Designing for the spatial context of 3D online communities

to be followed by Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and its proprietary equivalents. As computing power grew, graphic systems’ performance improved, networks became faster, better-organised, cheaper and more accessible to lay people, the advents and implications of Virtual Reality gained wider interest. As a result the first interactive 3D environments were created and the concept of community led to the first shared virtual worlds. 3D on line communities can be broadly classified into scientific/professional and entertainment oriented based on their application area and functionality. Scientific/professional ones deal with psychological and sociological research issues as well as computer supported collaborative work (CSCW), teleworking and teleconferencing applications. Entertainment online communities are mainly meeting spaces where users gather in shared interest areas (or not necessarily) and interact. The concept of community evolves out of interaction within a context with “locals” (residents) and “newcomers” (visitors). In reality (no pun intended) the longest running and more successful 3D online communities lack a strong context or theme. The issue of user involvement in terms of form and shape, evolution and development of 3D space Introduction