Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cyberspace How-to and Now-what, October 19, 1999
Bruce Damer's book is the perfect starting point for anyone wishing to take those first steps into virtual worlds. Readers can scour the text, getting a sense of what these computer spaces look like and how they function. AVATARS will give you courage and certainly peak your interest. Once you are online, the book is an excellent guide to how to maneuver, communicate and build in the various worlds. AVATARS is an excellent how-to introduction to virtual worlds. However, it is an even better now-what discussion of the impact of virtual communication. Damer introduces questions of the place of computer communication within more traditional channels. He reassures readers that life can be enhanced through online interaction; however, he also cautions that family and friends can't be hugged through the computer. AVATARS is an enthusiastic, informative and balanced introduction to virtual words. An excellent place to jump in with at least one foot
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dated but Superb Introduction to New Possibilities, December 9, 2005
I am quite surprised by the mean-spirited reviews of this book. Perhaps the individuals writing them consider themselves "gods" in cyberspace, which causes me to wonder, if they know so much, why did they buy the book in the first place?
Published in 1998, the book is certainly outdated by the phenomenal advances in interactive multi-media technology, but I never-the-less consider it a superb introduction to new possibilities.
For me, although I have some exposure to technology, this book was an eye-opener. Initially I wondered why people would spend so much time in cyberspace "avatar-acting" but then I had two "aha" experiences from the book that easily earn it five stars:
1) In a similar vein to the early work in "cyber-cafe's" where interactive audio-visual was put into gathering places for Hispanics and for Negros (and perhaps whites and Asians also, but these are the two I remember), avatars break down barriers to sincere interaction. Of course they open paths for deception as well, but the key point here is that if in cyberspace no one knows you are ugly, you can focus on substance.
2) The second "aha" experience occured when I turned this book upside down and asked myself, if we can create avatars that are imaginary, can we go the other way? Can we feed real-time real-world information into a "serious" game and go to the next level, where the public can literally "be" the President, "see" all intelligence about anything that is available to Google, and experiment with alternative behaviors, policies and investment options?
I spend a lot of time reading (#66 over-all, #1 for non-fiction about global issues) and this book was a real pleasure to read, and an extremely valuable catalyst to my thinking. Dated or not, I recommend it very highly.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good book ... almost, December 31, 1997
The book brings into view several new and interesting perspectives of the virtual world, the world of today and tomorow. The book was compiled totally online and was totally digital until publication. Tho the book is well written, and very nicely illustrated, like everything in the world of computers, the technology has evolved to such a point where the technology mentioned out dated. The book also goes beyond the technology, and into the communities that form online. This is a good study of the who and why of the Internet
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