[-empyre-] Aesthetics of single user works / versus multi user works

Tamiko Thiel <tamiko@alum.mit.edu> · Thu, 26 Jun 2003 08:10:35 +0200

Hi Taylor -
I actually have tried to get various venues to do a multi-user event 
with Beyond Manzanar, but no one has taken me up on it so far. The idea 
was to give virtual tours within the space, including myself and my 
co-author Zara in two widely separated locations (California and 
Germany) with two different live crowds at each end.
Beyond Manzanar was actually originally planned as an online multi-user 
piece, but I realized quite soon that having other avatars in the space 
mostly pulls your attention away from the rest of the content. Since I 
wanted the piece to be a contemplative experience between you and the 
landscape, I decided it was better to make it an offline, solo, 
immersive experience rather than online and shared.
I think to make a successful multi-user work you really need to 
understand what "added value" is provided by other users in the space, 
and orient your piece towards this. In the best of circumstances the 
other users are an enrichment; all too often they are an annoying 
distraction, because they are there with some other agenda. ("Hey I'm 
new to VRML how did you build this" is a fine conversation to build the 
bonds of the VRML user crowd, but it doesn't add to your experience of 
the virtual artwork.
- tamiko

Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 21:47:44 +0100
From: "Taylor Nuttall" <taylor@greenquarter.co.uk>
Subject: [-empyre-] thoughts on aesthetics
Aesthetics of single user works / versus multi user works
So I am intrigued with a question of my own as to whether there are
different aesthetics associated with single user / multi user spaces.
Obviously interface elements play a part in this, but what about the
structures inherent in the space or narratives embedded into the coding etc.
I know Simon has already spoken in detail of his ideas relating to a multi
user experience and also there has been some discussion on non-Cartesian
mapping.
But how would our experience of say Beyond Manzanar change if we met other
avatars in the space?

--
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 Tamiko Thiel       Media Artist
 tamiko@alum.mit.edu
 http://mission.base.com/tamiko/
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