Avatars
That’s me up there, in Whyville. Dare I ask: why? Read this article about Toyota and Whyville– an avatar based world where you can buy “face parts” and drive around in a car. It’s got the graphic aptitude of that old Lemonade stand game. I can’t believe how these things come around. Back in the early 90s an animation company I was working with (now defunct) was working on the same thing with a group of Stanford psychologists. It’s just so lame, and had so much potential, and went nowhere, or at least, a Toyota ad, if that is somewhere. Am I not recognizing something exciting about to happen? Is what’s about to happen my increasing jadedness?

Here’s an unreal bit:

Your salary goes up when you play the games. Since you can’t chat for the first three days, why not put that time to good use and check out the Spin Lab (X salary units) or the Hot Air Balloon (X salary units).