Form versus function

Had a great meeting today with the guys who are going to build our 3D graphics for one of our first demos. We had an interesting conversation about how real an environment has to be for people to "believe" it, especially when you are interacting with other "people" in this environment.

I do think the style of the avatars and their environment need to be consistent to be believable. I've become immersed in Second Life, as have many others, so I definitely think that style works as believable. I think the more cartoonish it gets, the easier it is for people to distance themselves from the interactions.

Ultimately, for our product, it may be the market that decides. More realistic = more money. If people see the value and are willing to pay for realism, then we may have a REALLY cool-looking product on our hands...