This is my avatar, Branwen, in the world known as Hotel Silicon. In the Hotel, as in all the WorldsAway worlds, I can choose what I look like, rent and decorate my own apartment, earn in-world tokens, and use them to buy the latest objects from the vendos. Most important of all, though, I can meet people from all over Earth as our avatars walk through the streets of Kymer.
As well as spending time in Hotel Silicon and the Dreamscape (another WorldsAway world), I helped bring them about.
I was a software engineering manager for Fujitsu Systems Business of America, which makes the virtual world technology behind the Dreamscape. WorldsAway technology is the third generation of the LucasFilm Habitat project, begun in the 1980's by Randy Farmer and Chip Morningstar. What separates WorldsAway worlds from other virtual worlds is its emphasis on human interaction within a technological framework, or as Randy is fond of saying, "It's the people, dammit!" The 2D graphics make a user feel like he or she is a part of the world, a member of the community instead of someone peeking through a window. Each avatar body has a full range of gestures (waving, bowing, sitting, jumping, and so on) and each head has four different moods (normal, happy, sad, angry) to allow for clear communication, using body language as well as typed messages.
To find out more about virtual worlds, take a look at these sites, or visit the virtual reality section of my online bookstore.
