I recently signed up to IMVU 3D chat. It’s worth a spin. Instead of the relatively mundane text interface on most IM services, users chat via avatars. The text appears in speech bubbles that slowly float upward. A range of expressions and moves are available, such as a handshake, hug, break dance, hi-five and many more. Some moves, like more intimate hugs, are only available between users already connected as buddies.

Like many other virtual worlds, the usual options for avatar customisation are available to users and must be paid for using virtual currency. I met someone with a “pimp stick” that featured a thumping music loop that startled me when it jumped out of my speakers. Other weird things appeared, like a fire-breathing dragon.

I spent quite some time in the chat area where the service randomly connects avatars for an impromptu chat. It was fun while I acted out a persona, pretending to be a lot more hip than I am. The average level of conversation didn’t impress me and I did wonder how it might be possible to find “interesting” avatars to chat with. Of course, I might be boring, but judging by the predictable “do you like music?” line of questioning of most of my fellow chat partners, I think my personality was positively cosmic. I pretended to be a poet, but not once did anyone ask to hear a poem. Perhaps I was in the wrong universe or overestimated the stimulation of poetry. Then again, I think my clothes and hairstyle weren’t interesting enough, perhaps I needed green hair (easily done in make believe virtual worlds).

I remain convinced that avatars will eventually become a common mode of digital communication. The SecondLife craze is taking us in that direction. Mobiles will be no exception. In fact, many mobile apps companies already routinely include the word “avatars” in their marketing hype, which is often nothing more than a token inclusion of cartoonish characters somewhere in the user interface.

There are lots of technologies and techniques for including avatars in mobile applications, but the key ingredient for successful adoption is an ecosystem in which avatars “live” - a virtual world. This is why the next Internet land grab is already underway, led by SecondLife and hotly rumoured to be Google’s big plan with Google Earth. This isn’t a fad. It’s the creation of an inevitable and necessary dimension of “living in the web” as more of us spend huge amounts of time interacting via the net.

The mobile dimension is mostly an extension of the avatar world, rather than a vehicle for generating new virtual worlds. Moreover, in general, we can expect that more and more Internet services, currently unrelated to avatars, simply utilise open interfaces into existing virtual worlds in order to add this dimension to their services. This will get underway this year and build massive momentum in 2008.

The Google Earth rumour is interesting, even if it isn’t true, simply because the merging of real-world with virtual stuff is a hugely exciting possibility. I have long been a fan of “mobile grafitti”, or the idea of depositing and sharing virtual content somewhere in the real world. Avatars will bring a completely new element with the possibilities of creating all kinds of scenarios for wanting to exchange virtual assets in real locations.

Mobiles are already well capable of supporting avatar interaction, particularly with 3G phones and the already relatively graphically rich Java implementations. However, new phones entering the market come with 3D accelerators, which will enable richer avatar experiences. Meanwhile, videophony, which hasn’t taken off as a person-to-person service, provides an ideal entry point into virtual worlds. Operators keen to utilise their 3G network (and which operator isn’t?) will do well to consider avatar services. I am working on several solutions in this area. As I said in an earlier post, video is a hot topic this year, although mostly to cater for the usual services of music downloads. However, the whole arena of user participation and user-generated content is creating a lot of interest and I think that avatars fit within this realm.