Design Questions

1. Just like any other virtual world out there, players must be able to chat in some way with other players. In the image is where users can type in a message and send to people who are currently present where the player's avatar is. When beginning the game, the screen has pop ups that appear explaining how to do specific tasks, like send gifts to other users. Also, the game asks if you would like to post your doings on your facebook wall and users are allowed to accept or decline the offer.

2. When you click on another user's avatar, this menu (shown on the right) pops up. It gives you options through images of what you can do with this players. You can kiss them, fight them, dance, random doings. When fixing your house to your liking, you can drag and drop pictures of furniture into your room and move them wherever you would like. When changing outfits, the users can click on what clothes they'd like to wear.

3. Color is everything in YoVille. It helps to give a distinct difference to characters. For example, I know my character has green eyes and black hair, as for my friend has blue eyes and brown hair. Color lets the user be an individual in this virtual world. Depending on where the mouse is makes the user face a certain way to specify who or what the character is looking at. Also, music plays in the background fitting whatever scene the user is brought into which puts a certain mood with the image.

4. Throughout the game, multiple pop ups (like the one on the right) come up and suggest to you things that you may want to do. Getting involved in such activity makes your character grow with experience to give you more things to your account and have a higher status. Many of these pop ups are to interact with fellow users. Other than joining a fight, players can give gifts to one another.

5. For some reason, purchasing things in the game really make me feel like I am there. Perhaps its the natural want for materialistic things that drags me in, although the things I purchase are not real. I guess one could say it is a sad obsession to have anything I want even when I do not need it.

6. Whenever I saw other avatars, I would give a simple "hi there," or "hello." I would either get a reply or get shunned. Talks never went so far as a greeting and a how are you. Unfortunately, my character, Banana J, isn't much of a talker unless someone engages. I guess people were not really interested in my little man. What was terrible about trying to socialize was that some people were away from the computers and I would not know unless it specifically said the user was offline, which only is seen in homes.

7. In this world, a way to earn money is by going in daily to the Yo Factory and clicking on a machine to work. By doing that you instantly earn at least 250 coins. Just like real life, you need to work for your money. Other ways to earn money is by participating in activities with friends, such as fighting them or dancing with them. Just being active can help to gain items and/or money.

8. My favorite in-world activity would have to be just buying things for my character. I become a beast when it comes to creating a character. I like making them look fantastic, or at least what I believe is fantastic. I like looking at what the creators of the game have made for characters to wear. Sometimes the creativity is lacking a bit, but I still enjoy browsing none-the-less.

9. Just like the image for questions 7, pop ups are all around to tell you how and what to do. Everything is mainly based on a click type usage. All you need to do is click this or that and you can get whatever it is that you are trying to get.

10. In the Agency Chapter, the writer explains how character begin with nothing and they end up with a lot. Although it is true, the beginning starts out rough and it takes a while to begin earning the big bucks. It's all about being involved in the game and continuously doing random tasks to get money. A bit of a forceful socializing and gameplay time.