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NG Design Document/Communication

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Contents

Natural communication

Social interaction is one of the key features of virtual worlds. People can naturally and intuitively communicate with each other through verbal and body language. For realXtend to become a social platform, it must easily enable these natural communication methods.

Text-based communications, whether instant or delayed, are becoming more common and natural way for people to express themselves. It certainly lends itself to a more abstract and formal expression, and is relatively unintrusive compared to voice or video.

Spatial Communication

3D technology brings the spatial dimension to communication. Users can see and hear each other, and so related a number of subtle cues about the mental and emotional state of the speaker; this is especially true when there is more than two participants. For example user can hear from which direction the speaker is located and how far a way.

3D avatars are able to use animated body language to communicate subtle ideas. Postures, gestures, and facial expressions, enable a depth of communication previously unavailable from telecommunications.

Name

Text Chat With Near-by Avatars

Use Cases
  • Make Friends
  • Chat in 3D
  • Chat in Groups
Summary Text chat is still the most reliable and unobtrusive form of person-person communication.
Flow
  1. User meets another avatar in world that he wishes to converse with and moves within "hearing distance".
  2. User begins typing, and the results are echoed to screen in a text area.
  3. User presses Enter, and the string he typed is interpreted as text chat for everyone near-by.
  4. Chat is removed from the text entry area, and echoed in a text bubble above his avatar's head. Anyone within visible range will receive this text as an avatar decal.
  5. After a period of time, the bubble will disappear.
  6. User continues the conversation. When any two avatars are within sufficient proximity to each other and character limit is reached, for legibility purposes their conversation is moved to a dedicated chat text box, showing the history of the current conversation.
Notes
  • The chat text box is translucent and overlaid on the world-view near the bottom.
  • Detailed conversation histories can be retrieved from an IM UI.
Name

Text Chat With Near-by Named Avatars

Use Cases
  • Make Friends
  • Chat in 3D
  • Chat in Groups
Summary Text chat is still the most reliable and unobtrusive form of person-person communication.
Flow
  1. User meets another avatar in world that he wishes to converse with and moves within "hearing distance".
  2. User begins typing, and the results are echoed to screen in a text area.
  3. User includes in the string the name of an avatar within proximity to him.
  4. User presses Enter, and the string he typed is interpreted as text chat for the named avatar(s), regardless of his proximity, as well as everyone near-by.
  5. Chat is removed from the text entry area, and echoed in a text bubble above his avatar's head. Anyone within visible range will receive this text as an avatar decal. The chat is also sent directly to the named avatar(s), and it appears on their screen in the chat text box.
Notes
  • The chat text box is translucent and overlaid on the world-view near the bottom.
  • Detailed conversation histories can be retrieved from an IM UI.

Chatting in virtual worlds

Image [ChatVW]: Examples of chatting in virtual worlds. On the left the traditional way chat and on the right chat with bubbles.

Name

Text Chat With Avatars in Contact List

Use Cases
  • Chat with your Friends
Summary Text chat is still the most reliable and unobtrusive form of person-person communication.
Flow
  1. User selects the intended contact from his social network.
  2. User selects the "instant message" option for that contact.
  3. Chat text box echos the history of the conversation.
Notes
  • The chat text box is translucent and overlaid on the world-view near the bottom.
  • Detailed conversation histories can be retrieved from an IM UI.
Name

Discovering the Contact Information from a Near-by Avatar

Use Cases
  • Meet New Friends
Summary When you meet someone in world, you may want to know more about them, or add them to your social network. We present a means of viewing that information, and quickly adding it to your list.
Flow
  1. User meets another avatar in world that he wishes to converse with.
  2. User selects "Contact Information" from the overhead avatar decal.
  3. Contact Information is overlaid above the avatar
    • Name: the avatar handle
    • Identity: the identity the avatar authenticated with
    • Presence: icon and text describing where the user is
    • Mood: the current emotional state of the user
    • Contact: list of actions which the user can take with the contact information
      • Add Contact: adds the avatar to the social network
      • Message: sends instant or delayed message to the user
      • Call: initiates a one-on-one voice call with the user
Notes
Name

Indicate Presence or Mood to Near-by Avatars

Use Cases
  • Let others know what you are doing
  • Let other know what you are feeling
Summary Presence and mood are powerful passive communication mechanisms that allow interested parties to know what you are doing and feeling as a person.
Flow
  1. User sets Mood and Presence through either a graphical slider, or through a text entry that can discover the meaning of the text through a dictionary lookup.
  2. Presence or Mood icon is associated with the avatar in all the contact lists of his social network, and can be seen as an avatar decal when an observer requests "Contact Information" on the avatar.
Notes Presence and Mood also may affect animations associated with the avatar, or even the ordering or availability of menu items.

VW presence data

Image [PresenceVW]: One way to display presence status in VW

Image [EmoticonsVW]: Emoticons in VW

Name

Voice/Video Chat One-on-One with Avatars in Contact List

Use Cases
  • Chat with your Friends
Summary Your communications are more intuitive, and more meaningful when the full range of human voice of facial expression is unleashed. With even the smallest devices containing microphones and and "web cam"s, streaming over the internet is becoming the most popular way to stay in touch.
Flow
  1. User selects the intended contact from his social network.
  2. User selects the "voice chat" option for that contact.
  3. Simple overlay appears on the screen to allow control over the conversation.
    • Thumbnail: a small visual reminder of avatar you have called.
    • Hold: temporarily put the call on hold
    • Disconnect: end the call
    • Ban: remove this user from your contact list.
    • Speaker/Microphone Volume: adjust the volumes for this call only.
    • Video: starts a video stream for this person.
Notes If video is started, it appears as an overlay above the controls. It may be maximized to full-screen.
Name

Voice/Video Chat with Group of Avatars in Contact List

Use Cases
  • Chat with your Friends
Summary Your communications are more intuitive, and more meaningful when the full range of human voice of facial expression is unleashed. With even the smallest devices containing microphones and and "web cam"s, streaming over the internet is becoming the most popular way to stay in touch.
Flow
  1. User selects the intended contacts from his social network.
  2. User selects the "voice chat" option for that contact.
  3. Simple overlay appears on the screen to allow control over the conversation.
    • Leave: withdraw from the conference
    • Video: starts a video stream for this person.
    • Participant List: for each participant:
      • Thumbnail: a small visual reminder of avatar you have called
      • Hold: temporarily put the call on hold
      • Disconnect: end the call
      • Ban: remove this user from your contact list
      • Speaker/Microphone Volume: adjust the volues for this call only
Notes If video is started, it appears as an overlay above the controls. It may be maximized to full-screen.

File:Communication 1.jpg
PIC 1: Chatting and using emoticons

Name

Voice/Video Chat One-on-One With Near-by Avatars

Use Cases
  • Chat with your Friends
  • Meet New Friends
Summary Your communications are more intuitive, and more meaningful when the full range of human voice of facial expression is unleashed. With even the smallest devices containing microphones and and "web cam"s, streaming over the internet is becoming the most popular way to stay in touch.
Flow
  1. User meets another avatar in world that he wishes to converse with.
  2. User selects the "Contact Information" overlay.
  3. User selects to initate a one-on-one call.
  4. Simple overlay appears on the screen to allow control over the conversation.
    • Thumbnail: a small visual reminder of avatar you have called
    • Hold: temporarily put the call on hold
    • Disconnect: end the call
    • Ban: remove this user from your contact list
    • Speaker/Microphone Volume: adjust the volumes for this call only
    • Video: starts a video stream for this person
Notes


PIC SuggestVOIPChat: Suggest voice chat for someone

Name

Voice/Video Chat Group With Near-by Avatars

Use Cases
  • Chat with your Friends
  • Meet New Friends
Summary Your communications are more intuitive, and more meaningful when the full range of human voice of facial expression is unleashed. With even the smallest devices containing microphones and and "web cam"s, streaming over the internet is becoming the most popular way to stay in touch.
Flow
  1. User meets another avatar in world that he wishes to converse with.
  2. User selects the "Contact Information" overlay.
  3. User selects to initate a group conference call.
  4. In-world "Conversation Bubble" containing the topic of the conference is shown between the two parties.
  5. Third-parties may join the conference by selecting the bubble and requesting participation.
  6. Simple overlay appears on the screen to allow control over the conversation.
    • Leave: withdraw from the conference
    • Video: starts a video stream for this person
    • Participant List: for each participant:
      • Thumbnail: a small visual reminder of avatar you have called
      • Hold: temporarily put the call on hold
      • Disconnect: end the call
      • Ban: remove this user from your contact list
      • Speaker/Microphone Volume: adjust the volues for this call only
Notes


PIC SetUpDiscussion: Setting topic for discussion, that anyone can join


Non-verbal communication (expressions, gestures, emoticons)

Non verbal communication is supported in different ways. Web camera can be easily set up track user’s facial expressions. Web cam tracks a set of points on user’s face and translates this movement on avatar’s face - If the user smiles, the avatar smiles in a similar manner.


PIC 2: Web camera tracking user expressions and gestures

Gestures can be read in a similar manner. User can use different tools such as data gloves, ballIT balls or just web cam to relay their gestures to avatar.

Emoticons can be sent through the chat channel. When the user types in an emoticon such as smiley () avatar will smile as well. Common emoticons are supported by default but user can also define his own animations for different emoticons.

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