There is a very clear trend that the future virtual community will be 3-D based. With regard to the reason, I think it may due to the fact the people want to see more cool stuffs in your design, which may evoke their experience in real life, whatever it is.
I am recently playing around too much with “Need for Speed”, and from that game, I noticed many detail to inspire me, and the big one is to imitate the real scenes of life, and in the meanwhile, put the stories in it. Both of these two features will involve game goers in.
Thus, my initial thinking about IU memorial is to let our alumni actually go back to virtual IU again, and there could be several versions of IU campus (like IU of 1950, IU of 1970 ) in order to fit people graduated at different periods.
Folks registered will have real them in the virtual IU by scanning their body or submitting their images, and in the game, they can do anything as they did as before, for example, they are able to take classes, hang out with friends, and even participate in “little 500″ race. They may probably meet their old friends over there in all kinds of places and events, then they will be good talk to each other, leave message, and probably do something that they used to have fun before.
Moreover, users can leave comments in each place of IU, like images, text, videos, any form that they feel comfortable with to express their stories at IU. Those stuffs will be open to anyone who visit the users’ profiles or places. Plus, folks can also take the “time shuttle” to go to other ages of IU to see what is going on there, and perhaps know more guys whom you can share your stories with.
That is my concept. Although it looks general right now, it still has some potential for future exploration, for my concern is to look into a form of design to truly engage users.
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