EMBODIMENTS, AVATARS, CLONES AND AGENTS FOR MULTIUSER, MULTISENSORY VIRTUAL WORLDS

This paper explores the issue of user embodiment within collaborative virtual environments. By user embodiment we mean the provision of user s with appropriate body images so as to represent them to others and a lso to themselves. By collaborative virtual environments we mean multi -user virtual reality systems which explicitly support cooperative wor k (although we argue that the results of our exploration may also be a pplied to other kinds of collaborative system). The main part of the p aper identifies a list of embodiment design issues grouped by the gene ral themes of personal representation, conveying activity, embodiment in heterogeneous systems, embodiment of agents, and ethical issues. Th ese issues are illustrated with examples from our own DIVE and MASSIVE collaborative virtual environments. The paper also uses this set of i ssues as an analytical framework for comparing a number of other commu nication technologies.