how they should achieve it, and also to not "spell out the instructions" and devalue the test.

For example:
- Go to the website and tell us your first impressions
- Create an account
- Go shopping and make your avatar look great
- Chat with someone and make friends
- Create a cool Tshirt
- Enter a contest

We observe them, and typically only ask questions or give help if they appear stuck or confused: "what are you confused or frustrated about at this moment" etc

After the individual participants trying it themselves for 1 hour or so, there is a 30 minute summary discussion at the end to gather qualitative feedback

5. The debrief

After the participants have left, the team records all the usability problems observed in a shared Google spreadsheet (and any bugs found are also logged) then there is a team discussion to consolidate it. Lots of head nodding and everyone really understanding the issues.

5. The next steps

Then the design team will come up with the improvements suggested, be it new enhancements or UI tweaks, and assigns the priorities to them, and these are then scheduled into our release plan.

Then 2 weeks later we go through it all again, and see how the improvements we have implemented are working out in practice, and what are the next set of problems and opportunities to conquer...

With vSide now gone…what 3D Avatar options are left for Mac users?

2009-07-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

Many people in the virtual world of avatars will be sad to see the much adored vSide community go...but after they are gone, what options are left for all of the Mac users out there? Many worlds that use client downloads like IMVU and Twinity don't support Mac. That’s why we’ve decided to take this unfortunate opportunity to do some research and make sure that no users are left out of the mix. The list below is comprised of 3D avatar sites that are compatible with Mac operating systems.

Second Life

It’s difficult to consider Second life just another avatar community, simply because it is exactly

what the name states – a second life. Second life is a downloaded program that takes users into an expansive virtual world of design, community and creativity. A couple fair warnings before getting to deep into the site, the program can be somewhat slow and since the majority of the users tend to be older the content can be quite mature (sex oriented) at times. The good thing is that they do offer a Teen Second Life also for younger enthusiasts. Although many of the items in the marketplace are free to obtain, it should be noted that most of the popular items among users do require payment in the form of Lindens. Ultimately the choice is up to you for how deep you wish to involve yourself in this Second Life, so go explore and decide for yourself!

Frenzoo

Frenzoo is a new 3D avatar community focussed on lifestyle and creativity. Inside the site, users have the ability to create cool and expressive clothing, accessories, hairstyles and more. Best of all is that content creation is free and easy to use, even for those who have never touched a graphic editor before. Some of the newest features offered to users include creating your own dance moves and pose animations in a fun and easy-to-use creation format, and they even offer features for those of the 3D creators out there. Perhaps the best part is that once you have downloaded a simple plug-in for your browser, no reloading is required, everything is contained within the browser window. Since the age requirement for Frenzoo is 13 and above, this game caters to both younger and older generations alike. Don’t let us spoil all the fun; go check it out for yourself..

Hangout.net

Hangout is a more recent entry in the virtual world space. It supports Mac and is browser based (there is a small plugin to install). It lets you have room and invite friends to chat there. Using the service can be slow to load, although the graphic quality looks great when it comes up. The avatars are cartoony and cute. Like Vside and unlike Second Life and Frenzoo there is no content creation, you need to choose from their predefined items. One problem at the moment though is that there is never anyone else online which makes it tough to find people to chat to.

Just Leap In

Just Leap In is a 3D room based site similar to Hangout, and high quality graphics and even physics (you can play bowling by moving around objects) It has more offline functions like commenting to let you leave messages for others when they are offline. The spaces let you arrange your rooms as you like which can be fun to do and make it look perfect. However as with Hangout, the biggest problem is that there is no one online to chat with, the community has yet to be built up.

As stated before, each of the sites listed above are supportive of the Mac platforms and enthusiasts. Take some time to go explore all that each of them have to offer. Who knows, you might just meet some new friends and a new community that is perfect for you!

Interview on creating a new virtual world

2009-07-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

There's a new interview up on 'Inside the Webb' which covers all about how Frenzoo, the 3D avatar style community was designed and got off the ground.

Here's the intro to the piece:

For those in the industry or just interested in the web in general, it's a good read. Check it out.

Top 5 Avatar Sites Offering Free Services and Features

2009-07-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

Back on the hunt for finding the top avatar sites, we’ve decided to pick out the top sites offering free services and features to users. Each of the top sites listed here offers something different and unique to users in the world of avatars and design. Whether it is in the form of creation, design, social networking via 3D chat or just the ability to try some different online personalities, these sites will be sure to entertain your imagination without breaking the bank right away!

Second Life

Second Life does a great job of allowing users to work, love, shop, explore and play without spending serious amounts of hard-earned cash to do so. The company offers a free online virtual world that is imagined and created by you, its users, for the ultimate customizable experience downloaded right to your desktop. Included in the free membership from Second Life is the ability to customize your own avatar, building opportunities, 3D voice/text chat and membership also includes a sign-up bonus of 250 Linden dollars (Second Life’s form of currency which can also be purchased separately). If you’re lucky, sometimes veteran members of the site will locate newbie’s to not only help them get started on the site but also offer up some articles of clothing to expand on your look! Create your avatar and start exploring today!

Frenzoo

Frenzoo is a unique 3D avatar community for fashion and lifestyle inspired individuals. With your free membership from Frenzoo you can start by shopping or designing your own clothes and accessories to customize your avatar as you wish. The site offers enough free items in the shops to get your adventure started, and also provides video tutorials to get you started creating your own fashion. Frenzoo, along with Second Life are the only Top 5 sites which offer the create feature to its users free of charge, which is a big bonus to users who are interested in trying out their skills at designing their own fashions. It should also be noted that the creation process is much more user friendly and less intensive than the process offered by Second Life. Meet new friends, customize your avatar, open your own shop, decorate your home and share it all on your personal profile. Below is a picture of the ‘create’ function that allows users to dream and create their own fashions. You can also refer to the chart of pricing below to get a better understanding of the cost breakdown for Frenzoo and the other sites listed. Frenzoo was an easy pick for a spot in the Top 5!

Meez Online Community

The Meez online community is another great free option for users looking to expand their imagination in an online virtual avatar experience. The Meez nation is an online collection of ‘neighborhoods’ serving numerous interests and groups of users. The free membership offered includes the ability to experience the virtual world, customize your own avatar, and play games and converse with others in the forums. Meez is also the only site listed in the top 5 that does not offer any type of user generated content.

Similar to other sites listed here, Meez offers a form of currency for sale that can be used to purchase new items for your avatar and further your creative imagination, although they are not required to start your adventure today!

IMVU

IMVU is the only option listed in the top 5 that does not currently offer support for Mac users, but they do have some great features that are free of charge for all of you PC users out there. In IMVU users are able to create their own Avatar and chat in a 3D experience. Also included in the free membership to the site is the ability to customize your own homepage. Unfortunately many of the options in the marketplace on the site require purchasing, and users are only given one set of clothes or outfit upon registering for a new user account. If you, the user, are interested in expanding your look or wardrobe, coins will need to be purchased in order to do so. The choice is up to you!

Stardoll (2D)

Stardoll currently lays claim to offering the largest online community for girls who

are interested in fashion, shopping, decorating, creativity and making new friends from around the world. Free features of the site include the ability to customize your MeDoll avatar, shop for new items, play dress up and decorate your own suite. Membership on the site is free, but again similarly to some of the other Top 5 sites listed, they offer the choice to purchase more of their currency dubbed ‘stardollars’ for expanded purchasing and customization options. Many of the free items offered in the shop are of basic design, with some of the nicer and detailed items reserved for users with VIP status or costing coins.

Item cost/payment breakdown

Well, there you have the Top 5 avatar sites offering free services and features to you; the creative and imaginative users. We are confident that you will find something of interest to you and hope that this article helps you in your adventures, so go check them out and make some new friends in the process! Enjoy!!

Avatars and Identity - a chat with Heidi aka Stylite

2009-06-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

One of the fascinating parts about running a 3D avatar community where you can create your own virtual style is seeing the interaction between avatar and their owners real life identities.

To be honest, when Frenzoo first launched its beta, we weren't really sure what to expect but now we have built a community of members its interesting to see the actual behaviors at play.

Whilst there are many enjoying pure dress up, avatar roleplaying and fantasy elements, we have seen a LOT of crossover between real life and their 3D style on the site. I guess thinking about it it makes a lot of sense - the driver of self expression and showing a unique identity remains important in a virtual social environment as a real one.

Heidi Ulrich, one of the active members on the community under her avatar name Stylite (picture above) shared her thoughts:

Welcome, tell us a bit about yourself in real-life?
Hi! I'm a 25-year old girl from The Netherlands. In daily life, I'm a student in the field of Concept Design. I'm about to graduate, and then I'll be Bachelor of Arts. But I'm interested in far more than arts only. I'm often busy with computers and graphic design and I try my luck on all kinds of hobbies, like dancing, singing, photography. Lately I have developed a 'passion for fashion'!
How did you find out about Frenzoo?
Recently, my mom started a blog. To support her, I read every little piece she wrote. One day she blogged about having entered a summer dress design contest. Eager to join, I Googled for the contest. Frenzoo.com was the first hit. I forgot about the design contest and signed up :)

What attracts you to stay and get involved in this avatar community?
Well as I said, I like to try my luck on all kinds of art forms. I have tried clothing design in reallife, but me and my sewing machine don't go so well together. So my creativity was kind of blocked at that point, until I found Frenzoo. Another benefit is the 3D engine. I often work with 3D in Cinema4D and I have once done an attempt to create clothes with it. But there's so much technical stuff to overcome before you can start on the actual design - it just kills the spirit. On Frenzoo, the templates, the Unity engine: it's all there. I can focus on the design rightaway.

So is there a connection between your virtual character and reallife?
Yes, I think there is.

I had - and have - no wish to create a dream doll. My avatar is my dressdoll, and in a way, she represents me. The avatars are not dramatically skinny or have weird 'attractive' deformations. Lately, I have been playing with my avatars looks for a bit; I have tried on different hairstyles and clothes that I wouldn't wear in reallife. And now comes the funny part: by mixing and matching clothes on my avatar I have discovered some new styles that I actually fancy to wear in reallife. And, when I go shopping, I often see things that I'd like to customize for Frenzoo.

So you see, it works both ways!

Thanks a lot Heidi !

I'd love your comment on this or suggestions for future topics. Feel free to leave a note.

2009 World Intraverse awards and thinking about usability

2009-05-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the interesting pleasure to be invited into an event in Second Life celebrating the winners of the 2009 World Intraverse Awards.

Our 3D Fashion Game for Girls, Frenzoo was one of the winners, awarded a Special Mention of the WIVA jury as the "most global 3D fashion centric achievement", and we were one of two companies from Asia in the winning group and addressing the crowd, the other being China virtual world - HiPiHi

"Frenzoo's achievements led us to believe that soon it will turn into one of the most efficient 3D platform in the world" - Gilbert Reveillon, President of the Jury

The award was certainly an honor but also an interesting experience to be attending the ceremony in world. There were several technical hitches, 2 changes of locations involving confusion around teleporting vs trying to follow the ceremony leaders in walking there. One of the speakers was speaking too soft for anyone to hear, another way to loud and triggering the red on the UI speech icons.. many couldn't get their in-world speech going at all. It was all rather lighthearted and amusing at the time but highlighted a key point of usability.

Second Life is a particularly deep and powerful open experience and deserves its success - but is it mainstream for those who are not at the upper end of technology proficiency? In it's current state, I would argue not. For all the possibilities, many typical people would give up after a short attempt, confused by the whole experience. Which is no doubt why they are putting effort into revamping the interface this year.

It's something we also grapple with in our own community - how can we make it easier to get people into the front door? whether they come in direct, through our avatar blog. And make it easier for them to have their first interactions in a painless and fun way that's easy to pick up for a new or returning member...

Not easy at all to get a newbie friendly interface - and we're learning valuable lessons from our experience and constantly improving. However it's vital - the the most important thing to get right in a virtual worlds product, and rightfully at the top of the priority list...

VIP Membership and Currency Exchange in Fashion Communities

2009-04-16T04:21:00.000-07:00

In the era of social networks and communities, it is amazing how many different niche groups you can find. If your interests are Aviation, there are groups surrounding all aspects of flying. If you are in to Modern Dance, there are networks that focus on sharing experiences and tips on how to do the 'next' dance moves. What we focus on this blog are the fashion sites, the communities that allow for us to dream and design our own clothing and put that out to the rest of the world.

What we can do for free is endless, if you are in to fashion design you can check out any number of free design sites. We have listed many of those on this site previously. But what we haven't listed are the a number of sites that allow for you to design, but also that are paid! It does seem counter-intuitive, but many it is increasingly important to note that most of the free sites we have reviewed also have paid functions. What a better way to gauge your favorite than checking out the research we have done?

We have found 7 sites that we think are at the forefront of the design and community for fashion. Many of these sites have their own internal “currency” which in some cases are stronger in a US Dollar exchange rate than many country's own currencies!

Here is a table overview the statistics and figures for upgrading free accounts, or just getting more $$$ to fly in your virtual private jet...

	Currency	Cost	You Get	Users
Stardoll.com	Stardollar	$5.95/Month $39.95/Year	SuperStar VIP	29,280,000
Meez.com	Coinz	$10 Prepaid Cards	Get Coinz	4,600,000
IMVU.com	Credits	$6.25/Month	VIP Club	30,000,000
Frenzoo.com	Gold Coins	Special Selection	VIP Status	Not Disclosed
Secondlife.com	Linden Dollars	$9.95/1 Month $6.00/Month (year subscription)	Premium Member & Land Purchases	15,000,000
WeeWorld.com	Gold Points	$5 / 2500 Points	Lots of coins	26,000,000
GaiaOnline.com	Gaia Cash	$1 / 100 Gaia Cash	Ability to buy special items	17,204,000

In terms of direct currency exchange, Gaia, WeeWorld and Meez offer the paid coins services to offer a way out of spending many hours working to gather enough coins to purchase the expensive items. Offering the option to buy virtual currency needs to have incentive, and there are many cool items that can only be purchased by obtaining the respective virtual currency.

The other course of action for these paid options is offering elite services. In Stardoll, when you subscribe to be a Super Star VIP, you are get the ability to own your own fashion shop- allowing you to design, buy and sell your own fashion line. You get exclusive High-End designer labels from both Stardoll and from real world designers. The most interesting aspect is that you are able to send global broadcast messages to the entire Stardoll community.

In IMVU, the paid subscription allows you to be able to register your name, instead of having 'Guest' in front of your user name. With that you also get Super Powers, and VIP Badges in the game. If that isn't enough, you get many upgrades and features that are unavailable to the 'normies'.

One of the biggest names in virtual reality is Second Life. The coolest feature of any of these sites is the ability to buy your own virtual land for development when you become a Premium Member. You can use this to design the topography, housing, and to top this off you also get a monthly allowance of Linden Dollars.

The newest community in the bunch is Frenzoo. Since they are in Beta still, the VIP program is given as a gift to highly active members in the design community. VIP members get the ability to design clothing for either men or women and sell their designs in their own shop. Your profile picture receives a VIP badge, which makes you stand out in the crowd. There is a gold coin function to buy coins, but it has yet to be introduced to the beta community.

If you are looking into what deals are out there for getting new features and coins, I hope this helps you compare what is out there. We love to add functionality to every game we encounter, and with these seven sites there are many things we would love to get our hands on!

The Top 5 Fashion Design Sites on the Web

2009-04-01T02:28:00.000-07:00

Once again we are back finding out the best in Fashion sites, this time we want the best that allow designing of your own fashion.

In this Top 5, each of these sites carries their own unique touch to creating fashion. The best part of each of these sites is how much creativity is allowed by all of us users! It's no wonder these games are so popular, because instead of picking and choosing, we get to draw – shape – sew – and dream.

1.Girlsense
2.Frenzoo
3.Roiworld
4.Fashion Fantasy Game
5.Polyvore

Girlsense
The greatest part about designing fashion is sharing it with the world around you. Girlsense does a great job of allowing you to pick any item on the site and completely restyle it and decorate to match your imagination. After you save your designs, you can open a shop to sell the fashions to other designers in Girlsense and make yourself into a true fashionista online!

You get to choose your avatar at the beginning and build your way to the top, just like real life- and definitely as stylish!

Frenzoo
Taking dress up games into 3D is the future, and in Frenzoo, the ability to design clothes in 3D is a reality. Starting out in Frenzoo you can buy fashion or design your own, and there are more than enough items already in shops that were designed by others to spark your creative juices. Just like Girlsense, you are allowed to open a shop and sell your own designs! The create tool is very powerful for being online, as seen below- you get to design on a 3D mesh!

Roiworld
Delving into the world of fashion, Roiworld offers hundreds of mini-games designed to allow us to dress up avatars into any combination of clothing. Since this list is about “fashion design”, we draw attention to the 'drawing' function in Roiworld. As the picture shows below, you are able to draw ontop of your avatar into any design imaginable. Since this works more like a photoshop or paint, it takes a steady hand (not pictured below). The fashions you create on this can be saved, and then entered into competitions- which give you the ever sought after fame!

Fashion Fantasy Game
In fashionfantasygame.com, you get to design clothing combinations based upon color and pattern styles. Becoming a VIP in-game means you can design clothing color patterns, and place those onto any template in the design shop (below). The community has shops for each person, like the other sites on this list, and the important thing about this site is that each outfit gets rated as you design it! And of course, the first few times you will be a 'disaster'. It helps you get better, promise.

Polyvore
This site is the only of the 5 that uses real fashions (not virtual) but it involves a great sense of creativity, and that is what fashion design is all about. Within Polyvore, you are allowed to mix and match any fashion items and group them together, which is interesting because you can choose anything! The design creation center pictured shows how you can mix sizes colors shapes and accessories in one place and then save those designs. Even though there is no avatar to speak of, the site is definitely worthy of a top 5 spot.

There you are, our top 5 fashion design games- Give them a try, and we know you will find something you like! And maybe meet a few friends along the way.

Best Anime & Cosplay Sites Online

2009-04-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

One of the fastest growing trends in the USA is cosplay. Since the first true instances of cosplay originated in Japan, the trend of dressing to mimic the appearance of manga or anime characters has taken to online portals. Where you can enjoy 3D virtual cosplay by designing and dressing up virtual avatars at places like Frenzoo, IMVU and Meez, the following list contains some of the best and most active cosplay sites you can find on the web.

1. Cosplay.com

Cosplay.com is one of the largest and most noteworthy sites dedicated to the world of cosplay. Containing a marketplace, very active forums and even a cosplay calendar (USA). The best social feature of this site is the ability to buy and commission costumes!

2. CureCos

Cure Cosplay Community is a Japanese/English site that does a great job and utilizing user interactivity. The interface is easy to use and gives cosplay a great location to hang out and share photos of their best and favorite costumes.

3. Cosspace

Cosspace takes the MySpace approach to networking, giving a strong community with many different features enabling cosspace to involve users much more. There are costume ratings (by other users) polls, video submissions, quizzes, expansive forums, and the ever popular gallery. Cosspace is simple in design and supports 3 languages (English, French, Spanish).

4. Cosplay Walker

Speak Japanese? Perfect! Cosplay Walker is mainly in Japanese, but offers a fun space for the cosplay fan to share designs, and if you get rated the best out of other fans on the site, you get a front page mention! If only I spoke Japanese fluently so that I could get a front-page mention!

5. Cosplay Forum

We're keeping it international for this site too! This forum is all in French, but there is a very large presence in their discussions- and for good reason! The environment is very festive and has thousands of active users! When any cosplay forum has a group dedicated to this cos theme: Groupe Walker Texas Ranger : Japan Expo 2009 – you can count me in.

6. AnimeOnline

Want to share your favorite character or anime pic or even how you think stories should have ended, etc... Anime online has a large forum community backed by their own RPG game and Arcade online. The coolest feature is the 'Watch & Discuss' where you can.... watch and discuss shows with other people (Sorry its USA only). Which means for us in Asia we don't get this feature. The gallery has a lot of user content, and it is a good time to get ideas for upcoming cosplay events and even to design new gear.

7. AnimeNewsNetwork

The ANN is a great site for upcoming events/shows/anything! The first page when you see when arriving at ANN is the newsfeed, which is constantly updated keeping us in the know! How great is that! There is an Encyclopedia to give you a refresher course on your characters/shows and there is also an editorial wiki page to let you share your opinions. But don't forget the huge forum that is always buzzing with activity.

8. Daz3d

If you are in to ultra-realistic Anime & Manga design, Daz3d is a downloadable tool that assists in 3D design. I still don't know how to work it, but once I do I may actually make something worthwhile. Check out their 'Hall of Fame' for unreal photos!

9. Cosplay Meetup

An honorable mention, cosplay meetup is a site made on meetup.com, which different cosplay groups from around the globe have listed their location for other cosplay fans of anime and manga to join in with a large group!

The world within Cosplay fans of Anime and Manga is large and expansive, and we can't wait to dive into the different sites here and get to know more about our fellow Anime lovers! Enjoy and share often!

An avatar world without groups?

2009-03-12T01:14:00.000-07:00

Possible? Of course not!

It's a topic we've spent a lot of time pondering on with our 3D Fashion Games world, Frenzoo.

Groups are the foundation for any vibrant society, be they ones built on common interest, fashion or lifestyle niche, family ties, geography or any other combination: groups give much needed identity to any community.

By community we could mean a real life one, but also applies equally and even more so in an online virtual world. In a great post on "Ways to make your social space more gamey", Raph Koster summarized the 8 important requirements for a successful social space building of gameplay fundamentals, and he rated groups at the top:

"Provide clear group identities that users can join, leave, and signal to one another with highly visual markers."

In my view Lively, Google's illfated adventure into avatar communities, struggled to be succesful for several reasons, and one was the lack of context or identity in the world.

Justin Gibbs of Vivaty pondered aloud recently whether virtual worlds need context to be succesful.

"If a virtual world lacks context does that make it simply 3D chat, a social network, or game platform? Is that enough when I can get that in many other places?"

I think the answer is truly that CONTEXT IS VITAL - to build a succesful new community, context is needed on 2 levels.

1/ The world itself needs context
2/ Within the world, members need context

1/ Unless you are Facebook or SecondLife, the days of expecting any general purpose community to take off are numbered. We see this in some of the newer avatar world, where the main purpose is just chat... but on what topic?

On the other hand, picking a particular topic and shaping your site around that automatically gives context. Whether it's robots, wizards, Asian celebrities or in our case lifestyle and fashion avatars... the main thing is that there is a theme.

Members join for a reason and they enjoy and feel tied into being part of a community that has real meaning to them. Conversations start naturally and can develop from there.

2/ Within the world, people want to identify with other likeminded members, even within the world. I agree with Raph, groups are an important way to establish ties and identity. Just witness the phenomenal success of guilds on Gaia.

We just launched clubs on Frenzoo. Whether it's a Fashion Club or one for One Piece Anime fandom, members can create and further find meaning in the community. It's early days and the club functions are sparse to start with, but even just a place for people to join and establish context and identity, that is a big step forward to build the foundation of the community.

It will make striking up conversations and forming friendships just that much more easier and fun. And don't friendships make any community tick?

I'd love your comment on this or suggestions for future topics. Feel free to leave a note.

Best Dress Up Games Features - Top 10 List

2009-02-16T23:53:00.000-08:00

Addicted to dress up...

If you've ever spent hours perfecting a new dress for your avatar, you'll already know why fashion games are so popular and enjoyed by millions around the world.

Every day girls young and old roleplay as the virtual fashionista online. From the simplest flash sites for kids through to sophisticated 3D dress up games for teens and older, there are many addictive offerings in the genre.

But what are the "X factors" that makes them so appealing? Let's take a look at the "best of the best" - the Top 10 features from the hottest dress up games out there today. Let's go!

Runways - JoJo's Fashion Show 2
Celebrities - Stardoll
Fashion Design - Frenzoo
Games! - RoiWorld
Chat and Groups - IMVU
Making Money - Second Life
Role-playing - The Sims 3
Music and Dancing - Nurien
Building Your Label - GirlSense
Cheeky - MissBimbo

1/ Runways - JoJo's Fashion Show 2

Working in a boutique may be cool, but being a designer with a runway show is the high point of glamour for the virtual fashionista. So, it's no surprise then that JoJo's Fashion Show has become one of the most played dress up games on the planet and gone on to produce a number of spinoffs and sequels. It all revolves around the runway show, which appeals to girls young and old - witness the popularity of America's Next Top Supermodel.

You play as designer Jojo Cruz and you must arrange runways shows and arrange your models in the styles the game asks you to. The gameplay is fun and frantic, asking you to pull together items, and results sometimes random as you don't know how the combination will be "judged". Sometimes a perfect combination scores lowly while a messy mix comes out on top, but then again the seeming randomness makes it unpredictable and fun, and very addictive.

2/ Celebrities - Stardoll

Celebrities are the most popular people on the planet, so it makes sense that celebrity fashion doll games are amongst the most popular destinations for young girls on the web today. And the largest of them is Stardoll.

Stardoll mixes up the usual shopping and styling with a huge range of celebrity paperdolls, which look sharp. Who can deny the attraction of taking control of Avril Lavignes wardrobe, or dressing up Selena Gomez in something really "out there"? And the beauty of celebrities is that there are always new ones coming up and plenty to keep the game fresh and fun.

3/ Designing Fashion - Frenzoo

Why buy virtual clothes the shop when you can design your own? Attractive with teens, Frenzoo is a new 3D fashion games community where the focus is on designing your own fashion, hair and accessories for anime styled 3D avatars.

The design tools are fun and within a few minutes you can make great looking designs to match with beauty and accessories. With practice the type of virtual fashions you can create with time and some practice are amazing. And once you've created your own perfect look, the site encourages you to enter a variety of competitions for fun and fame. Be warned though, for those who like being creative with dress up and design, the site gets addictive.

4/ Games - RoiWorld

If guys can have fun with the many action and fantasy MMOs on the net, what about girls? Fashion games are the answer. Now for every Runescape there is an RoiWorld. RoiWorld is a new fashion games portals, with close to 1000 fashion, beauty and celebrity themed micro-games to play from.

There are a few basic types of games, ranging from drawing through to dress up, memory and time challenges that mix things up and give some variety. Most of the games can be played without needing any account, which makes it a simple and fun place to waste time.

5/ Chat and Groups - IMVU

If you want huge chaotic group chat together with 3D avatars, IMVU is the place for you. With over 30 million members and a massive amount of fashions available in the shop, you are bound to find your niche underground fashion style and chat with other like-minded fashionistas. Unlike other chat worlds that can often be empty and boring, IMVU's chat is popular, in large part due to letting you show off your own unique style and a strong content creation for professional developers. Want to find a group to chat about neo-steampunk style tips? Easy...

The clothes range from simple and clunky to beautiful, but to buy any of the good fashions is going to cost you real money. Here you pay to play - the free credits you get at the start won't last you very long at all. And it's a shame that you can't create your own fashions like in some of the other sites on the list, although what it lacks in that it makes up in the range of choice already available in the shop.

6/ Making Money - Second Life

Open virtual world SecondLife is the adult fashionista's paradise with masses of 20 and 30-something logging on and buying a huge variety of fashions. Part of the reason for that huge variety of clothes is the lure of real money - SecondLife runs a very large economy where residents can sell items to others and earn real cash. Even though the amounts are very small for the vast majority of designers, the motivation and desire is there - the addiction of making a sale and seeing an avatar wear your fashions is a big force.

Being an older, more mature world (the average age is over 30) there is a lot of adult themed content and the interface to use Second Life is very complicated, but if you're willing to work past those barriers, those into realistic avatars and sophisticated dress up can find a lot to enjoy in SecondLife. And who knows, maybe you'll open your own boutique there one day.

7/ Role-playing - The Sims 3

"Everyone on the planet either is a Sims fan or knows one". The scary thing is that with over 100 million games sold that's not far from the truth at all. In The Sims, the emphasis is on roleplay and life simulation. That core gameplay allows you to make a family, become a pop star or choose any path you choose, and dressing your Sims up any way you want along the way... as a result a huge sub-culture has grown around the game for virtual fashion.

Some of the most creative and stunning avatar apparel on the net in any game, community or genre is created by Sims fashionistas - this group of ultra hardcore dedicated fans of the Sims who mod the textures to make unique items. Add on top the increasing number of real brand fashion spin-ins to Sims such as the popular H&M expansion plus the next massive installment of the franchise in 2009 with The Sims 3- expect the legion of addicts around the world to grow for years to come.

8/ Music and Dancing - Nurien

Time to start practicing your moves... Wherever there are fashion runways there is music, but it's surprising more fashion games don't go one step further and include dancing to go with the music element. Nurien, a Korean studio is coming at it the other way around, and starting with an avatar dancing as its core game, and then branching out into fashion catwalks and chat game.

The graphics in Nurien are great and the dancing animations are very smooth and fresh, which makes the feature addictive for those girls who like to dance and make friends. The fashion element is also strong, with beautiful fashions, however it's a shame you can't design your own.

9/ Build Your Label - GirlSense

GirlSense takes the dress up game concept and extends it into fashion design and creating your own boutique. The sites Fashion Design Studio is quite a powerful tool and lets fashionistas create a wide variety of outfits. It's a really fun way to roleplay as an up-and coming designer and build up your own brand and customers. You can even purchase "ad space" on the site to promote your new designs.

Although the graphics are all in 2D and very simple, it matches well with the young audience of tween girls that make up the community, and there are lots of them! In fact, over 14 million girls have joined so far...

10/ Cheeky - MissBimbo

Well, all of the dress up games in the list are fun and addictive, but one stands out for being different. You could even say MissBimbo's key feature is its "cheekyness". Starting with the name, which flips the normal negative Bimbo into something quirky and fun to aspire to, although of course not without a lot of controversy.

"Bimbos" can shop for new clothes, become social butterflies and gain fame and event undergo plastic surgery like in the real world to , although you have to ask if this is a good role model to be showing to young and impressionable tween girls. Love it or hate it, it certainly is unique and stands out from the crowd.

So there you have it. The Top 10 features from the very best dress up games out there. Feel any others deserve a special mention or disagree/agree with any on the list? Give us your feedback!

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Nurien - High-Tech 3D Dancing Game

2009-02-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

You may have heard about Nurien, the avatar 3D dancing and fashion game that has been recently released in Korea, and will be available in other markets later in the year.

It's getting quite a bit of buzz around forums thanks to some fun YouTube demo clips showing off the graphics. We think it looks amazingly realistic!

It's a large 2GB+ client download game for Windows, using the Unreal 3 Engine and PhysX, so not as much for the casual web audience.

For more about it, check out the Frenzoo 3D Fashion blog, there is post about Nurien..

Looklet

2009-02-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

Not really into dolls and always wanted to dress real models? Looklet might be the thing for you!

Looklet is a digital styling studio where you play the role of a stylist. You can dress real models with real clothing and even add some accessories. Looklet lets you share your most inspiring looks on your blog or with your friends as well.

You can combine every piece of clothing, mix and match to create your own personal looks. Looklet stylists selects the latest fashion picks, the classics, the hot street wear and everything in between so the collective wardrobe grows every week.

Our thoughts? A must-try for every fashion addict out there!

Some screencaps

For the moment it's still a sneak preview beta version that is up.

Leila

Review of Unity 3D on Frenzoo

2009-01-29T00:04:00.000-08:00

Over on the Frenzoo blog, there is a new post called "Why we chose Unity".

It's all about how and why the Unity 3D technology was selected for the the new 3D fashion community, and how it has turned out since then.

For those who don't know, Unity is a 3D platform that lets you build browser based virtual worlds and games easily without having to program the low level engine yourself. It's having a lot of success lately and there are many new games and MMO like Cartoon Networks FusionFall are using the plugin.

Known avatar sites using Unity so far include:
Frenzoo
Just Leap In
Hangout.net

It's an interesting read for those who are in the virtual worlds or games industry and wanting a real-life view of using the platform.

Update - Also check out this blog note about Frenzoo & Unity (in French).

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Top 10 free fashion games for girls

2009-01-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

There are plenty of great avatar websites for girls...and best of all, most of them are free.

Here is a list and review of 10 of the best places to create an awesome girl avatar with the best fashions. All are fun websites where you can spend hours and hours making a perfect look:

1/ Stardoll

Desire to be like Beyonce or Angelina Jolie?

Stardoll is the place for making celebrity dolls and fashion dress up. It is easy to use, fun and has a huge amount of members from around the world. It's all in 2D which means you don't need to download any software and it's pretty fast to load. The dolls don't move but are nicely detailed and there's plenty of them.

Shopping is great and you can even buy virtual versions of DKNY and Vivienne Tam items! Apart from just creating looks and accessorizing, you can do a lot of other things in the community like creating or joining a club, making a lookbook, chatting and entering competitions. You can try creating fashions also, although you have to pay for their Superstar service in order to be able to save them or sell to others.

Stardoll is the biggest and one of the best sites in the Top 10 list and best for girls from around 7 to 11 years old.

2/ Girlsense.com

GirlSense is another site similar to Stardoll and also best for younger girls. You get your character and can dress her in a lot of fashions and accessories. The graphics are really nice and it's so simple to use.

One of the best parts of the site is it's new Girlsense Design Studio. Here you can create your own unique fashions - choose fabric, color and lots lots more - the level of control on what you can do is kinda scary! The Faceplace function lets you really set the mood of your avatar - how you are feeling, through different expressions and facial features. Apart from designing there is also private and public chat on chatterbox.

Creativity is really valued in the community, probably more so than on Stardoll and it's a great place if you want to express yourself.

3/ Frenzoo.com

Frenzoo is a web community where you can create amazing fashions and 3D avatars for free

The graphics lets your avatar do animated catwalk poses or little dances. You have to install a plugin, but you don't have to reload your browser which is nice.

The best part about this game is that you can create your own 3D fashions and hairstyles - swimwear, cool dresses, punk costumes, emo looks, whatever you can like.

Frenzoo is best for teenagers and older, the minimum age for using this game is 13.

4/ GoSupermodel.com

Gosupermodel is simple & fun site which has recently been refreshed. Designed for younger girls, the site has a game theme, as you first play the part of the assistant as a designer fashion show.

You can also skip the game and get straight into creation and the fashion system is simple but can produce nice results. Overall the avatars are fairly basic, but their style is fun and with its own personality.

The site uses Java which seemed to slow down my notebook, but if you're on a newer machine it should work just fine.This place is best suited for younger girls.

5/ Pupe.jp

Avatars from the land of the rising sun?

Ok, so it's not in English but the styles of the avis in this Japanese site are gorgeous and cute. If you want to make an avatar which is truly sweet then this is the site for you.

The graphic style is chic - although the dolls don't move they are detailed, and it's always refreshing to see what are the latest trends from Japan.

6/ MissBimbo.com

Yes, the name is controversial, and Miss Bimbo lives up to it's name.

Members can design their own bimbo, shop, create fashion and then the strange things: buying diet pills, getting breast enlargement surgery for your "bimbo". It is one of the few fashion games that has taken this "copy reality" of celebrity lifestyles to the real limit.

So the site may not be the best example for good beahvior, but it is popular for tween girls and it does have it's own humor. Enter at your own risk...

7/ i-dressup.com

As the name says, the site is all about dressing up, with tons of mix-and-match games for play. You can create your own Miley Cyrus if you like?

The site is well designed and has a lots of things to do. When shopping, you can also personalize some items, for example cropping a top or recoloring a skirt.

One special thing is that when you join, at the start you actually get two avatars. One is a more real world looking one called iLook, the other is more kawaii manga styled and called iToon. It's a nice touch letting you switch between more irl looks and fantasy themed styles.

8/ GroovyGirls.com

Groovy Girls is a place for a pre-teen set, with very young styled dolls and graphical style.

You can join chatting parties - safety is a big part of the site and the chat is limited to only a predefined set of conversations. Girls can also do up your "Mod Pod" which is your home and also design your own moves and go dancing which is kinda cool. Overall the site is fun for young kids, however many of the best features are limited to those with an "RSVP" code.

9/ BarbieGirls.com

If you're looking for one of the biggest sites for girls, you've found it in BarbieGirls. The site is professionally made and well designed with its younger members in mind.

You can setup your Barbie Girl avatar, which has a unique style like a cartoon. Then proceed to go shopping, mix and match, decorate your room with a range of furniture, visit the beauty salon and a lot more.

There are plenty of places to make friends and socialise, chatting is safe as well as moderated.

It's a great site as you would expect from such a large and successful company.

10/ DressupChallenge.com

As with Frenzoo, this site is great for teens with more edgy and realistic styling.

Your avatar can be designed with tattoos, themed or alternative clothes and accessories like guitars, and also be given a cosmetic makeover.

As the name sounds, a big part of the site is competitions, letting members fight it out to be the best, eg- punk rock chic, with the best rising to the top and featured in the showcase for winners. It's a great alternative to some of the younger fashion games such as Stardoll or Girlsense.

Thanks and hope you enjoyed reading this list! Do leave your comments and feedback

Why did Google shut down Lively?

2008-11-20T02:06:00.000-08:00

Official Google Blog: Lively no more Funny how things turn out...

Just a month ago I was in the Virtual Worlds London event listening to Niniane Wang, Google engineering manager talk about their fledgling new 3D chat service, Lively.

She spoke impressively, and sounded like they had a great handle on the teething issues and plan for the future.

Today we hear the news that Google has abandoned Lively. What a difference a few short months make.

True, expectations were sky high for Lively (it is Google after all) and they had a rocky start, but they had some unique elements such as being browser based and able to be embed anywhere.

And as IMVU and Meez have shown, it is possible to build an active and thriving 3D chat community with a bit of time and focus, and other focussed avatar sites (Stardoll etc) continue to grow rapidly and new players emerge and innovate.

So why did they kill it?

My guess is that it was considered just too removed from their core business of search and online apps.

And as we all know, the first things that tend to get cut during a recession are non-core businesses.

It was always a bit of a stretch for Google to get into the virtual worlds business, especially with no clear business model: there was no virtual economy, nor advertising in Lively. The closest consumer entertainment product they have is arguably YouTube.

Even at the London event Niniane admitted there was a lot of internal debate about business model and some things were still in the air, months after launch - for example whether there should be a Google virtual currency.

Put lack of business model together with a lack of track record or core competency in operating online games or virtual worlds it is unsurprising Google will exit the space...and the space will go on and grow without it.

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Stardoll opens up to user generated content - A review of Stardesign

2008-11-07T23:17:00.001-08:00

Stardesign taps into the creativity of the community
A first guest post by Cecilia Poon - welcome!

Apart from styling 2D avatars, Stardoll has opened up the door for their users to create their own items. This represents the first move of the rapidly growing community into user generated content. The new creation section is named StarDesign. It allows creation of unique looks for both clothing and interior design items.

You can easily design a nice looking pattern by the StarDesign tools. As shown in the images, pick the shape, colors, size of the pattern you want, rearrange them and create your own image.

If you are one of those who has talent in this area, you can actually design a Hello Kitty with these simple tools, not withstanding the copyright issues that would apply of course.

After that, choose the kinds of furniture you would like your pattern to put on. Stardoll only offers 7 templates at the moment, so you can just choose from sofa, cushion, curtains and so on.

You can then decide whether you would like to purchase the items or not after you design process. Superstars (paid subscription members) can decorate their rooms and MeDoll with the customized items.

However, StarDesign for interior is only available for paid members and those items cannot be sold in their own shop as well. Not surprisingly, there are not competitions for interior designs as well, as their main focus is still in fashion.

Conclusion
The main new trend in avatar communities or virtual worlds is to let users create their own items. Take a look at GirlSense, i-Dressup, IMVU, etc. This helps in deepening users experience and also generating millions of new pieces of content for the site. For Stardoll it makes a lot of sense, and it doesn't stop here. We're going to see more players open up more creation tools to their users, both paying and also free. This possibilities of a YouTube model in Avatar Fashion ... it's coming!

Thanks Ceci!

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Virtual worlds for real world design - interview with Shenlei Winkler

2008-11-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

IBM Global Business Services and Fashion Research Institute (FRI) partner to renovate antiquated product design methodologies.

Apart from entertainment and social mixing, right from the outset, virtual worlds have been used for product design. Most modern automobile design today is done with cutting edge VR visualization techniques. Yet when it comes to the apparel industry, much of the design work today is still done undertaken with antiquated techniques.

This is set to change however as virtual worlds come down in price and advance in capability and usability.

A recently announced deal with FRI aimed at IBM enterprise customers, allows designers to enter the virtual world, receive training on the rools and then create a design from concept through to prototype - with all steps short of actual manufacturing being done virtually.

I invited Shenlei Winkler from FRI to explain the project and its impact on the industry.

Welcome! What are the advantages for a apparel brand to go through this new virtual design methodology? Is it mainly about time or cost savings?

Apparel brands reduce costs, cut time to market, and reduce the carbon footprint of the industry. The system produces a true-to-scale model with high data fidelity, so the designer is providing the factory with a model that exactly captures what the designer had in mind. This means both the fit of the garment can be improved and that the designer can move design elements around on the model in scale. this is critical for under-served marketplace niches like plus-sized clothing can have more attractive designs developed for them.

In future iterations, we will be able to offer individuals access to our design system as well as factories who can take their vision and create it for them, rather than buying mass off-the-rack clothing.

Apparel brands generate huge amounts of data as they do business; right now it's virtually impossible for them to manage their designers in any real way. Our system actually enables these brands to more efficiently manage their design process and by extension, their designers.

Initially we thought we would be able to cut 1/3 of the design cycle time and up to 2/3 of the sample costs, but our early tests indicate we can do much better than that. I can't be more specific, but early results have been pretty stellar.

We're working on a comprehensive virtual show room capability, where purchasers can share feedback with a brand manager as well as being able to make purchases directly from the showroom. While we are aiming our product at the B2B market, at some point we'll license our solution for the consumer market.

Does this lifecycle also incorporate user feedback, and how would this be managed?

Yes. We're really focused on the design houses and manufacturers. The entire cycle is designed to capture input from all the users and do it in an extensible, searchable fashion.

Brands will manage their consumers as they currently do and whatever input that they accept from consumers will simply continue as before.

What are the steps to take finalised designs through to manufacturing and production runs?

Our final output in our system is what's called the factory-ready technical specification package, which includes all of the information that a factory requires to produce the initial physical prototype sample. Once the tech pack has been created, it gets handled by the design house and the factory in the same way they have always handled it. Our solution cuts out repetitive sample cycles, so one design, one sample, but ultimately the factory handles production runs just as it always has, but with better tech packs.

Thanks Shenlei!

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