racing in edinburgh
driving with hoss gifford (me in toronto, him in scotland, march 2004)
project gotham racing 2, xbox live
hoss on his bicycle
hoss drops his cell phone
hoss recovers cell phone
complete recreation of edinburgh
real-world store logos obtained with permission
the multiuser game experience
experience of driving around hoss's hometown together without having ever been there physically
experience of single player racing vs multiuser racing
goodnight or goodmorning
hoss staying at my place, just heading to bed, 3am (april 2004)
says goodmorning to wife & kids via webcam (different timezone)
sarah hugs monitor
computers before internet == applications before multiuser
at a turning point
all current single-user mainstream apps will one day be multiuser apps
e.g., very soon, a game without an online friends list will be inconceivable
you think multiuser is trivial? how does the experience of this lecture change if:
you were the only person in the audience?
i was not here: you were listening to the lecture pre-recorded over the sound system?
spectation versus interaction
multiuser doesn't necessarily mean direct interaction
in the real world, 3 people often take turns playing a video game...the fun is watching each other
should be able to do the same thing online (spectator vs controller)
imagine if you could watch james patterson working in flash
business spectation:
remote creative directors watching designers in photoshop
potential multiuser application features
populate Flash components panel with community components
chat or live a/v help right in an application (revenue opportunity)
allow experienced user to control a newer user's application (live help)
receive input from one machine, send output to another (remote presentations)
multiuser television (watch tv in groups remotely)
example: multiuser web browsing
multiuser browsing prototype: uBrowse
spectate another user's browsing
broadcast your own browsing to others
maintains a shared history of sites visited
usage scenarios:
web developers can demonstrate work to remote customers
staff at a company can review sites during a conference call
a presenter can give a lecture from a remote location via webcam, while controlling web-based slides remotely
friends can share a web browsing experience together remotely
in future, will likely be a native part of all browsers
example: multiuser dictionary
merriam-webster website shows words being looked up by connected users
unity multiuser development kit
create multiuser apps with Unity
make multiuser flash apps easier to create (no java or server code)
allows exploration of multiuser concepts ahead of the curve
goal: help bring multiuser features to all applications
free to artists and academics
ambient user activity
user representation
instant messenger buddy lists
other cars in a racing game
conceptually: gives sense of "being in a crowd"
user transformation
path across a field
moving location of links on page based on popularity
conceptually: gives sense of self over time
user contribution
adding your own room in a virtual world
graffiti
blog comment
conceptually: creativity (procreation)
user interation
chat
railgun
conceptually: love
swasticocks: human nature in simpledraw
hm. maybe jared should add a cock stamp
laws and enforcement
multiuser applications are distinct societies, with morals and deviant behaviour
types of deviance moderation:
anarchy (simpledraw)
owner moderation (e.g., simpledraw with operator status )
democratic moderation (e.g., this lecture)
external moderation (e.g., language filters, administrator tools for banning, kicking)
external moderation example
groovygirls.com is a website for 7-12 year old girls
activities are limited to preset behaviours (dancing, picture booth)
chat text must be selected from a list
uPresence
uPresence : a study in exposing ambient user activity (see also uTulip and Ambient User Sound )
most websites you look at have multiple users--you just don't see them
uPresence reveals what's already there. it shows all users as they interact with a website
mouse pointer evolves with number of visits
rollovers from all connected users are shown to all connected users
clicks of other users appear as dots: helps guide users to popular content
size of click dots indicates age of user that clicked
user rankings (reminiscent of "prominent list members" in weskamp's social circles )
experience of "website" changes simply by revealing other users (which are hidden on most sites, but shouldn't be)
future feature: show recorded interactions over time (good idea for simpledraw too)
uAvatarChat
uAvatarChat : character-based chat app
basic message bubble
longer messages stay on screen longer
emotes
thoughts
idle
typing notification (3 stages)
group backgrounds (user transformation; environment adapting to users)
collab
collab by thijs triemstra
a/v message recording
chat
audio/video conferencing (flashcom)
shared whiteboard
eliza/alice
translator
trivia room
geographic IP resolution
teemic boarder
teemic boarder by francis bourre and artepict
customizable characters (teemics)
shared 3d interactive environment (sit on chairs)
natural tendency of users to group for conversations
emoticons translate to teemic faces
buddies
POD for email and instant messaging
noise when your name is mentioned in chat
if a user picks an occupied chair, the teemics will circle it four times before giving up
client-side pathfinding (clients may see different versions of moving from A to B)
future features: world extension and pets
just the beginning
exploration has just started
imagine an open standard to share multiuser data between connected sites: e.g., drawing on a whiteboard in collab and having it appear on a painting hanging on the wall in atomic.
unity is free to artists : get involved
