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We’ve heard about AIM 5.9’s SuperBuddys and seen the 2D avatars in both Yahoo! Messenger 6 and ICQ 4.0. Now IMVU.com has introduced 3D IM avatars that work ontop of your regular instant messaging program. IMVU supports MSN, AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Meca, Jabber and a few others. The program is free, and still in beta, but it’s intriguing.
When you start a chat with someone, you’ll be asked if you want to use avatars for the conversation. It’s clever, but do you see yourself using avatar-based chat to communicate? What would 3D avatars add to your IM experience?
it’s an interesting idea, but i’d have to say no I cant see myself using this. it’s not even the fact that you have to pay for avatars, its just an unnecessary addition. granted, a lot of the “features” of most IM clients could be considered unnecessary, but I dont see a need for an avatar. that’s basically what webcams are for, right?
of course it could be fun to use making mini movies if you could record the convos to video files or something like that…
Extremely juvenile. Maybe for the 13 year olds…. not something I’d use. But if anything, I will just wait for someone else to rip it, and make it a plug-in for MSN etc.
Quote:quote:Originally posted by detn8rExtremely juvenile. Maybe for the 13 year olds…. not something I’d use. But if anything, I will just wait for someone else to rip it, and make it a plug-in for MSN etc.
Did you even look at it? It works on top of MSN Messenger (or AIM, or ICQ, etc.).
It reminds me of this program my mother had for a while. About 6 years back. Microsoft chat. It was just a glorified chat, but it had avatars and such in it like the ones they use here over the messengers. *shrug* Something neat to fool with, but not very useful unless it catches on. That and the free skins are a bit on the lame side. And like you said, what would it add to the IM experience? *shrug*
Quote:quote:Originally posted by detn8rExtremely juvenile. Maybe for the 13 year olds…. not something I’d use.
most 13 yr. olds (that I know) wouldnt like that either. (including me). People want to chat with something simple
Quote:quote:Originally posted by RabidKittenIt reminds me of this program my mother had for a while. About 6 years back. Microsoft chat. It was just a glorified chat, but it had avatars and such in it like the ones they use here over the messengers. *shrug* Something neat to fool with, but not very useful unless it catches on. That and the free skins are a bit on the lame side. And like you said, what would it add to the IM experience? *shrug*
It was called Microsoft Comic Chat. It was a very cool application, way ahead of it’s time.
There are apparently still people who use it!
Very timely — Check out Instant Messaging Goes Graphical on Wired.com
Thats the ticket, Jeffery! *thumbs up* Yeah I used to spend hours on that. I checked it out about a month back, and for some reason it just didn’t have the umph that it used to. *sigh* How sad.
Quote:quote:Originally posted by detn8rMaybe for the 13 year olds….
Maybe for 7 year olds…. Ok, I might try it if it was free, or else it’s not worth it. If you can’t even really interact with it(such as walk around, stuff like that), i’d imagine it would get boring, fast.
What happened to simple IM? I don’t want to be some animated dude, I want two text-boxes on a windows form, thanks.
Features, I say BAH to features. This is why I like IRC, I can select from hundreds of great clients, code my own, or use telnet, how could it be better?
I’ve been involved with IMVU since the closed beta days, and the scepsis I see online does make sense in a way, but unless you’ve tried it a few times, and see what it can add to a chat, you shouldn’t judge it.
Sure, there are, and will always be people who will prefer plain text chat. But there are many more who like fancy looking windows and features. IMVU is extremely easy to use, and as an end-user, you don’t have to worry about the money it might cost, because you don’t have to spend a single cent on it. All you’ll do is chat in an environment you like, with one or more people who you can actually see.
Okay, so the avatars won’t look like the people you’re chatting with. But that’s what webcam chats are for. It’s simply fun, and when you’re having a chat with a friend, isn’t having fun part of what the whole chat experience is about?
It’s a nice hot dog feature for sure, but as I’ve said before – AIM should focus on perfecting their core features (direct connections that just work, chatrooms that can sustain more humans than porn spamming robots, maybe even a logging feature, perhaps?) before getting their feet wet in things like 3D avatar chat. As far as the feature itself, I’m not really seeing a tangible benefit to it..I like text chat just fine, and this new avatar chat just spells more of my resources wasted as far as I’m concerned.
Ok I am going to tell you all the whole story behind IMVU. Well Will the CEO of IMVU first made a virtual world called There. There Inc was rude and hateful to Will from what I understand. I am a member of There and just found out this week what really went on with Will and There inc. I want to support Will in his idea and I want to see it grow. I dont know if I am allowed to say this but he has said they plan to add scripting and such. Also I talked with him and gave him a few ideas. So in the end IMVU will not be a “3D chat” but a virtual world. Some of you might want to keep up with the news. Like http://www.there.com
http://www.secondlife.com http://www.activeworlds.com. So the avatar thing and 3D chat is very in right now.
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