Not since the mid 90s, with the death of Powwow Chat and the lobotomy of ICQ, has a chat client been so interactive and habitual. I've tried AIM, Yahoo! IM, Gaim (now Pidgin), Google Talk, Second-Life, et al. Though basic, and in some cases extremely customizable, they've seemed either bumbling or cluttered and have lacked privacy or felt too confining. I thought my social days were over. How mistaken I've been.
A year ago, I stumbled upon an up and coming (not to mention free) powerhouse that has since taken my breath (and countless hours) away. When I realized how customizable it was, and learned of the adaptability of the free web page that came with each account, even MySpace and Facebook became things of the past.
Each avatar is completely customizable (in humanoid fashion) with clothing, accessories, makeup and tattoos. Even the chat rooms are customizable with furniture, accessories and music. You can also create and sell your own designs (avatars, graphics, furniture, accessories, clothing music, etc.) for credits if you so choose. (There are sites online that would happily convert those credits into real money.)
Text appears as cartoon-like balloons that float up and out of the way, when you type. Action text will automatically trigger your avatar to perform specific movements, (e.g.. "kiss" or "lol") and add a certain feel of realism and individuality you them.
When all else fails, there is really only one way to truly get my point across. Whenever I hear about someone rambling about their favorite chat client or social networking site, I simply ask, "Can it do this?" (The previous link only shows examples the abilities, customization and interaction of the chat environment itself. The video was not edited to exaggerate anything, so far as I can tell. All functions are real.) Personal web pages are similar to those found on MySpace, Facebook and Virb and accept coding customizations such as those used by the afore mentioned sites.
Rather than make a long story longer, I suggest everyone
have a look for themselves. It would be unfair not to share this.
Note: As IMVU is still in its beta phase, it is currently only available for Windows-based platforms.
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