Virtual Worlds: Toon Town

Part 2
a) Toon Town
b Avatar name: Biscuit Lemonbouncer
c) Biscuit Lemonbouncer is an all purple rabbit because that is her favorite color. She is very outgoing and friendly and loves to do all sorts of activities with her fellow toons. Although Biscuit is very active, she is not that great at games but she doesn’t give up and keeps on trying despite her lack of game skills. Biscuit loves the toons and makes it a goal to defeat as many cogs as possible to keep Toon Town safe while also advancing her skills to accomplish tasks. Some of Biscuit’s specialty moves are using her gags. Her favorite gag is throwing pies at cogs and this is her gag of choice. Biscuit entered Toon Town so that she could help keep it safe and fun for all toons and also to explore this virtual world of games and fun. She also wants to earn as many jellybeans as possible so that she can afford to go shopping and buy all the cool stuff in toon town such as new gags, clothes, cars and accessories and furniture for her house.
d)


PART 3 Attend a social event and blog about it








































The event I attended was the Trolley Track event which was like a little train caboose where a maximum of four players can attend at a time to participate in minigames. The choice of minigames could be random or could be selected by voting between the participants in which direction the trolly should go (options are only up and down). Players at the beginning of the trolley event are given an equal amount of points for voting for a select number of turns. The winning majority vote gets the direction they want to go which will get you closer to the finishing point ending in entering to a new mini game.


PART 4 Research Design Questions (below) and blog on them

DESIGN QUESTIONS:
1. Identify 3 components in the interface or world provide you with TEXT-based information. How are they designed and how do you interact with them?


- speech bubbles (interactive)tend to pop up when there is an important task to be communicated and disappears once the objective is communicated. It is also a tool for communication between players in the game. You can click on the speech bubbles that have the character's name on them which allows you the option of communicating with them (such as trying to invite them as your friend, view their profile)
-the information book (interactive) this gives you access to your menu which contains the maps, the tasks, what you have, events etc. The information contains a variety of icon short cuts rather than displaying all the information at once.But if you put your mouse over it, a short description of the button will show to help you decide if you need to click it or not for the right information
-signage (wayfinding) most buildings and other establishments in Toon Town have large labels in front that indicate what they are. There are also signage systems to direct you to different areas in the game like little sign posts. Most of these signage are not reactive and simply act like how traditional signage do in real life

2. Identify 3 components in the interface or world provide you with NON-TEXT-based information. How are they designed and how do you interact with them?


-icons such as the Laff meter which is a smiley purple character located on the bottom left of the screen is a non-interactive icon. It is however, an indicator of your character’s health or life status whether it is in danger of dying (it turns green and cross-eyed) or if it is in full health (smiling).
-objects such as the ice cream cone which you can find randomly in the play ground are interactive. Nothing indicates what it is, but it is easy to figure out. If you are low on Laffs (life points) all you have to do is run through it and it will make a sound and disappear but you will find that you have increased your Laff points.
-buttons are there in various tasks in the game as well as in you menu book and they function the universally understood way. If an arrow points to the left and you click it, it will direct you something from the left or turn you to the left. Some buttons such as the fishing button allows you to use your rod and throw your fishing hook up to a certain distance depending on how you press and direct the button.

3. Give 3 examples of how color, shape, contrast, position, motion, or sound function in the world or interface design?

-color sets the mood and the feel of the virtual world. Toon town colors are very vibrant, rainbow-like and colorful due to its young target demographic and the cartoon-themed world.
-the shapes are very rounded , there are not much sharp objects or shapes in the game.
-there are many and various sounds in the game where the characters are constantly chirping with their respective animal sounds. The characters are humanoid creatures with familiar animal heads so if a character has a cat head it tends to do the “meow” sound when it is in conversation so you know you are talking to the cat even without actually understanding what it is saying.
-the motion is very bouncy with the way the characters move around as if they are almost skipping. Movement is constant in toon town even for some characters who have gone to sleep (inactive or idle) where they nod their head constantly with zzz’s coming out. For walking characters, they have this lopsided goofy walk that really embodies the cartoon character with the big feet at skinny legs.

4. How are various tasks and goals communicated to you at the start? How does this evolve as you gain more experience? Name a few ways that you are encouraged to complete tasks and attain goals.

-The various tasks and goals are primarily communicated through text using the speech bubbles which automatically pop up once you are nearby a key character such as the agents/toons behind the frontdesks in the town hall or headquarters. As you gain more experience, you get to talk to more and more characters in the various store where they lead you to talk to certain key characters and provide you with hints, clues or particular tasks to achieve in order to gain the rewards. Often when you start a task with a particular character like the teacher in the schoolhouse, in order to officially complete the task, you must return to the character who gave you the task to receive merit for it. Tasks are encouraged because of the rewards you receive which will help advance your character and make it easier for them. Currency is also an incentive for the character. In Toon Town, the local currency is Jellybeans and you use this to purchase merchandise and gags which are used to defeat the Cogs. Besides winning money, you also gain experience points as you continue to fight cogs, these experience points add to your character’s skill in using the gags whether it is throwing, squirting or other abilities. When you play the racing car games and win, you earn “Laff” points which basically adds to your life point capacity. You need the Laffs in order to stay alive in the game, and you lose Laff points everytime a Cog attacks you.


5. Which features of your selected world contribute to an immersive feeling (like you are really there) (reading: HOH-Immersion) and which features break it?
For me, the most immersive feeling about the game are the elements which imitate real life such as the navigable space in which my character moves around. For example, it moves left or right whenever you want it to as long as you are familiar with operating the right keys. Another aspect in its navigable space are the way the objects in the world functions such as the doors. When you enter or exit a building, Toon Town uses doors that appear to open and shows your character going through the door. What breaks the immersive feeling for me are the random texts that pop up here and there, most often to identify the characters or the speech bubbles that have random messages in them which definitely breaks away from reality.


6. Attempt to socialize with other avatars. Describe the basics of what you did and the results. What were the limitations you experienced?

Toon Town is a little bit difficult to catch the characters and initiate conversation. It is a little bit easier to “friend” them by clicking on their name and inviting them to be your friend but it is very to lose them from your view. The characters also sign in and off very quickly and I notice that there is very little conversation going on especially when most of them are more focused on achieving the tasks rather than socializing. The most socializing aspect for me was when a group of character would team up and help each other fight the Cogs. But even if I would initiate a conversation or just to say thanks, the other players in the game were not that responsive but they were easy to add as “friends” even without the communication. So the limitations I experienced were getting to know other characters or players in the games as most of them are more interested in game play rather than socialization. I am also guessing that most of the player are a lot younger and do not care about chatting as much as adults do.


7. What is the basis of the economy of your selected world? Give some concrete examples of ways your avatar participates in that economy.

The economy of Toon Town is based on Jellybeans, their main currency. This is what you need to get around anywhere in Toon Town because you use this to purchase items, most importantly gags which are your “weapons” against the Cogs. When buying gags, there are different types and the more advanced and experienced your character becomes, you get access to more powerful and expensive new gags. You also use the Jellybeans to buy other material things such as clothing, furniture, cars and parts and other things. Besides buying for yourself, you can also use your jellybeans to buy items for your friends or other characters. My character is still at a low level so it has access to a small selection of gags. On top of that, my character has limited capacity even if it can afford to buy more gags, it can only hold so many. For example, I can only have a maximum of 10 flower squirt gags even if I can pay for more. Also, another amusing thing I found in Toon Town is the presence of a bank and also a piggy bank, which is found in my house. The piggy bank allows me to transfer over my jellybeans for “savings” to open up more room in my “wallet” because at my level, I can only carry around a maximum of 40 jellybeans.

8. Identify your favorite in-world activity and why it was your favorite.

My favorite in-world activity was fighting the Cogs because it allowed teamwork and it was quickly rewarding compared to the other games. It takes a short amount of time to fight a cog and it is easy to see your character’s progress advance because of the points shown after each win. There is also something heroic about defeating a bad guy and the cute victory dances that the characters make that makes it so rewarding and fun.


9. How do in-world objects tell you how to operate them and/or aid in that operation?
Most of the time, the dialogue between you and a Toon Town frontdesk character will explain what you have to do or what you have to look for. Most of the objects in toon town have pop up text that explains to you simply how to operate the objects. There are simple icons that you put your mouse over and short text will come out to explain the button to avoid all the information clutter. By pressing the button you open up a window with even more detailed information on what to do or what that object is about.


10. Identify 1 aspect of your selected world that relates directly to the HOH-Agency Chapter and explain how.

One aspect that relates to the HOH-Agency Chapter are the goal-oriented tasks and the incentive to stay alive in the game simultaneously. One of the common repetitive tasks you have to do is to defeat a certain number and type of Cogs and acquire an item that they possess. While aiming for this, you earn points each time you win however, your character also receives damage if a Cog decides to aim for you as well. If the Cog manages to “kill” you, you lose all your gags (which you’ve bought with your hard-earned jellybeans) and you get booted out of the game and go back to the playground (the starting point) with zero Laff points. At zero Laff points, your character is “sad” and walks really slow with very little energy and it cannot leave the playground until it gets “happy” again by either finding icecream or just waiting for time to pass and become happy point by point. If you win and accomplish the tasks while staying alive, you keep everything you have and also win some, gain experience points to level up and increase skill and move on to whatever you want.