Second Life Meeting Organisation Tools

Arena Rezzer and Moderation ToolTools for Organising Groups of AvatarsMobius Ryba

Introduction

•I am Mobius Ryba – a student at the University of Reading.

•I spend some time using a virtual world known as Second Life.

•I happened to come across a project called MUVEnation.

•As part of this – I identified a few key areas that were lacking available tools allowing organisers to run an organised talk or discussion.

Mobius Ryba – Second LifeArena Rezzer and Moderation Tool

Slide 2 of 11

Methodology of Designing the Tools•The observations were found through

inworld discussion with educators and content providers inworld.

•The main problems were identified as beinng large group organisation – arranging the avatars, and organising the discussion, over both voice and text chat.

•Other tools are available for the chat moderation▫But can be expensive.


Slide 3 of 11

Tools Designed• The 2 areas were:

▫Chat moderation▫Seating

• Although these sound like simple problems – when a large number of avatars gather, it becomes difficult for a leader to organise them and keep log of who is talking and at what time.

• After my experiences inworld – I created the following tools:▫Arena Seat Rezzer▫Moderation Tool


Slide 4 of 11

Moderation Tool• This is a low prim, low lag

object, designed to ease moderation of a chat or discussion by allowing participants to join a queue of speakers.

• The tool allows a visual display of who should be talking at what time – lessening confusion and giving people their time to talk.


Slide 5 of 11

Moderation Tool (continued)

•The tool is in 3 sections:•A central display and control prim which

displays the information.•A green, add button – participants can

click this to be added to the queue of speakers.

•A red, remove button – participants may click this to be removed from the list. The owner of the tool may also use this to remove a speaker from the list.


Slide 6 of 11

Arena Rezzer• When groups gather – there can very often me a

group huddled together in a chaotic mix that makes individuals hard to pick out.

• Customisable, configurable seating is needed.• The Arena Seat Rezzer is placed down at the center

of the area where seating is needed.• Commands are given by the owner to setup the

seating required.• The tool then builds and ajusts seating blocks to the

given parameters.• The command list is long – however you only need to

change what you want – seating can be rezzed with just 1 command – all others enable powerful cusomisation of the pattern


Slide 7 of 11

Arena Rezzer Commands• sides x

▫ Set the number of sides of the whole circle. Default is 20.• arcsides x

▫ Set the number of sides to actually make benches for. For example, if you want a semicircle with 8 sides, set sides to 16 and arcsides to 8. Default is 10.

• aislew x▫ Set the width of the aisles. Default is 0.6.

• radius x▫ Set the radius of the inner stage area. The first benches will start just

outside this radius, touching it. Default is 4.• rows x

▫ Set the number of rows to generate. Default is 4.• width x

▫ Set the width of the benches from front edge to back edge. Default is 1.


Slide 8 of 11

Arena Rezzer Commands• thickness x

▫ Set the height of the benches from top to bottom. Default is 0.6.• colour r g b

▫ Set the color of the benches using values of 0-255. Default is white (0 0 0 ).

• report▫ Display the current settings.

• reset▫ Reset settings to defaults.

• generate▫ Rez out the blocks with the specified settings.

• die▫ Clear all the blocks

All commands are given on a private channel and the rezzer does not speak in open chat.

The block texture is customisable.


Slide 9 of 11

Arena Rezzer ExamplesTotal Sides: 20, Rows: 4,

Aisle Width: 0.600, Radius: 4.000,

Thickness: 0.600, Width: 1.000, Z Offset: 0.000, Rezzed Sides: 10

Total Sides: 20, Rows: 7, Aisle Width: 0.000, Radius: 6.000,

Thickness: 0.600, Width: 1.000, Z Offset: 2.400,

Rezzed Sides: 20

The Rezzer is capable of may

shapes of seating, from small to large

numbers, full or partial rings, aisles

or not, colours, block shapes etc. all within 1 tool.


Slide 10 of 11

Conclusion• Designing tools for Virtual Worlds it is a useful activity

because the tools can help us to achieve our objectives in a easier way.

• One of the advantages of creating tools in Second Life is that you can identify needs and test with the help of others.

• All the tools contain update scripts, so will automaticly update to the latest version.

• To gain a copy of the tools for educational use or for a live demo: contact “Mobius Ryba” inworld.

• I work mainly on custom work, so if you have an idea for a tool – please get in touch.

• You can find a small selection of my work available: http://is.gd/2KXim

Slide 11 of 11


Second Life Meeting Organisation Tools

Education

Transcript of Second Life Meeting Organisation Tools