Avatars Across Worlds: Nay, No, Feh

Posted Oct 24th 2007 9:30AM by Akela Talamasca
Filed under: Op/Ed

IEEE Spectrum has a piece available decrying the need, and even the desire for the concept of avatar portability -- the idea that it's possible to take your favorite avatar from one virtual world to another, and have it keep its attributes. They've enlisted a four-point set of reasons why this can't and shouldn't work. Their ideas are cogent, but do make a few assumptions.

"A company wants people to stick with the game that funds the company, not play games by other companies." Well, if you port your avatar to someone else's game, you ARE playing that game, with its associated fees. I'd think this would be a good way to experiment with a different platform, leavening the risk for those typically fearful of change.

"Games have different purposes, and thus different requirements of the art." Part of the point of developing portable avatars means that by the mere ability to enter a different space, they will already be equipped to deal with the rigors and strictures imposed by the game's mechanics. I'd imagine that IBM and LL are aware enough of the need for this that they'll work it into the standards.

More after the jump!

"Games have different themes." Again, all this stuff would be contained in the standards. And let's not forget: this set of standards will not be a crowbar, forcing games to accept outside avatars. I'm sure developers will be able to lock out unwanted intrusion.

"Not everyone wants to be the same person online, always." Same response as above; no one's putting a gun to your head demanding that you be the same all the time. Why are videogame journalists and commenters so uptight about these things! These proposed standards aren't even real yet; they may not ever be. They might never reach a stage of completion. They're certainly not something we can even be concerned about right now. Your little bubbles are safe, people. Get up in arms when there's something actual to be upset about.

Tags: avatar-portability, IBM, second-life

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Reader Comments

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1. Agreed. Avatar portability could be very useful for instance when travelling from SL to an OpenSim hosted grid, Kaneva, or something like that, and there's no reason to decry it's usefullness because you might not want to use it.

Posted at 10:31AM on Oct 24th 2007 by Sered Woollahra

2. This strikes me as yet another round of "it's a game", "it's not a game".

I'm sure in each new type of virtual world or game you explore, you'd have to pick up a new set of accessories or do some modding to make your appearance what you wanted, but I think the notion of cross-world identity conservation is a great one and I hope that LL and IBM pull this off.

Posted at 2:11PM on Oct 24th 2007 by Ananda

3. Notice how many times words like "game" or "games" are used in the article.

The person writing has no concept of what portability can best be used for potentially.
Multiple worlds are showing up, and standards are starting to come about. This is not about "games" anymore. It's about *business*. It's about watching systems like Second Life pop up all over and be focused on making money. Shopping online going from 2D to 3D, etc.
People need to get out of the ****ing "It's a game!" mindset with virtual worlds now. There are a lot of games out there to be sure, but there are a quickly growing number of non-games as well. For starters, this is because lots of people who are fed up with the inability of LL to fix Second Life are looking for other places to socialize. Smart business-minded people are seeing this massive vacuum and starting their own systems. Some of those systems are becoming popular, and they recognize that one thing that might hold people back from switching is the inability to keep their Avatar.
Second Life is ripe for picking as accounts go. There are a lot of people looking for an alternative. Portability would certainly give people options.

Posted at 2:15PM on Oct 24th 2007 by neural

4. SL as it is would most likely not be fully compatible with an avatar portability system, stuff like attachments and skins often are no-copy in SL or have some other limitations that would upset the creator if they were passed to other systems, and there is also there issue of compatibility of scripts and geometry, SL will need tons of reworking to not be like trying to shove a square shaped piece thru a round shaped hole

Posted at 6:59PM on Oct 24th 2007 by TigroSpottystripes Katsu

5. @TigroSpottystripes: We're going to be walking before we are running. I think at the start this is going to more like an OpenID for 3D Worlds where the first time I go to a new system I'll be that system's version of "Ruth" (that world's default avatar). Maybe in the future, part of my avatar's mesh will transfer, so I could be somewhat recognizable while having a "ruth" skin, hair, and clothes. But I wouldn't expect anything else to transfer, now or in the mid-term.

Really, what can we expect to transfer? Worn scripted prims? Sculpted shoes? HUDs? Linden Dollars? Any of the dozens of outfits I have in my inventory?

Further in the future we may have some categories of standardized objects similar to the current "linden clothes," probably based on textures. Geometries and capabilities will be generic. They would have to be specifically created with this intent to travel in mind.

Posted at 10:13PM on Oct 24th 2007 by Nightbird Glineux

6. Hi every1 i am new

Posted at 4:23PM on Nov 8th 2007 by Gabriellia