I read an article in the Metro this morning, about a virtual shopping mall, theMall.tv, that will be online in the UK next year. Skeptical, but intrigued, I looked up their website, and was dismayed to find just what I suspected....a lovely 3D space, with pretty primitive forward/left/right navigation, and shop fronts that seem to just lead to online stores. Really, what's the point? From the perspective of a busy person who can't get to the shops, and hates being caught in a crowd- 'hurrah!', but we do have this already in the form of internet shoping, with sites that let us compare product prices, see what clothes look like on avatar reps of ourselves, and let's face it, it just takes a few clicks. So why enter a virtual mall where we are bound to spend a lot longer navigating the virtual world, for essentially limited choice of dressed up links that take us to online retailers that we already have? And if you do like going to a mall, this will take away the experience of bumping into friends and having lunch while you shop, getting excercise, strolling past shop windows, feeling out the merchandise, ect. To be fair, all I saw was the promo vid, and experiencing it may prove it to be better than expected. I can see the novelty value, and the idea of being able to stroll into virtual shops with a little avatar and seeing virtual products to order, with other little virtual customers around you in a second life style environment could be very appealing to some, but sadly this is not how TheMall.tv seems to work. Still, to be fair, they do have some good points listed for it, but I guess it depends on your perspective. Personally, I'd rather steer clear...so, a new era in shopping, or not?.......what do you think? Please post a comment and tell me!
I filled in a feedback form on the site to ask a few questions, and will post their response when I get it. This is what I asked:
"What restraints will this mall have...will the doors serve as links to virtual 'stores', with 3d merchandise? Or will they be links to websites for that retailer?
Do, do the retailers pay to be here?
Why do you think this will be more beneficial than just googling a store or product and following a hyperlink? Surely it is just a more elaborate way of online shopping that will end up being more time consuming?
Are any 'mall sounds', like music/chatter/promotions heard?
What benefits do you think your product has in relation to replace person to person interaction in a real mall, and person to computer interaction in the home?"
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
"A New Era In Internet Shopping"....but do we really want it?
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1 comment:
so the question is whether there is some advantage to using linear perspective as a technique for interfacing with a computer as opposed to 2d with links and other innovative well designed layouts. i used to be sceptical about this but have begun to think that the lens/eye way of viewing might amount to something like good design (even though it's origins are mainly natural selection, not design) or have advantages.
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