buddyspace is an Instant Messager based on jabber (java, xml).
It seems that is to be designed to investigate variou stuff that could be related to my research : Semantics of match-making, Presence semantics and dynamics, Presence in Massively Multiplayer Games…
Marc Eisenstadt leads this KMI lab. He claims that the most important thing for online communities/portal to be alive is to teach users how to make en input !!! His blog is worth to read.
The authors claims that :
The aim of this aspect of our work is to focus on the notion of presence of other players in massively multiplayer games and investigate the potential of a game based purely on presence information. We are particularly interested in the issues that arise when designing a game for a multi-user experience. In particular we note that a very large number of participants can sometimes be disadvantageous for the game experience and complicate the design process. In most games we notice a limit either in the number of people that can take part, or in the number of people that can interact synchronously or see each other during game play.
For example, in massively multiplayer games like Ultima Online and Asherons Call the player’s view is limited by an artificial horizon in the radar visualization: this conveniently narrows the immediate scope of events requiring urgent attention, but restricts the ‘total immersion’ effect that might otherwise be possible to achieve. This work attempts to explore the idea of a game where the very presence of a large number of people could not only be advantageous for the game itself, but actually form the fundamental premise of its play. The work is in an early state, and an indication of its progress is described in Yanna Vogiazou’s Directory of Work on Massively MultiPlayer Presence which drawing on links from the worlds of games, mobiles, instant messaging, and telepresence.