14 DAY TRIAL // Opening my computer is usually a boring routine, button? password? startup programs, antivirus check for updates and the like, so I'm basically numb by now to anything that can occur in the first, say, 5 minutes, whether it's the news or it's my game account that survived another day without getting hacked.
Today, however, was different. It brought the "oh" feeling that I had missed so much and did not even know it. Click on subscriptions, click on Yahoo! IM and? What? Avatar Towns? What is that? What does it do? Why does it do it? Oh, for fun. Now I see.
To make a long story short it's something new that the Yahoo! IM team is trying out, giving you, the users, the option to walk about in a town and grab any piece of clothing you might find to your liking in any shop, pay squat for it and then go on to the next store where you get to do it all over again. From what I gathered (it's still in beta, I couldn't actually do any shopping there) it's going to deprive you of the biggest satisfaction possible when out buying clothes and accessories - that of walking around with the huge bags and parading the new outfits to others? but I guess it'll do. After all, it's still in beta.
I did not have a Yahoo! Avatar; I didn't think I needed one (na?ve, you might think, I know) but the possible free shopping spree at hand convinced me to put on my godly face and start creating social experience and characters from scratch. The first thing that struck me as odd is that all the avatars, male and female (don't ask) are skinny and beautiful. How am I going to attempt to create somebody in my own image if it's not there and nothing close to it is? Anyway, I'm sure IM Avatar users with a lot more experience in the domain have encountered the very same problem, so I won't insist on it.
What was rather interesting was that I noticed somewhere on the official blog that announced this Avatar Towns Project (actually it's only one out now, but more are said to follow) that new Star Wars Gear was added and was up for grabs. Like any normal person, I rushed for the wookie suit and after seeing that the head I had chosen for my avatar did not change or get any hairier I thought that that must have been the way Chewbacca looked? had he started shaving. Cool. Of the numerous options added, I chose to have Master Yoda in the background, just to be sure I'd be impressive enough in case any bully avatar decided to pick a fight and then started strolling through the options for the actual background. So I made Yoda stand next to an election poster and then I had him pick some flowers. I always wanted to see him standing next to a huge pot and look innocent. But I'm digressing.
The way the shopping is done in Avatar Town is simple: You walk into the store and walk up the pedestal there (I wonder if they're going to have more than one when it rolls out of beta or if it's going to be a line or a crowd or a raging mob standing and waiting for its turn) and you click on the outfits you want to try on: if you like them you keep them, and if you don't you can easily dismiss them with one click. There are three shops, one for sporting attire, one for Halloween costumes - I think they're a little late with that one - and one for the perfect swimsuit.
I have just a couple of questions about the whole deal. Will the nicely dressed avatars shun the ones that are more hippie and try to keep the distance because they don't shop from the same place? Will branding be as important as it is in real life?