The Avatar
I have chosen to create an avatar in the Virtual World of Toon Town. I was curious on a virtual world made for kids and what features, story, limits, and capabilities the game had. I wanted to have fun with this assignment so I named my cat-looking avatar 'Kool Kat.' Kool Kat's virtual identity is a short rounded cat that likes to make new friends, fight bad guys in her town by doing pranks and 'gags' on them to help Toon Town remain happy and free. Kool Kat's virtues is she makes friends with everyone. She will go up to everyone and ask to be there friend even though she gets denied at times. She is a friendly cool cat that is also saving up to make her home nice with a lot of furniture ordered from Clarabelle over the phone. She is not afraid to fight the 'cogs' and wants to gain as much laff points and gag levels as possible. However, she does fear becoming poor with no more jelly beans because she bought too much furniture.
Social Event
I attended Princess Dandyswirls Party that had two canons, a tug-o-war, and a rocket launcher. The event did not have many avatars in it compared to other parties on the list to choose from. This event consisted of about ten avatars. I interacted with a few by asking how they enjoyed the party, if they're going to stay, and if they ever held a party themselves. I thought this event was okay, later on I went to other parties that had more avatars and activities. When hosting a party, there is a time limit and the purchase of having one is a minimum of 100 jelly beans. During the party, playing activities can help you gain jelly beans as well which I think are fun and easy ways to increase income.
Design Questions:
1. In Toon Town, the world provides me with TEXT-based information through conversations with the tutorial characters, a book or guide that they give each avatar-once created, the book performs as a Menu screen for directions, maps, information, and settings.
When speaking to a default character, you hear sounds the animal would truly make, so in order to understand each other when speaking to, everything is read and written through text.
2. Toon Town's NON-TEXT-based information displays arrows, colors, noises, and visuals. Arrows would jump out at you with its' motions or colors to help guide you without telling you in text. You can distinguish certain noises when someone is fighting a cog, approaching you, or trying to get your attention. In the toon book, there is a visual map that displays what districts you have been to or not through a whole picture of the map with clouds blocking and hovering over districts that you have not been to, it is obvious through this visual map that there are many places that you have to journey to-which enables the clouds to go away and the map become more revealed and complete.
3. Color in the world or interface design functions to show that this virtual world Toon Town, is definitely a fun, simple, and child-like game due to the many colors used. To distinguish between good and bad in the game, colors are represented to show the good whereas a grayscale of black grey and white is shown to represent the bad 'cogs.' Motion is utilized to make the actions of the avatars more realistic. Hand waves, jumping, running, the wiggling of their arms and legs, are functional motions to show animated movements. Sound functions in this world when conversations, warnings, rewards, actions, or just background music is on. Sound creates actions and feelings become more lively and entertaining.
4. Various tasks and goals are communicated to me at the start with tutorial exercises that are said to be toon tasks. I had to receive and respond back to Toon Headquarters with tasks to complete-allowing me to get used to the functions of working and getting used to my avatar. I was encouraged to complete tasks and attain goals with the rewards of receiving jelly beans (the income), gags (weapons/tools to fight the antagonists), and the privilege to move on to more tasks.
5. Features Toon Town has to contribute an immersive feeling is through the interactions with other characters/avatars. Having conversations and imitating my thoughts and feelings from the actions the avatars act with makes me feel as though I am really talking to someone else in person. Features that break these feelings is not being able to listen to the voice of the other character. Toon Town is based on animals, and so their voices are short computerized animal noises-which throws off the feeling of interacting with a person, but gives the feeling of interacting with an animal instead. The access of staying in your house, using the phone, having a piggy bank, and the legibility to move around your furniture contributes to feelings as if you are home.
6. Attempting to socialize with other avatars, I approached them or they approached me, and many times a conversation did not start. The first request from the other avatar was whether or not you will accept or decline them asking to be your friend first. So the basics I did to socialize was to approach someone, perform a hand gesture, then start a conversation with a greeting. Many times the other avatar would stare at you, are unresponsive, say a little greeting back, but never went into long conversations with other avatars. They would be distracted by something else and run off majority of the time. The end results would either be: having a new friend, or being shut down in conversation and/or friend request. Some limitations I experienced when trying to socialize with others was trying to get their attention and start a conversation with them. I was also limited from certain words I could use (since the age range for this game are from kids-adults).
7. The economy in Toon Town is based on jelly beans (the income-you can purchase or gain) as well as gags (tools and weapons to use to fight against the bad cogs.) My avatar participates in this economy by playing games and doing activities or tasks in order to gain jelly beans which then can buy gags, furniture, more actions, phrases, and so on. Kool Kat tries to play as many games she can in order to get more jelly beans to stock up on gags and accessories.
8. My favorite in-world activity would be fighting the cogs. I enjoyed tag teaming with another avatar and fighting together to defeat the cog. I would say this is my favorite because you are fighting and competing against the bad guy. If you are successful in defeating one, you gain skill and 'laff' points which then boosts up your performance.
9. In-world objects tells me how to operate/aid them with the help of arrows, sounds, navigating buttons, and colors. Hovering over objects will pop out instructions or guides on how to operate them as well.
10. A simple aspect of Toon Town is the goal-driven navigation of defeating the cogs. Goal-driven navigation is directly related to the HOH-Agency Chapter because through navigation of your avatar and through the environment,
"...stories that are goal driven enough to guide navigation but open-ended enough to allow free exploration and that display a satisfying dramatic structure no matter how the interactor chooses to traverse the space."