Week 8 - A whole new world..

When I read the task for this week I was wondering just how different the 3D chat sites could be from your ordinary ones, I thought it would be like playing a game and chatting at the same time, buts its more than just that. I have used chat sites such as yahoo before and only use msn now to keep in touch with friends and I feel so old school!! A difference I could find between msn and activeworlds, apart from the 3D was that, was that you could chat to anyone- on msn its just people added to your list-your friends, but at activeworlds you can meet people from all over the place.
You can also build our own world and visit other worlds that people have created, you choose a character and can walk around, swim, fly, play a giant piano and interact with others in this imaginary world. The words exchanged are in comic strip style blurbs or “speech bubbles”. The environment can be changed according to your mood and it has a lot more options in getting your feelings across than msn does. Activeworlds also have interesting things to do and explore as you chat as well as the conversations as text below - whilst msn is only the basic text with an optional background
For all these reasons, socializing on msn or activeworlds is different, on msn you socialize to a limited number of people whereas on activeworlds you could meet anyone from anywhere. You can also create your own world making it more personal and interactive and involved. Its like a whole new level as it combines communication, fun and creativity.
Socializing is about meeting new people, being social, and though you communicate with your friends on msn, you can do that and more on activeworld. I still prefer msn, its easy, comfortable and I’m used to it, you can use webcams and voice chat- on activeworld, there’s a lot going on and its sole purpose isn’t just communication – it takes a lot more involvement. This involvement also depends on the person and what exactly they want to do – with me I just like chatting to my friends, no distractions so msn is perfect. People who would want some more things to keep them involved and busy and more entertained would prefer a 3D chat site thou both have games but the 3D site has 3d games as well.
It was interesting to see how much further chatting has evolved since I began using msn years ago, even with just msn progressively coming out new versions. Doing this task opened my eyes what else is out there and how far it has come.