CHAT TASK

CHAT TASK
Welcome to the world of Virtual Chat.
For my chat task, I chose to use IMVU, a site where i have been a member for around 1 year. For this task, I met up with Fiona (MsFi), JT (Magellina) and Penny(DigitalMyrth). We tried to add Chris (BartiusCromwell) to our chat, however, we had trouble keeping everyone in the room at the same time, which is one of the most common problems with such a program, due to individual computer speeds etc.

Meet UnlikelyAngel

The following pictures show just a few of the activities available in IMVU, there are so many more, these are just a taste:
My Garden:

Hang Gliding
Dancing

Ride a Harley

Stumbling across this site just over a year ago was a major factor for me deciding to get into web design etc. Not only is this a chat site, it provides the opportunity to delve into the world of "developing"
With some great advice from people I met in chats, I became a developer, making products to sell in the shopping catalog. I found this so much fun, and read everything I could about designing my own graphics and textures, as well as learning a little about html, which enabled me to make my own banner and pass the code for my banner on to those who wanted to display it on there home pages. The banner is clickable and links straight to my products page.
This form of communication opened up a world to me which I was unaware existed. It can become addictive, sometimes to the point of people spending every waking minute on the site, as it can provide a real "fantasy life" for some.
Compared to say MSN, this form of chat provides more than just text -based communication. In my opinion, IMVU is used most commonly for people who want to create a "fantasy life" , where MSN etc, allows a synchronous form of chat more commonly used to keep in touch with people you actually know.
In my experience, I use MSN to communicate with family members who live inter-state or some distance from me. It allows me to keep in touch without having a huge phone bill at the end of the month. Whereas IMVU for me was just a way of meeting new people from other countries, enabling me to learn about the cultures of people in other countries. Of course there are nasty sides to chat in whichever form you prefer, however, with the proper behaviour and security measures, this nastiness can be avoided.