Various Bars

Below are images of Bars that I found while wandering around Flickr

Interesting Stuff

This is a video that I recorded while watching Futurama. I believe it explores a different ide aof virtuality and social space

Virtual Place

A virtual place is somewhere in the “second” world that defines a space. It is logically not tangible, but a virtual person would be able to access and use it as a real person would in a real world. The notion of virtuality plays on the extent of inconceivability in any context, whether actions which occur within the virtual world is possible. A place is simply a defined space for a particular purpose. There are three elements in which “place”:

Environment: This defines the atmosphere around the subject, on in this case, the virtual person (which is hereon referred to as just ‘person’). I believe that if the person is in a warm environment, they would automatically stay there. Hence, otherwise, if the person is in a poor environment, they would leave. These people would go on and spread the news. However successful a place is will depend on these people.

Purpose: What is this place built for? What makes this place worth visiting? And more importantly, what makes this place worth ‘re’-visiting? The primary function is a key point in establishing the place’s value and attract the right group of people to this place. Another issue to consider is where the place is to be built. It is not expected to see a night pub is a quiet neighborhood, hence, it is essential to understand, again, the environment.

Volume: In conjunction to its purpose and environment, one must not forget that ’size does matter’. If one was to build an indoor recreational center, they will definitely not build it with a 512sqm limit, but maximize the volume for comfortable (as aforementioned) usage.

Example of Virtual Place

Altman 35, 177, 108  -  Altman Xploder Challenge & Camp

Social Space

My understanding of a social space is exactly what the individual words, that compose them, mean. It is a given area for a socializing purpose. In the real world, this can exist in the form of a pub, community club, schools, parks and even at home. Social spaces in the real world would meet the virtual world via the internet. A common chat-room can be listed as a social space as it allows users to interact, meet, and socialize with other people. In terms of Second Life, the virtual world itself is a massive social space, allowing avatars to socialize in retrospective ways. The factors still applies to Second Life.

The following are three factors of social spaces:

Comfort: This may not be the first thing in mind when considering a social space, but in order for people to socialize, they should feel comfortable and relaxed wherever they are. Unless of course, if they are not comfortable, they can drink till they are comfortable. In Second Life, the avatar may not feel comfortable, but the space should still be made in a sense that the user believes the avatar is comfortable.

Interaction: Very common topic. In order for a social space to work, people (or avatars) must be able to interact with one another. This would allow communication to work. In situations such as pubs, if it was built with many walls and doors, blokes would find it very difficult to pick up chicks.

Features: Much like comfort itself, the features of the space may affect the type of people would be present. For example, you would not find the same group of people in a pub as you would find in a primary school (although…). In other words, the social space should include certain furnitures and entertainment and retrospective necessities.

Virtuality

My basic understanding of ‘virtual-world’ is exactly what I see in the media world. To me, it is the state of imagination and unrealism. In this state, even the most abstract work can be accomplished. In terms of Second Life, one’s virtual self is able to travel to difference distances at high speed. Another example, and the most obvious example, is the ability to fly. In the physical world, the ability to fly is only far-fetched and only superman can fly. Having the ability to fly in an architectural world can allow oneself to see their ‘world’ around them from a far-fetched angle. Another notable ability is to erase an edit. In reality, to accomplish such task would require days of work and huge amount of cost. In the virtual world, it is as easy as a simple click and minimal thinking. In Second Life, there is a function called “teleport”. Also far-fetched, the ability to teleport allows a person to travel to different places. Of course, in reality, that ability would be over-rated and considered an ability to potentially commit crimes. In the virtual world, one can move to anywhere in the world and communicate with anyone they desire. This also brings up the ability to search and add friend. Yesterday, I was able to communicate with my teammate who was completely away from my area. Another aspect is the ability to walk through walls. This allows people to be able to enter the building in an extraordinary fashion. In the real world, this can cause crimes (mostly perverted). When built as a door or portal, this ability can appear to give an outstanding effect.

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