Worlds in Motion Preview: Doppelganger's vSide

Author: by Staff

Following its in-depth interview with Doppelganger president and CEO Tim Stevens, the latest feature on sister virtual worlds site Worlds In Motion takes an exclusive early look at the studio's forthcoming stylish urban world, vSide. In this excerpt, Worlds In Motion editor Leigh Alexander explains that one of vSide's unique features is its 'respect' statistic, given to in-world citizens based on their sociability, which also grants access to some of the world's more exclusive locales: Next stop was one of the hippest hangouts in downtown RaiJuku. Another neat element about vSide is that increased participation is rewarded with increased opportunities; your respect statistic accumulates whenever you add friends, investigate new areas, or earn applause from others -- such as when my avatar decided to dance on top of the table at this chi-chi rooftop bar, which my guide told me is a rather exclusive spot. Some clubs won't let you past their exclusive velvet ropes unless your stats are high. It's a good way to encourage and reward socialization -- and, moreover, make vSide's society resemble a real one. Alexander also notes that part of what makes vSide unique are aspects more game-inspired, including puzzles and mysteries to be solved as a group: When we talked to Tim, he'd mentioned video games as his inspiration for the vSide vision, and on the tour we got a sneak peek at some of the game-like content slated for the world that will give the characters mysteries to solve and reward them for working together to find new areas. You can examine another character's clothing up close in a separate window, and special shirts that are given out as part of an upcoming story event may have puzzles or clues embedded in the image. For more on the forthcoming vSide, visit Worlds In Motion to read the tour in its entirety.