Virtual worlds, Second Life, and the Metaverse as a whole are very immersive experiences. This is because they immerse the user much more than an older type of medium such as just reading a book which leaves a lot open to the reader for interpretation. With something like Second Life, it is much more visual. Much more hands-on. The user can be whoever they want, whatever they want, however they want, whenever they want. It’s hard to beat the amount of freedom the user has to immerse themselves in this experience. In my opinion, the only thing keeping this from being a 100% realistic, fully immersive experience would be the fact that you can’t physically walk in the world of Second Life with your physical body and physically touch the items in it. A VR headset could be used to give the user the impression they are in the world and physically interacting with everything, but I would say that’s as close as we are going to get for now. Second Life is truly amazing. You can go into this digital world and get a job, build a house, sell the house, rent property, provide services for other users, you name it!
Even graphic novels are much more immersive than just reading a standard novel. The graphic novel paints pictures for the reader and helps them feel more like they are right there inside the story with the characters. Hence, an immersive experience.
My experience with virtual worlds is still pretty limited. I have some experience with it on the internet, in video games, and a little bit of time on Second Life now, but there is still so much I don’t know or understand about the metaverse. I must say that I am very excited to learn more about it. I’m only 33 years old right now. I can’t even imagine what our technology is going to be 40 years from now. It’s mind boggling to even think about.
First and foremost, “Watchmen” was the first of its kind. It stood out from the crowd in an exemplary fashion. It put other comic books to shame. The writer, Alan Moore, took a more non-traditional approach to writing it. For starters, the storyline doesn’t take place in a fictional city like most other comics do. It takes place in New York city. Also, this story was portrayed as more realistic. While it is still loaded with physical impossibilities, the comic had a more real feel to it due to its setting, timeline, and character personalities. You would also find that the Watchmen graphic novel didn’t look like it fit in on a typical comic rack. The front cover would seem much more boring than that of a traditional comic book. These factors definitely made it unique.
It’s been several years since I have seen the 2009 film adaptation, but I do remember owning it when I was a kid. I can recall the first time I watched it and what my reaction to it was. I could tell right from the beginning that something about this superhero story was vastly different from any other superhero story I had ever seen or read before that. There was just something about how it was filmed that made all other superhero movies seem like corny fiction but this, this was real.
I’ll start off by saying that I recently caught the travel bug and fantasize of the idea of being able to travel the world and getting paid to do it. This is my newfound dream. I hope someday that I am able to have a job where I work remotely so that I may start to travel the world and zig zag across every country and continent to explore and experience all of the different foods, cultures, peoples, traditions, and history. I want to document it all create content online about all of it, therefore establishing a brand as a world traveler that educates others. I want to blog, vlog, write articles, and make lots of YouTube videos about all of my travels.
While this is only a dream, if I am able to accomplish this one day, I would hopefully be able to incorporate the virtual world into all of this and create an AR app that others could use if they begin to travel the world and experience my experiences through the app. They could use it to find and take part in the same activities that I did or to find good services that I have used and reviewed. It would basically be an interactive AR travel app. They could also use it to learn about the history of different locations. I basically want to be a younger, more hip, more modern version of Rick Steves!
I have read through several other immersive engagement proposals and looked for connections and similarities between them and my own. I appreciate the symbolic value of the objects that Kathryn wishes to create. I feel that the reward of her gold star at the end of the hero’s quest is very comparable to my holo-projector that will display a college diploma on it.
On the other hand, Danielle’s drawing tablet item compares more to my video editing workstation I wish to place in the world. I am also hoping that this object can help them consider if it is something they would be interested in learning more about at Peninsula College. Adobe Premiere Pro can be a pretty intimidating application from first glance, but it looks sleek. I’m hoping that potential new students seeing editing taking place using the software on the virtual workstation will inspire them to look into it more.
I also drew a connection between my holo-projector item and James’ map scroll. These items share something in common. They will be handheld items that can be picked up by the users’ avatars and interacted with. I am a little intimidated by attempting to create these objects given my lack of experience with 3D design and Second Life, but am more than willing to give it a shot!
The premise of my project will consist of the development of two different objects to be placed in the SL world. One will be a monitor that shows the video editing process in Adobe Premiere Pro and another will be a handheld holo-projector that displays either a rotating college degree or an open book. The fundamental purpose of these items is to drive students find interest in the video production and as a call to action to inspire them to attend Peninsula College.
2. Audience and Market
The intended user would be a potential new student at Peninsula College. We hope to use our digital environment on the Hero’s Journey to entice them to become students here. This audience would probably enjoy something that is interesting, comedic, and technological. We will have plenty of competition, however. There are plenty of other schools, organizations, and companies that have established a strong presence in the virtual world.
3. Medium, Platform, and Genre
We will be using the platform Second Life to develop and place these items. This platform consists of a virtual world where users can fully customize their avatars, purchase and rent property, and even get a job. It is a third-person virtual experience.
4. Narrative and Gaming Elements
There are narrative elements contained in this project. The Hero’s Journey is a completely narrative concept. It is the basis for most stories told and has been for a very long time. I hope to be very encouraging and inspirational in my approach when creating these items. There are some gaming elements already on the Hero’s Journey pathway, however, mine will be more interactive and persuasive. I can’t think of a win or lose scenario with my objects, other than a win when persuading someone to attend Peninsula College.
5. User’s Role and Point of View (POV)
The user will take on the role of an aspiring student on this pathway. They will be looking for direction in their life, in their education, and in their own personal Hero’s Journey. Therefore, ultimately they will be taking on the role of the “hero”.
6. Characters
The nonplayer characters consist mostly of animals from what I have seen. I did read something about a parrot that helps you on the journey but I don’t believe I actually encountered him. I have seen other birds, wolves, and whales. They make the virtual environment feel more welcoming and attractive. They also give it a more lively presence which will entice users to explore deeper into it.
7. Structure and Interface
The starting point of the user’s experience will be Step 0 of the Hero’s Journey. This is the beginning of the path and the user is welcomed with some free gifts and information here. They will then progress through the twelve steps of the Hero’s Journey and then proceed onto the Pathway Café where they can see the different guided educational pathways. They will be able to stay on task and know they are going in the right direction because of the signs that have been placed.
8. Storyworld and Sub-settings
Our world appears to be on an island paradise that sees all different seasons and climates in the different regions of the island. These resemble the different obstacles we encounter when we are on our own personal Hero’s journey.
9. User Engagement
The storytelling aspect of the experience is what will keep the user engaged. They will want to make it to the end to feel the sense of accomplishment that comes along with completing any type of interactive story element. By the end of this experience, the user will have hopefully made it to the end of the pathway, decided what area of study they are wanting to focus on, and chosen to enroll at Peninsula College to do so.
10. Overall Look and Sound
For the monitor at the video editing station, I will be using videos. 2 different videos, one for each monitor. One will be of the editing workspace in Premiere Pro, while the other will be of the program monitor. As far as the holo-projector object goes, I will use an image of the text book or college degree and try to build a 3D element out of it.
11. Interactive Scavenger Hunt
I would like to make it so if the user finds my holo-projector, not only will it turn on and display the rotating object, but it will also transport them to my bubble. Using the holo-projector again will transport them back to the hero’s pathway. (Not sure if this is doable or not, but I like the idea of it.)
12. Marketing of the Hero’s Journey
The project could be marketed through the college’s website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and even Second Life itself. I feel that at this stage it wouldn’t hurt to have mentorship, but I think the further along it comes and the more developed it becomes, the more autonomous while convenient to use it will become.
Video games motivate their players with mastery all the time! I am living proof of this. Some of us grew up wanting to master sports in school. Some of us wanted to master computer and technical skills. There were also some of us that grew up addicted to video games and the only thing they were worried about mastering was the Xbox Live achievements for Assassin’s Creed II. In case you’re wondering, yes, I am referring to myself there. I was what some would call a completionist. I couldn’t just play the game and finish the storyline. I had to make sure I went through and found all of the different locations, found all of the collectibles, and completed all of the side quests. These games were intentionally designed with all of this extra content to motivate players to put all of this time into it so they could get the “achievements” as a reward. While completing some of these tasks in these games can be very daunting and repetitive at times, it would help the player get tens or hundreds of hours of gameplay out of a $60 video game which made it so much more worth the price.
Another very neat aspect of the Assassin’s Creed game series was the fact that there was so much history incorporated into it. You would travel back to ancient times and go through locations such as Italy, Egypt, Syria, and Greece. You would encounter historical characters and work alongside them during historical events as the game developers devised a way to tie your fictional game character into the event somehow.
There are many different ways people can be motivated by information, education, and mastery, but I can whole-heartedly say that the thing in my life that motivated me the most in all three of those areas was certainly the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise.
It’s no secret that people tend to process information that is in story form better than information that isn’t. This is for several reasons. One, we tend to be able to retain and remember the information better. Reading something in story form typically will make it seem more significant and interesting to the reader, therefore, causing them to better remember. Something else the story form does, is help viewers relate to the character, share perspectives, and empathize with them. This makes it more personal to us.
Another appealing aspect to information told in story form is it isn’t just an assortment of random facts. It is a series of events that demonstrate cause and effect. Whenever someone reads something or watches something, they are more than likely trying to seek out the story being told within it. Story telling can be used for all sorts of multimedia tactics. It is employed in marketing and advertising all the time. In fact, I would say that if your ad or marketing strategy doesn’t somehow involve telling a story about a problem and how your product or service can solve that problem for the consumer, then it probably isn’t going to be very effective!
I want to start off by saying “100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People” is probably one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It’s a blessing when you are very interested in and intrigued by a textbook. It is so much easier to absorb the information and get as much out of it as possible! The section where the author is discussing the use of fonts covers several different reason why fonts matter and what they do for reader retention.
First off, the simplicity of the font allows the reader to easier recognize patterns in letters, words, and sentences. A lot of what we are doing when we are reading is actually just pattern recognition! For example, cursive can take longer to read because it may be harder for someone to recognize patterns compared to arial. It is also believed that if the font is harder to read, than the reader tends to perceive things such as written instructions for tasks to actually be harder to accomplish than if the font were more easily readable.
The author also states that we should keep font size in mind. They explain differing perceived font sizes due to the x-height of the font. This is the height of the lowercase letter x. This can vary between fonts and make them appear to be different sizes when they are actually the same point size. Lastly, the author touches on contrast. It is always important to make sure that your text contrasts well with the background. The book gives us a couple pointers such as the fact that black text on a white background promotes the best readability. I have learned tons of new things since I started reading this book. Super neat! One thing the book doesn’t cover though is the fact that different fonts can send different messages. The following YouTube video talks a little bit about that.
