Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Virtual reality architectural spaces and the shift of populace in online social VR platforms in 2020

Virtual reality architectural spaces and the shift of populace in online social VR platforms in 2020 © 2021 by the author(s). This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs License(http://creativecommons. pages: 1 - 12 org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Virtual reality architectural spaces and the shift of populace in online social Vr platforms in 2020 Bartosz Śliwecki Bialystok university of t echnology, faculty of architecture, ul. oskara sosnowskiego 11, 15-893, Białystok, poland e-mail: b.sliwecki@pb.edu.pl, nr orcid: 0000-0002-6231-967X doi: 10.24427/aea-2021-vol13-no4-01 abstract Virtual reality and the digital architectural representations of buildings that exist in the cyber realm are gathering more and more users as their platforms develop spaces better suited for the virtual human. design of sites and interiors is being carried out by both experienced creators and those completely lacking skill in spatial creativity. research was conducted during the course of two record gathering sessions lasting two weeks each, one at the beginning of february in the year 2020, the other at the end of the year in the last two weeks of the month of november 2020. information was gathered about the population status of the most visited worlds at those times, as well as their specificity in architectural design traits. comparison of the data showed that humans who attend online social gatherings and interactions in virtual reality worlds shifted their favor from median traits to those representing more high-end quality at the end of the year. demographics show a rise in the amount of users aged between 6-10, and 21-35, in comparison to that of the beginning of 2020 where the dominant age group was between 16 and 21 years old. the global lockdown due to the pandemic attracted people from the home office generation who preferred architectural spaces of higher quality, larger and more complex floor plans, and spatial representations of high-rise residential, nightlife and fictional spaces for virtual human to human socializing and interaction. Keywords: human 2.0; digital living space; virtual perception; online social platforms; virtual reality architecture INTRODUCTION Virtual reality is a unique way of interaction within specific standards that will allow for the growth of the online worlds, socializing and experiencing long stretch- online Vr communities [ d . s hao, i. J. l ee 2020]. u ser- es of time spent entirely in digital space. With hundreds created spaces have the same eligibility of being heav- of thousands of users, online Vr social platforms have ily used as those created by field professionals, just as allowed their players to have the ability of creating their long as they meet distinct criteria. if the current trend own fantasies through homemade spatial models rep- continues to develop, more advanced methods of psy- resenting that of real world architecture. h igh rise loft chological and physiological involvement will be made styled residential buildings, late night recreational pubs available to the masses, resulting in a visible shift of the and clubs, or even abstract spaces for both solitude proportion of time spent in the tangible world and the and socializing are just some of the mixed function virtual counterpart [c . montag, s . d iefenbach 2018]. spaces found in the most popular online worlds. Being a s it is with most things, living conditions of first called “worlds”, these spaces bear distinct traits that world countries have developed the need to adapt to influence their popularity with the daily online V r -go- the needs of the rapidly evolving society. t he desire for ers, and the complexity of these dependencies will be ownership of cheap luxury and quick effects has driven discussed and analyzed in the following text. it is the the market into supplying the middle class citizens with evolution and development of worlds that match these affordable richness of almost every kind. Whether it is ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 1 Fig. 1. one example of a realistic looking world called „the room of the sleep”; source: screenshot taken by author in Vr chat platform reproductions of world class art, cheap but fancy furni- ability to become homemade designers and digital ar- ture or the ability to rent out almost anything, humans chitects has become somewhat of a standard in the have become familiarized with the ability to possess common pop culture of the internet [d . f onseca et. items at the click of a few buttons. t he market has al. 2021]. f ree online tutorials, courses and templates foreseen this and homesteads are steadily becoming are accessible through downloads and customization, smaller and smaller, as our needs become more com- which in turn allows for the mass creation of homemade pact and online based. With the decrease of normal content, especially that of digital architectural design human-human interaction due to recent pandemic [K. s łuchocka, B. s iewczyński 2020]. t his lead to the events and the constantly shrinking area of personal creation of a distinct society of mass user made con- space could mean that the only way we will be able to tent, where worlds are available for free or for a small socialize is through the use of online solutions. With the sum (often called a micro transaction), in which players lack of natural private space in residential buildings of can interact with one another, create more worlds, and things like gardens, yards or even balconies in some even have the ability to participate in events that they cases, the availability of limitless space in the online normally would not attend, or at least not at the given realm is a head turner for many young people. in rela- circumstances of age and origin. tion to this, research was conducted by interviewing o ne of the leading online Vr platforms is “Vr 100 random virtual citizens in one of the most popular chat ”, a free to play, peer to peer software in which online social platforms through a simple query, thanks users can talk, move, interact and create worlds with to which an insight into the modern digital human will the ability to share between one another. u sers log into be made possible. their account, choose an avatar and land in a personal a ccording to a 2016 report by Goldman s achs transitional hub from which they can venture to thou- on the developing virtual reality market, Vr entertain - sands of different worlds with random players from ment generally favors three mainstream uses: video around the world. t he worlds are made by both profes- games, live stream events and video entertainment (t V, sional and amateur graphic designers from around the movies, and pornography) [Goldman s achs 2016]. t he world, with generally available software and reasonably first is generally the mainstream media depiction of V r , flexible sets of rules. s imilar rules apply to the avatars, with amazing graphics, top tier game design and im- as even kids are known to have created their anatomi- mersive gameplay, while the other two are where most cal mates of different scale, proportion and style. With of the user generated development is made; especially game design software such as u nity, players are given of that in live social platforms. h aving the technology game ready templates and free online tutorials that they and knowledge within grasp of the general public, the can use to create both scenes and avatars for the gen- 2 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND THE SHIFT OF POPULACE IN ONLINE SOCIAL VR PLATFORMS IN 2020 eral population to use [a . s alwierz, t . s zymczyk 2020]. architectural styles and the worlds that house them [d . a rchitectural spaces found in these vary from world to Kurkiewicz 2003]. world as there are almost no regulations for the design in order to comprehend the relationship between and quality input into their creation [B. Świt-Jankowska different traits of architectural design and population of 2010]. s paces of futuristic and fantasy designs, monu- virtual online worlds, a set of five key traits was estab - mental and brutal architecture or oversimplified and lished for twenty most popular worlds then available via eerie looking representations of buildings are just some the Vr chat platform. e ach of these worlds is known of the areas found in virtual reality social platforms. to be widely popular among the virtual reality commu- s ince every user is granted access to live data nity along with having representation forms similar to of online players in each world, Vr chat is one of the those of the real world architecture. c hosen traits are few public platforms to do so, making it worthy of being based on several important factors that play a key role the representative of all online virtual reality architec- in the architectural design of real world buildings, and tural spaces. h aving the ability to check not only the so would only be suitable to use for the virtual world [B. instances of each world themselves but also the gen- u rbanowicz, t . s zuliński 2020]. While some sites were eral public data, a larger understanding of the charac- quite easily categorized, certain ones with conflicting teristics of populace-to-design relationship are within or clearly mixed traits were placed into the category of reach of researchers. u ploaded data is refreshed and the closest possible accuracy. t he classification was updated around every five minutes or after a player conducted by the author based on the experience and decides to change worlds via the main menu. d ue to time spent in Vr and especially in Vr c hat. t he traits the fact that having a few thousand players be in a de- are design quality, complexity, function, scale, and as- fined site at one time would be chaotic to say the least, set amount. it is important to note that the populace the platform has created an instance system in which of the worlds can change drastically in the future, as players coexist with one another in copies of the given new worlds with disruptive qualities might migrate a lot world with the limitation of up to 50 people at any given of traffic into an entirely new fashion of virtual spaces time. t his means that two friends can technically be in [h .c . Gómez-t one et. all 2021]. d isruptive worlds are the same world, but be in separate parallel instances those that play to the current trends of social media in which they would not see one another without re- and provoke users to use their new ideas. By creating logging into the same instance of that world. n umerous a trend, worlds that lack an updated inventory would instances give the platform the ability to house limitless eventually fall off the top ranks and be forgotten all to- amounts of inhabitants that can freely migrate between gether. t he trending worlds would then spawn a new Fig. 2. an example of an abstract, non-realistic Vr space called „conan-party”; source: screenshot taken by author in Vr chat platform ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 3 B. ŚLIWECKI 1. VIRTUAL ARCHITECTURE WORLDS AND THEIR generation of design practices that would appeal to the ongoing fan base and last until the next disruptive USERS OF EARLY 2020 world would arise. population status of architectural worlds was Worlds created by the owners of the online vir- based on the highest occurrence during a two week tual platform were also included in this list due to the period in the beginning of f ebruary 2020, being fact that players choose them even though they are checked around every 8 hours for updates. t his pro- the default areas that players spawn in at the begin- cess proved to be very time-consuming as data had to ning of the game. t he world “Vr chat h ome” is the be recorded manually, as the platform administrators default home for every user, and so it won’t take part refrained from providing any data. e ven though the in the analysis as a choosable world, but will still por- beginning of f ebruary was already a time for drastic tray a baseline view in a neutral status. t he world “Vr change in the way we functioned due to the pandem- chat h ub” is technically a default world that has di- ic, it was still a time of uncertainty for many countries rect access from the Vr chat h ome, but is a separate and can technically be considered as a time not yet world, just like any other, and therefore will participate influenced by newcomers in V r . t hrough uncertainty, in the analysis. it is important to note that these worlds it is meant that the global situation was not yet clear are similar in design style and have relatively matching as to how long the virus would spread and if it would architectural elements. While “h ub” and “home” play spread at all, thus the fairly docile society of online Vr an important part in the comparison, they are unique platforms was still relatively pure at that point. s o it when viewed from an architect’s perspective, espe- was decided that the first two months of 2020 would cially in that of the consistency of the design and asset be a viable representation of a time before the global quality. t heir unique architecture is not found in any of c ovid-19 pandemic. the other mentioned worlds, and could be considered chosen worlds mostly resemble non game ori - original in perspective of the entire platform. ented territories with lenient rules / interactions, on the Tab. 1. listed key traits, their scale and a brief explanation of each one source: prepared by the author 4 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND THE SHIFT OF POPULACE IN ONLINE SOCIAL VR PLATFORMS IN 2020 Tab. 2. list of the most popular virtual worlds in early 2020, with the assigned traits / grading source: prepared by the author exception of “murder 2” which is one of the more pop- gest a large ingoing – outgoing traffic. a s mentioned ular games on Vr c hat available 24/7. t hese worlds before, the population column shows the most visited present medium to large amounts of user created archi- moment for a given world, and so the population status tectural designs of various qualities and quantities, but is a median throughout the time of day and dates of are visibly populated by virtual buildings and interiors. recording data. t he matter of authors was not taken into account in the a dditionally to the population and trait status, a record taking process, as some worlds are known to simple demographics query was conducted between have been created by a group of people rather than a 100 random users in those worlds at random times. single designer. a uthor information is readily available t he query would have players answer about their age, for all users, but none the less that data will not be country of current stay, work / student status, field of present in the following assessment. t he last position work if applied, gender, and the type of Vr gear they marked as nr 21* “Vr chat h ome” is the neutral world were currently using. Questions were asked inside digi- into which every player is placed in upon logging in. tal buildings, alongside architectural representations in t hrough observation, this room is attended for only a digital form, and in spaces that could be considered as few minutes at a time and is treated as a transitional conceptual architectural designs [a . asanowicz 2014]. room. t he updates on the population show that the it proved to be significantly difficult at times to get an numbers fluctuate quite aggressively which would sug - honest answer from the users during the query pro- ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 5 B. ŚLIWECKI cess. most players would state their age as improb- 20% working full time. t he vast majority of players in ably or doubtfully high, or with a non-numerical answer Vr c hat were from the u nited s tates, with 56% stating such as “old enough” after being politely inquired. o th- so, while the u nited Kingdom had 13%, c anada 10%, ers would run away or not answer at all once hearing and Germany 8%. t he rest of the players ranged from the mentioned set of questions. t his may be caused countries like s outh Korea, Japan, Belgium, a ustralia, by the fact that the players’ behavior is commonly er- n ew Zealand, italy as well as singularities from other ratic and spontaneous with minimal responsibility as an countries all across the globe. t he young player base anonymous avatar in an online realm. t herefore a more is a result of targeted marketing that favors teenagers serious approach generated odd answers, and result- and young adults from whom many of which virtual re- ed in a waste of time for the most part. t hose who did ality and online socializing is almost natural [d . s hao, i. answer truthfully did not try to make fun of the query, J. l ee 2020]. and so their answers mostly matched the way that the provided age group would have normally behaved. f or 2. VIRTUAL ARCHITECTURE WORLDS AND THEIR example, tone of voice for males resembled the stated USERS OF LATE 2020 age, and the gender statement also could be verified by tonal response. a seemingly particular group of us- r ecorded data of the online digital space users ers avoided contact more than anyone else, and that was gathered in the month of n ovember during the would be young players in the ages between 6 and last two weeks of the month. l ike in the beginning of 10. t heir reaction to hearing the set of questions would the year, populace was noted around every eight hours mostly silence them and have them either move away, by hand, while viewing the most updated information block the authors avatar (and voice), or switch worlds. regarding the most popular worlds. t he end of the year t his may be due to the fact that kids are being taught 2020 had greatly changed the way people used the not to trust online strangers and for this reason, the ac- internet on a daily basis. s ince most people were stuck tual demography of the Vr worlds may be inaccurate home in their home office new standard of work and for region of younger ages. t he following chart depicts school, their dependency on the use of online social the gathered age data, as well as the approximate cor- platforms significantly increased as compared to the rection in the number of young players (marked by the beginning of the year. Vr platforms such as Vr chat additional line in the younger age region). saw a noticeable rise in the amount of users logged in Gathered results show that a vast majority of during this period, and especially those with fresh new online Vr c hat players are people between the ages of accounts. it should be noted that during this time the 15 and 21, with an estimated correction of the amount us had their t hanksgiving holiday which could have of young players in relation to the general population. influenced the numbers of current users, but as the f rom those one hundred people, with an average age data was not constrained to the a merican population, of just over 18 years old, 86% were male and 14% were it will not be taken into account for the greater pic- female, 64% were in the either student age or were cur- ture. a lso, worlds created to fit the h alloween theme rently studying, 16% were unemployed, with the rest were also on the decline at this time, and would not Fig. 3. Graph depicting demography of mentioned architectural worlds in early 2020 with approximate correction of younger ages; source: prepared by the author based on the own survey 6 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND THE SHIFT OF POPULACE IN ONLINE SOCIAL VR PLATFORMS IN 2020 Tab. 3. list of the most popular worlds in late 2020, with the assigned traits / grading source: prepared by the author affect the representation of the virtual human during all kinds of futuristic assets, the interior design is well the c ovid-19 pandemic. if anything, it would have pro- balanced, and visibly consistent between the areas of vided entirely new users for this time period as schools the entire building. t he majority of the materials used and workplaces have days off during this time. t he fol- in the interior design are architectural concrete, hard- lowing chart depicts the new popular worlds and their wood, composite like surfaces, high quality textiles average user amount during the mentioned data re- and vivid led / n eon lights in every part of the scene. cording period. t he world of “midnight r ooftop” is fairly small when r egarding the worlds themselves, the most compared to others, and allows for the simultaneous popular non-game world is still “midnight r ooftop” with use for 24 players in its instances, keeping the potential one of the best looking content available on the plat- crowd to a fairly small size. form at that time. t he architectural style is futuristic, a nother world worth mentioning is “s ala pak with a great influence of led and n eon lights, minimal- Jai”, one of the least completed and least complex ism, science fiction and high tech architecture incor - worlds available in Vr c hat. t he architectural style is porated into almost every room in the site. t he scene representative of traditional southeast a sian pavilions, is located on a high-rise rooftop, hence the name, and especially that of t hailand, but with a very low skill in allows the player to travel down into the apartment like 3d creation and architectural design. t he world is very complex just below the surface of the roof. l ittered with small and greatly limited by the design itself as the play ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 7 B. ŚLIWECKI Fig. 4. one of the most popular “a” graded architectural spaces called „midnight rooftop”; source: screenshot taken by author in Vr chat platform Fig. 5. one of the most popular “c” graded architectural spaces called „sala pak Jai”; source: screenshot taken by author in Vr chat platform 8 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND THE SHIFT OF POPULACE IN ONLINE SOCIAL VR PLATFORMS IN 2020 Fig. 6. Graph depicting demography of mentioned architectural worlds in late 2020 with approximate correction of younger ages; source: prepared by the author based on the own survey 3. COMPARISON OF RESULTS area is roughly 20 x 40 meters, with just one simple wooden like structure placed in the center and an eerily mentioned architectural worlds were then oversimplified terrain that somewhat resembles a rice pinned up against each other in the five categories with field. When inquired, players mostly associated with the population status as the main quantification criteria. countries of s outheast a sia, and stated that the reason t he graphs show how different traits begin to form a why they choose this world is because it somewhat public favorite based on the amount of people residing there as an average of the recorded time frame. f inal resembles their country and it is very lightweight com- putational wise, allowing them to play without “lag” or results show an insight into the most desirable traits of without the platform crashing altogether [n .t .t . Van et. the virtual realms, as the use of the populace as a value all 2020]. a ccording to some users, this world allows proved to be a seemingly accurate valuing system for for people with old, out of date computers to enjoy the the dependencies and reason of choice. While com- Vr platform in the very limited space that the world paring the data gathered from the two record tracking offers, but with just enough social interaction and free- sessions, in the beginning of 2020 and in the end of dom of movement. the year, all aspects seem to be fairly similar except t he new population of these virtual reality ar- for the “grade” and “size” trait. in f ebruary 2020, users chitectural spaces consists of users aged between 7 seemed to favor an average grade of “B”, which signi- and 35, with a few singularities of ages over 40. With fies that the chosen architectural spaces were neither an average age of 21 years, 82% were male and 18% photorealistic nor of low quality. h owever, the players were female, 62% were either school or college stu- of late n ovember 2020 chose more borderline worlds dents, with an unemployment rating of 25% and 13% with exceptionally good quality and although propor- working full time. as the concept of unemployment var- tionally less, worlds of low design quality. it should be ies between countries, some high school and college mentioned that low quality worlds of late 2020 may students answered that their employment status was have proportionally fell behind the better ones, but they that of unemployed, even though they were not asked still outmatch in sheer numbers which tripled that of about it due to the fact that they are studying, and so the early 2020. d ue to the fact that the end of 2020 a player that provided information regarding having a boasted a significantly higher player base than that of school status was not taken into account in terms of early 2020, the graphs were scaled in order to show employment. s imilar to the beginning of the year, most the relationship between them. t he left hand scale is users identified as being either an a merican or cur- applied to “e arly 2020” and the right hand scale to rently residing there with a 51% rating, with the u nited “l ate 2020”. Kingdom being in second place with 13%, Germany t he reason for this outcome is possibly because third with 8% and the remaining 27% being spread all of the influx of both new players and the increase of us- across the world in similar 2-3% proportions. l ike in ers with good computing stations. Being stuck at home the case of early 2020, young attendants did not want for an extended period of time might have given people to provide information regarding their age, and so an the opportunity to upgrade their pc s’ and reach out estimated correction was placed (additional line in 5 – for new means of socializing with the intention of ad- 12 year region) vanced interaction methods. n ew players with older generations of computers chose worlds that allowed ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 9 B. ŚLIWECKI Fig. 7. Graph depicting comparison of “Grade” of worlds based Fig. 9. Graph depicting comparison of “complexity” of worlds on population between early (red) and late (blue) 2020; based on population between early (red) and late (blue) 2020; source: prepared by the author source: prepared by the author Fig. 8. Graph depicting comparison of “assets” of worlds based Fig. 10. Graph depicting comparison of “function” of worlds ba- on population between early (red) and late (blue) 2020; sed on population between early (red) and late (blue) 2020; source: prepared by the author source: prepared by the author them to play without technical problems, while the ex- it seems, that the late 2020 trends for the Vr isting population and the more prosperous new players market tended to favor worlds of a professional design could seamlessly enjoy social interactions in worlds of and build quality, with a room area of average propor- high quality and general good architectural design. a n- tions, with rooms and floors of a medium complexity other possibility is the factor of age and reminiscence and asset amount and a function greatly resembling of past gaming experience in what would be consid- that of a modern urban homestead as well as unde- ered today as low graphic quality scenery [o . s koc- fined, fictional use of space. a lthough a lot of existing zylas 2018]. a s the Vr platform gathered more play - worlds on the platform fit the mentioned favorable traits, ers in the ages of 25-35, their background and past they did not place rank on the most visited architectural experience with gaming started out before the modern worlds. e ven those created by what would seem pro- age of high graphic quality content. c hoosing worlds fessional designers gathered little to no popularity and with what would be now considered out of date graph- even ceased to exist during the course of 2020. While ics could be an attempt to relive the time when simple research in this area is still young and emerging, it games were mainstream and provided those players might seem that certain designs were simply not up to with positive memories. 10 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND THE SHIFT OF POPULACE IN ONLINE SOCIAL VR PLATFORMS IN 2020 par with the picky nature of online guests. a rchitectural spaces of good craftsmanship and surprising designs still gather populace of just over 20 players during the course of the day, even though they greatly represent the favorable traits of digital architectural space. r eal world play area and the platform algo- rithms may influence the use of V r and the platform itself. f irst, users generally play from their homes, as it is common knowledge that recreational multimedia is generally enjoyed at the comfort of one’s own four corners. With the use of such technology at home, it may be so that the reason of choice of the residen- tial function worlds might just mirror that of the natural surroundings of the given player. Basically, being home makes users want to stay at home, with comfort and light recreation unconsciously being the target activity Fig. 11. Graph depicting comparison of “size” of worlds based [c . montag, s . d iefenbach 2018]. s econd, Vr chat is on population between early (red) and late (blue) 2020; intelligent software with its own system for promoting source: prepared by the author certain worlds or styles. players who visit their interac- tive menu are placed in front of suggestions from the main system, in which the most popular world is cho- portant to note that a lot of low quality world users do sen. s ince humans have always been attracted to large not own a Vr headset and so their gameplay is lim - gatherings of other peers, it’s no surprise that a simple ited to traditional flat screen viewing, which is in stark reason for choosing a certain world is the fact that it’s contrast to that of the high quality worlds with play- the most populated. t he main advertised goal of this ers owning relatively expensive Vr tech. What makes Vr platform is interaction, fun and virtual socializing, gameplay slow are avatars that some of the players and so it would only make sense that users want to go use, and their extremely high polygon count and very to worlds with numerous other players and meet new large textures often take a long time to load and render. people. players have the ability to turn off foreign avatars in or- r esults state that in the duration of 2020, a me- der to better optimize gameplay, but it takes out a lot of dian attribute was initially favored by the general public, the fun in virtual socializing. s ome players go as far as as almost all of the charts suggest a non-aggressive using full body suits that allow for motion tracking ev- quality of a given worlds design traits. a s the year pro- ery single limb and using it as an interactive part of the gressed, and users updated and upgraded their equip- virtual player counterpart [e. Karuzaki et. all 2021]. t his ment, a tendency has risen to favor more complex, just goes to show that different users have different ap- higher quality and larger sized architecture to spend proaches to virtual reality worlds and the architecture time in. s ince players are free to roam around the nu- that envelopes them. merous worlds, their conception of a relative scale is quickly defined after visiting several different worlds CONCLUSIONS and seeing the architectural styles and design deci- sions implemented by the creators. By having to inter- Virtual reality and the cyber architecture associ- act in extremely large worlds and extremely small ones, ated with it are scaled representations of a sandbox like those that represent real world scenarios seem to be design conditions when compared to the real world. the most fitting for virtual human to human interactions t he space created in these virtual worlds will more than [c . h . Bum et. al. 2018]. Very small worlds generate likely never exist in the real world as it is uneconomical an audible chaos in vocal and visual communication and in most cases still impossible and impractical to as players seem to yell over one another in order to build. Vr does not require the vast majority of technical be heard, and perform different acts of grabbing atten- and specialist equipment to support the general func- tion when feeling outshouted. o n the other side of the tionality of a building, and so those designs are pure scale, extremely large worlds require players to travel fantasy for the most part. h owever, if humanity does long distances in order to socialize with other players. decide to shift the amount of time spent online rather perhaps if the player limit was greatly increased in such than in the consciousness of the real world, then those worlds their popularity would become greater. it is im- supporting elements and constraints of real world ar- ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 11 B. ŚLIWECKI Redondo E. (2021), Mixed Assessment of Virtual chitecture will not be needed [h . h . achten et. all 2000]. Serious Games Applied in Architectural and Urban h Vac installations, sanitation equipment and piping, Design Education, “Sensors” Vol. 21, 3102. structural reinforcement, electrical infrastructure and all 5. Gómez-Tone H.C., Bustamante Escapa J., Busta- the other crucial elements of buildings could be sim- mante Escapa P., Martin-Gutierrez J. (2021), The plified and kept in the real world, while the aesthetic Drawing and Perception of Architectural Spaces features of buildings will be reimbursed in the virtual through Immersive Virtual Reality, “Sustainability” world. Brutal, simple, lackluster interior designs with Vol. 13, 6223. 6. Karuzaki E., Partarakis N., Patsiouras N., Zidi- minimal decoration of the tangible building, and the anakis E., Katzourakis A., Pattakos A., Kaplanidi lavish, on demand customization with infinite budget D., Baka E., Cadi N., Magnenat-Thalmann N., Rin- and possibilities of Virtual r eality and digital graphical gas C., Tasiopoulou E., Zabulis X. (2021), Real- representations of space may be what the foreseeable istic Virtual Humans for Cultural Heritage Applica- future might hold in store for humanity. tions, “Heritage” Vol. 8, 4148-4171. d esigners and architects that will work purely in 7. Komarzyńska-Świeściak E., Adams B., Thomas L. (2021), Transition from Physical Design Studio to the digital world will have a task of constantly upgrading Emergency Virtual Design Studio. Available Teach- knowledge of trends in the digital world, just like those ing and Learning Methods and Tools—A Case of the tangible world, with the exception of updates and Study, “Buildings” Vol. 11, 312. “patches” to their designs [e. Komarzyńska-Świeściak 8. Kurkiewicz D. (2003), Wirtualna architektura – et. al. 2021]. t he profession of an architect will start granica wyobraźni, „Czasopismo Techniczne. to become entangled with that of a programmer, as it Architektura” Vol. 100, 8-A. is happing now with parametric architecture and the 9. Montag C., Diefenbach S. (2018), Towards Homo Digitalis: Important Research Issues for Psychology use and design of robotics in prefabrication, site prep and the Neurosciences at the Dawn of the Internet of and specialist fabrication means. c oding skills and the Things and the Digital Society, “Sustainability” Vol. ability to create simulations is no longer a futuristic as- 10, 415. st pect of the 21 century designer, as most architectural 10. Salwierz A., Szymczyk T. (2020), Methods of creat- companies require workers to hold knowledge in those ing realistic spaces – 3D scanning and 3D modeling, fields. t he difference between tasks of an architect of “Journal of Computer Sciences Institute” Vol. 14, p. 101 – 108. the real world and that of the virtual counterpart would 11. Shao D., Lee I.-J. (2020), Acceptance and Influenc- be that buildings could be updated very easily with little ing Factors of Social Virtual Reality in the Urban El- effort, unlike that of real world architecture that requires derly, “Sustainability” Vol. 12, 9345. time, effort and considerable funds. d igital architects 12. Skoczylas O. (2018), Emotional reactions of the re- of tomorrow will need to shift their knowledge from the spondents compared to different ways of perceiving structural and engineering field to the programming the square in front of the WICA building of the Lublin and c Gi specializations that go hand in hand with the University of Technology, “Teka Komisji Architektury, Urbanistyki i Studiów Krajobrazowych” vol. 14, nr 3. creation and maintenance of virtual reality and the so- 13. Suchłocka K., Siewczyński B., Szot J. (2020), ciety that finds shelter inside. Architecture in the age of digitalization and coding meanings, “Przestrzeń i Forma” Vol. 44, p. 177-190. 14. Świt-Jankowska B. (2010), Współczesne narzędzia LITERATURE pracy architekta a jakość nowo projektowanej 1. Achten H.H., Vries de B., Jessurun J. (2000), DD- przestrzeni mieszkalnej, „Architecturae et Artibus” Doolz – A Virtual Reality Sketchtool for Early Design, Vol. 2, no. 2. In: Proceedings of CAADRIA Conference, Singa- 15. Urbanowicz B., Szuliński T. (2020), Wirtualna pore, p. 451-460. rzeczywistość w architekturze. Zastosowania i 2. Asanowicz A. (2014), The phenomenology and phi- korzyści, „Builder” Vol. 24, no. 2. losophy of simulacra influence on the VR, “Architec- 16. Van N.T.T., Vrana V., Duy N.T., Minh D.X.H., Dzung turae et Artibus” Vol. 6, p. 5−8. P.T., Mondal S.R., Das S. (2020), The Role of Hu- 3. Bum C.-H., Mahoney T.Q., Choi C. (2018), A Com- man–Machine Interactive Devices for Post-COVID- parative Analysis of Satisfaction and Sustainable 19 Innovative Sustainable Tourism in Ho Chi Minh Participation in Actual Leisure Sports and Virtual Re- City, Vietnam, “Sustainability” Vol. 12, 9523. ality Leisure Sports, “Sustainability” Vol. 10, 3475. 17. https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/ 4. Fonseca D., Cavalcanti J., Peña E., Valls V., technology-driving-innovation-folder/virtual-and- Sanchez-Sepúlveda M., Moreira F., Navarro I., augmented-reality/report.pdf 12 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS de Gruyter

Virtual reality architectural spaces and the shift of populace in online social VR platforms in 2020

Śliwecki, Bartosz
ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS , Volume 13 (4): 12 – Dec 1, 2021
Download PDF
12 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/de-gruyter/virtual-reality-architectural-spaces-and-the-shift-of-populace-in-UxGob8DKNp

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
© 2021 Bartosz Śliwecki, published by Sciendo
eISSN
2719-793X
DOI
10.24427/aea-2021-vol13-no4-01
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

© 2021 by the author(s). This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs License(http://creativecommons. pages: 1 - 12 org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Virtual reality architectural spaces and the shift of populace in online social Vr platforms in 2020 Bartosz Śliwecki Bialystok university of t echnology, faculty of architecture, ul. oskara sosnowskiego 11, 15-893, Białystok, poland e-mail: b.sliwecki@pb.edu.pl, nr orcid: 0000-0002-6231-967X doi: 10.24427/aea-2021-vol13-no4-01 abstract Virtual reality and the digital architectural representations of buildings that exist in the cyber realm are gathering more and more users as their platforms develop spaces better suited for the virtual human. design of sites and interiors is being carried out by both experienced creators and those completely lacking skill in spatial creativity. research was conducted during the course of two record gathering sessions lasting two weeks each, one at the beginning of february in the year 2020, the other at the end of the year in the last two weeks of the month of november 2020. information was gathered about the population status of the most visited worlds at those times, as well as their specificity in architectural design traits. comparison of the data showed that humans who attend online social gatherings and interactions in virtual reality worlds shifted their favor from median traits to those representing more high-end quality at the end of the year. demographics show a rise in the amount of users aged between 6-10, and 21-35, in comparison to that of the beginning of 2020 where the dominant age group was between 16 and 21 years old. the global lockdown due to the pandemic attracted people from the home office generation who preferred architectural spaces of higher quality, larger and more complex floor plans, and spatial representations of high-rise residential, nightlife and fictional spaces for virtual human to human socializing and interaction. Keywords: human 2.0; digital living space; virtual perception; online social platforms; virtual reality architecture INTRODUCTION Virtual reality is a unique way of interaction within specific standards that will allow for the growth of the online worlds, socializing and experiencing long stretch- online Vr communities [ d . s hao, i. J. l ee 2020]. u ser- es of time spent entirely in digital space. With hundreds created spaces have the same eligibility of being heav- of thousands of users, online Vr social platforms have ily used as those created by field professionals, just as allowed their players to have the ability of creating their long as they meet distinct criteria. if the current trend own fantasies through homemade spatial models rep- continues to develop, more advanced methods of psy- resenting that of real world architecture. h igh rise loft chological and physiological involvement will be made styled residential buildings, late night recreational pubs available to the masses, resulting in a visible shift of the and clubs, or even abstract spaces for both solitude proportion of time spent in the tangible world and the and socializing are just some of the mixed function virtual counterpart [c . montag, s . d iefenbach 2018]. spaces found in the most popular online worlds. Being a s it is with most things, living conditions of first called “worlds”, these spaces bear distinct traits that world countries have developed the need to adapt to influence their popularity with the daily online V r -go- the needs of the rapidly evolving society. t he desire for ers, and the complexity of these dependencies will be ownership of cheap luxury and quick effects has driven discussed and analyzed in the following text. it is the the market into supplying the middle class citizens with evolution and development of worlds that match these affordable richness of almost every kind. Whether it is ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 1 Fig. 1. one example of a realistic looking world called „the room of the sleep”; source: screenshot taken by author in Vr chat platform reproductions of world class art, cheap but fancy furni- ability to become homemade designers and digital ar- ture or the ability to rent out almost anything, humans chitects has become somewhat of a standard in the have become familiarized with the ability to possess common pop culture of the internet [d . f onseca et. items at the click of a few buttons. t he market has al. 2021]. f ree online tutorials, courses and templates foreseen this and homesteads are steadily becoming are accessible through downloads and customization, smaller and smaller, as our needs become more com- which in turn allows for the mass creation of homemade pact and online based. With the decrease of normal content, especially that of digital architectural design human-human interaction due to recent pandemic [K. s łuchocka, B. s iewczyński 2020]. t his lead to the events and the constantly shrinking area of personal creation of a distinct society of mass user made con- space could mean that the only way we will be able to tent, where worlds are available for free or for a small socialize is through the use of online solutions. With the sum (often called a micro transaction), in which players lack of natural private space in residential buildings of can interact with one another, create more worlds, and things like gardens, yards or even balconies in some even have the ability to participate in events that they cases, the availability of limitless space in the online normally would not attend, or at least not at the given realm is a head turner for many young people. in rela- circumstances of age and origin. tion to this, research was conducted by interviewing o ne of the leading online Vr platforms is “Vr 100 random virtual citizens in one of the most popular chat ”, a free to play, peer to peer software in which online social platforms through a simple query, thanks users can talk, move, interact and create worlds with to which an insight into the modern digital human will the ability to share between one another. u sers log into be made possible. their account, choose an avatar and land in a personal a ccording to a 2016 report by Goldman s achs transitional hub from which they can venture to thou- on the developing virtual reality market, Vr entertain - sands of different worlds with random players from ment generally favors three mainstream uses: video around the world. t he worlds are made by both profes- games, live stream events and video entertainment (t V, sional and amateur graphic designers from around the movies, and pornography) [Goldman s achs 2016]. t he world, with generally available software and reasonably first is generally the mainstream media depiction of V r , flexible sets of rules. s imilar rules apply to the avatars, with amazing graphics, top tier game design and im- as even kids are known to have created their anatomi- mersive gameplay, while the other two are where most cal mates of different scale, proportion and style. With of the user generated development is made; especially game design software such as u nity, players are given of that in live social platforms. h aving the technology game ready templates and free online tutorials that they and knowledge within grasp of the general public, the can use to create both scenes and avatars for the gen- 2 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND THE SHIFT OF POPULACE IN ONLINE SOCIAL VR PLATFORMS IN 2020 eral population to use [a . s alwierz, t . s zymczyk 2020]. architectural styles and the worlds that house them [d . a rchitectural spaces found in these vary from world to Kurkiewicz 2003]. world as there are almost no regulations for the design in order to comprehend the relationship between and quality input into their creation [B. Świt-Jankowska different traits of architectural design and population of 2010]. s paces of futuristic and fantasy designs, monu- virtual online worlds, a set of five key traits was estab - mental and brutal architecture or oversimplified and lished for twenty most popular worlds then available via eerie looking representations of buildings are just some the Vr chat platform. e ach of these worlds is known of the areas found in virtual reality social platforms. to be widely popular among the virtual reality commu- s ince every user is granted access to live data nity along with having representation forms similar to of online players in each world, Vr chat is one of the those of the real world architecture. c hosen traits are few public platforms to do so, making it worthy of being based on several important factors that play a key role the representative of all online virtual reality architec- in the architectural design of real world buildings, and tural spaces. h aving the ability to check not only the so would only be suitable to use for the virtual world [B. instances of each world themselves but also the gen- u rbanowicz, t . s zuliński 2020]. While some sites were eral public data, a larger understanding of the charac- quite easily categorized, certain ones with conflicting teristics of populace-to-design relationship are within or clearly mixed traits were placed into the category of reach of researchers. u ploaded data is refreshed and the closest possible accuracy. t he classification was updated around every five minutes or after a player conducted by the author based on the experience and decides to change worlds via the main menu. d ue to time spent in Vr and especially in Vr c hat. t he traits the fact that having a few thousand players be in a de- are design quality, complexity, function, scale, and as- fined site at one time would be chaotic to say the least, set amount. it is important to note that the populace the platform has created an instance system in which of the worlds can change drastically in the future, as players coexist with one another in copies of the given new worlds with disruptive qualities might migrate a lot world with the limitation of up to 50 people at any given of traffic into an entirely new fashion of virtual spaces time. t his means that two friends can technically be in [h .c . Gómez-t one et. all 2021]. d isruptive worlds are the same world, but be in separate parallel instances those that play to the current trends of social media in which they would not see one another without re- and provoke users to use their new ideas. By creating logging into the same instance of that world. n umerous a trend, worlds that lack an updated inventory would instances give the platform the ability to house limitless eventually fall off the top ranks and be forgotten all to- amounts of inhabitants that can freely migrate between gether. t he trending worlds would then spawn a new Fig. 2. an example of an abstract, non-realistic Vr space called „conan-party”; source: screenshot taken by author in Vr chat platform ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 3 B. ŚLIWECKI 1. VIRTUAL ARCHITECTURE WORLDS AND THEIR generation of design practices that would appeal to the ongoing fan base and last until the next disruptive USERS OF EARLY 2020 world would arise. population status of architectural worlds was Worlds created by the owners of the online vir- based on the highest occurrence during a two week tual platform were also included in this list due to the period in the beginning of f ebruary 2020, being fact that players choose them even though they are checked around every 8 hours for updates. t his pro- the default areas that players spawn in at the begin- cess proved to be very time-consuming as data had to ning of the game. t he world “Vr chat h ome” is the be recorded manually, as the platform administrators default home for every user, and so it won’t take part refrained from providing any data. e ven though the in the analysis as a choosable world, but will still por- beginning of f ebruary was already a time for drastic tray a baseline view in a neutral status. t he world “Vr change in the way we functioned due to the pandem- chat h ub” is technically a default world that has di- ic, it was still a time of uncertainty for many countries rect access from the Vr chat h ome, but is a separate and can technically be considered as a time not yet world, just like any other, and therefore will participate influenced by newcomers in V r . t hrough uncertainty, in the analysis. it is important to note that these worlds it is meant that the global situation was not yet clear are similar in design style and have relatively matching as to how long the virus would spread and if it would architectural elements. While “h ub” and “home” play spread at all, thus the fairly docile society of online Vr an important part in the comparison, they are unique platforms was still relatively pure at that point. s o it when viewed from an architect’s perspective, espe- was decided that the first two months of 2020 would cially in that of the consistency of the design and asset be a viable representation of a time before the global quality. t heir unique architecture is not found in any of c ovid-19 pandemic. the other mentioned worlds, and could be considered chosen worlds mostly resemble non game ori - original in perspective of the entire platform. ented territories with lenient rules / interactions, on the Tab. 1. listed key traits, their scale and a brief explanation of each one source: prepared by the author 4 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND THE SHIFT OF POPULACE IN ONLINE SOCIAL VR PLATFORMS IN 2020 Tab. 2. list of the most popular virtual worlds in early 2020, with the assigned traits / grading source: prepared by the author exception of “murder 2” which is one of the more pop- gest a large ingoing – outgoing traffic. a s mentioned ular games on Vr c hat available 24/7. t hese worlds before, the population column shows the most visited present medium to large amounts of user created archi- moment for a given world, and so the population status tectural designs of various qualities and quantities, but is a median throughout the time of day and dates of are visibly populated by virtual buildings and interiors. recording data. t he matter of authors was not taken into account in the a dditionally to the population and trait status, a record taking process, as some worlds are known to simple demographics query was conducted between have been created by a group of people rather than a 100 random users in those worlds at random times. single designer. a uthor information is readily available t he query would have players answer about their age, for all users, but none the less that data will not be country of current stay, work / student status, field of present in the following assessment. t he last position work if applied, gender, and the type of Vr gear they marked as nr 21* “Vr chat h ome” is the neutral world were currently using. Questions were asked inside digi- into which every player is placed in upon logging in. tal buildings, alongside architectural representations in t hrough observation, this room is attended for only a digital form, and in spaces that could be considered as few minutes at a time and is treated as a transitional conceptual architectural designs [a . asanowicz 2014]. room. t he updates on the population show that the it proved to be significantly difficult at times to get an numbers fluctuate quite aggressively which would sug - honest answer from the users during the query pro- ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 5 B. ŚLIWECKI cess. most players would state their age as improb- 20% working full time. t he vast majority of players in ably or doubtfully high, or with a non-numerical answer Vr c hat were from the u nited s tates, with 56% stating such as “old enough” after being politely inquired. o th- so, while the u nited Kingdom had 13%, c anada 10%, ers would run away or not answer at all once hearing and Germany 8%. t he rest of the players ranged from the mentioned set of questions. t his may be caused countries like s outh Korea, Japan, Belgium, a ustralia, by the fact that the players’ behavior is commonly er- n ew Zealand, italy as well as singularities from other ratic and spontaneous with minimal responsibility as an countries all across the globe. t he young player base anonymous avatar in an online realm. t herefore a more is a result of targeted marketing that favors teenagers serious approach generated odd answers, and result- and young adults from whom many of which virtual re- ed in a waste of time for the most part. t hose who did ality and online socializing is almost natural [d . s hao, i. answer truthfully did not try to make fun of the query, J. l ee 2020]. and so their answers mostly matched the way that the provided age group would have normally behaved. f or 2. VIRTUAL ARCHITECTURE WORLDS AND THEIR example, tone of voice for males resembled the stated USERS OF LATE 2020 age, and the gender statement also could be verified by tonal response. a seemingly particular group of us- r ecorded data of the online digital space users ers avoided contact more than anyone else, and that was gathered in the month of n ovember during the would be young players in the ages between 6 and last two weeks of the month. l ike in the beginning of 10. t heir reaction to hearing the set of questions would the year, populace was noted around every eight hours mostly silence them and have them either move away, by hand, while viewing the most updated information block the authors avatar (and voice), or switch worlds. regarding the most popular worlds. t he end of the year t his may be due to the fact that kids are being taught 2020 had greatly changed the way people used the not to trust online strangers and for this reason, the ac- internet on a daily basis. s ince most people were stuck tual demography of the Vr worlds may be inaccurate home in their home office new standard of work and for region of younger ages. t he following chart depicts school, their dependency on the use of online social the gathered age data, as well as the approximate cor- platforms significantly increased as compared to the rection in the number of young players (marked by the beginning of the year. Vr platforms such as Vr chat additional line in the younger age region). saw a noticeable rise in the amount of users logged in Gathered results show that a vast majority of during this period, and especially those with fresh new online Vr c hat players are people between the ages of accounts. it should be noted that during this time the 15 and 21, with an estimated correction of the amount us had their t hanksgiving holiday which could have of young players in relation to the general population. influenced the numbers of current users, but as the f rom those one hundred people, with an average age data was not constrained to the a merican population, of just over 18 years old, 86% were male and 14% were it will not be taken into account for the greater pic- female, 64% were in the either student age or were cur- ture. a lso, worlds created to fit the h alloween theme rently studying, 16% were unemployed, with the rest were also on the decline at this time, and would not Fig. 3. Graph depicting demography of mentioned architectural worlds in early 2020 with approximate correction of younger ages; source: prepared by the author based on the own survey 6 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND THE SHIFT OF POPULACE IN ONLINE SOCIAL VR PLATFORMS IN 2020 Tab. 3. list of the most popular worlds in late 2020, with the assigned traits / grading source: prepared by the author affect the representation of the virtual human during all kinds of futuristic assets, the interior design is well the c ovid-19 pandemic. if anything, it would have pro- balanced, and visibly consistent between the areas of vided entirely new users for this time period as schools the entire building. t he majority of the materials used and workplaces have days off during this time. t he fol- in the interior design are architectural concrete, hard- lowing chart depicts the new popular worlds and their wood, composite like surfaces, high quality textiles average user amount during the mentioned data re- and vivid led / n eon lights in every part of the scene. cording period. t he world of “midnight r ooftop” is fairly small when r egarding the worlds themselves, the most compared to others, and allows for the simultaneous popular non-game world is still “midnight r ooftop” with use for 24 players in its instances, keeping the potential one of the best looking content available on the plat- crowd to a fairly small size. form at that time. t he architectural style is futuristic, a nother world worth mentioning is “s ala pak with a great influence of led and n eon lights, minimal- Jai”, one of the least completed and least complex ism, science fiction and high tech architecture incor - worlds available in Vr c hat. t he architectural style is porated into almost every room in the site. t he scene representative of traditional southeast a sian pavilions, is located on a high-rise rooftop, hence the name, and especially that of t hailand, but with a very low skill in allows the player to travel down into the apartment like 3d creation and architectural design. t he world is very complex just below the surface of the roof. l ittered with small and greatly limited by the design itself as the play ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 7 B. ŚLIWECKI Fig. 4. one of the most popular “a” graded architectural spaces called „midnight rooftop”; source: screenshot taken by author in Vr chat platform Fig. 5. one of the most popular “c” graded architectural spaces called „sala pak Jai”; source: screenshot taken by author in Vr chat platform 8 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND THE SHIFT OF POPULACE IN ONLINE SOCIAL VR PLATFORMS IN 2020 Fig. 6. Graph depicting demography of mentioned architectural worlds in late 2020 with approximate correction of younger ages; source: prepared by the author based on the own survey 3. COMPARISON OF RESULTS area is roughly 20 x 40 meters, with just one simple wooden like structure placed in the center and an eerily mentioned architectural worlds were then oversimplified terrain that somewhat resembles a rice pinned up against each other in the five categories with field. When inquired, players mostly associated with the population status as the main quantification criteria. countries of s outheast a sia, and stated that the reason t he graphs show how different traits begin to form a why they choose this world is because it somewhat public favorite based on the amount of people residing there as an average of the recorded time frame. f inal resembles their country and it is very lightweight com- putational wise, allowing them to play without “lag” or results show an insight into the most desirable traits of without the platform crashing altogether [n .t .t . Van et. the virtual realms, as the use of the populace as a value all 2020]. a ccording to some users, this world allows proved to be a seemingly accurate valuing system for for people with old, out of date computers to enjoy the the dependencies and reason of choice. While com- Vr platform in the very limited space that the world paring the data gathered from the two record tracking offers, but with just enough social interaction and free- sessions, in the beginning of 2020 and in the end of dom of movement. the year, all aspects seem to be fairly similar except t he new population of these virtual reality ar- for the “grade” and “size” trait. in f ebruary 2020, users chitectural spaces consists of users aged between 7 seemed to favor an average grade of “B”, which signi- and 35, with a few singularities of ages over 40. With fies that the chosen architectural spaces were neither an average age of 21 years, 82% were male and 18% photorealistic nor of low quality. h owever, the players were female, 62% were either school or college stu- of late n ovember 2020 chose more borderline worlds dents, with an unemployment rating of 25% and 13% with exceptionally good quality and although propor- working full time. as the concept of unemployment var- tionally less, worlds of low design quality. it should be ies between countries, some high school and college mentioned that low quality worlds of late 2020 may students answered that their employment status was have proportionally fell behind the better ones, but they that of unemployed, even though they were not asked still outmatch in sheer numbers which tripled that of about it due to the fact that they are studying, and so the early 2020. d ue to the fact that the end of 2020 a player that provided information regarding having a boasted a significantly higher player base than that of school status was not taken into account in terms of early 2020, the graphs were scaled in order to show employment. s imilar to the beginning of the year, most the relationship between them. t he left hand scale is users identified as being either an a merican or cur- applied to “e arly 2020” and the right hand scale to rently residing there with a 51% rating, with the u nited “l ate 2020”. Kingdom being in second place with 13%, Germany t he reason for this outcome is possibly because third with 8% and the remaining 27% being spread all of the influx of both new players and the increase of us- across the world in similar 2-3% proportions. l ike in ers with good computing stations. Being stuck at home the case of early 2020, young attendants did not want for an extended period of time might have given people to provide information regarding their age, and so an the opportunity to upgrade their pc s’ and reach out estimated correction was placed (additional line in 5 – for new means of socializing with the intention of ad- 12 year region) vanced interaction methods. n ew players with older generations of computers chose worlds that allowed ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 9 B. ŚLIWECKI Fig. 7. Graph depicting comparison of “Grade” of worlds based Fig. 9. Graph depicting comparison of “complexity” of worlds on population between early (red) and late (blue) 2020; based on population between early (red) and late (blue) 2020; source: prepared by the author source: prepared by the author Fig. 8. Graph depicting comparison of “assets” of worlds based Fig. 10. Graph depicting comparison of “function” of worlds ba- on population between early (red) and late (blue) 2020; sed on population between early (red) and late (blue) 2020; source: prepared by the author source: prepared by the author them to play without technical problems, while the ex- it seems, that the late 2020 trends for the Vr isting population and the more prosperous new players market tended to favor worlds of a professional design could seamlessly enjoy social interactions in worlds of and build quality, with a room area of average propor- high quality and general good architectural design. a n- tions, with rooms and floors of a medium complexity other possibility is the factor of age and reminiscence and asset amount and a function greatly resembling of past gaming experience in what would be consid- that of a modern urban homestead as well as unde- ered today as low graphic quality scenery [o . s koc- fined, fictional use of space. a lthough a lot of existing zylas 2018]. a s the Vr platform gathered more play - worlds on the platform fit the mentioned favorable traits, ers in the ages of 25-35, their background and past they did not place rank on the most visited architectural experience with gaming started out before the modern worlds. e ven those created by what would seem pro- age of high graphic quality content. c hoosing worlds fessional designers gathered little to no popularity and with what would be now considered out of date graph- even ceased to exist during the course of 2020. While ics could be an attempt to relive the time when simple research in this area is still young and emerging, it games were mainstream and provided those players might seem that certain designs were simply not up to with positive memories. 10 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND THE SHIFT OF POPULACE IN ONLINE SOCIAL VR PLATFORMS IN 2020 par with the picky nature of online guests. a rchitectural spaces of good craftsmanship and surprising designs still gather populace of just over 20 players during the course of the day, even though they greatly represent the favorable traits of digital architectural space. r eal world play area and the platform algo- rithms may influence the use of V r and the platform itself. f irst, users generally play from their homes, as it is common knowledge that recreational multimedia is generally enjoyed at the comfort of one’s own four corners. With the use of such technology at home, it may be so that the reason of choice of the residen- tial function worlds might just mirror that of the natural surroundings of the given player. Basically, being home makes users want to stay at home, with comfort and light recreation unconsciously being the target activity Fig. 11. Graph depicting comparison of “size” of worlds based [c . montag, s . d iefenbach 2018]. s econd, Vr chat is on population between early (red) and late (blue) 2020; intelligent software with its own system for promoting source: prepared by the author certain worlds or styles. players who visit their interac- tive menu are placed in front of suggestions from the main system, in which the most popular world is cho- portant to note that a lot of low quality world users do sen. s ince humans have always been attracted to large not own a Vr headset and so their gameplay is lim - gatherings of other peers, it’s no surprise that a simple ited to traditional flat screen viewing, which is in stark reason for choosing a certain world is the fact that it’s contrast to that of the high quality worlds with play- the most populated. t he main advertised goal of this ers owning relatively expensive Vr tech. What makes Vr platform is interaction, fun and virtual socializing, gameplay slow are avatars that some of the players and so it would only make sense that users want to go use, and their extremely high polygon count and very to worlds with numerous other players and meet new large textures often take a long time to load and render. people. players have the ability to turn off foreign avatars in or- r esults state that in the duration of 2020, a me- der to better optimize gameplay, but it takes out a lot of dian attribute was initially favored by the general public, the fun in virtual socializing. s ome players go as far as as almost all of the charts suggest a non-aggressive using full body suits that allow for motion tracking ev- quality of a given worlds design traits. a s the year pro- ery single limb and using it as an interactive part of the gressed, and users updated and upgraded their equip- virtual player counterpart [e. Karuzaki et. all 2021]. t his ment, a tendency has risen to favor more complex, just goes to show that different users have different ap- higher quality and larger sized architecture to spend proaches to virtual reality worlds and the architecture time in. s ince players are free to roam around the nu- that envelopes them. merous worlds, their conception of a relative scale is quickly defined after visiting several different worlds CONCLUSIONS and seeing the architectural styles and design deci- sions implemented by the creators. By having to inter- Virtual reality and the cyber architecture associ- act in extremely large worlds and extremely small ones, ated with it are scaled representations of a sandbox like those that represent real world scenarios seem to be design conditions when compared to the real world. the most fitting for virtual human to human interactions t he space created in these virtual worlds will more than [c . h . Bum et. al. 2018]. Very small worlds generate likely never exist in the real world as it is uneconomical an audible chaos in vocal and visual communication and in most cases still impossible and impractical to as players seem to yell over one another in order to build. Vr does not require the vast majority of technical be heard, and perform different acts of grabbing atten- and specialist equipment to support the general func- tion when feeling outshouted. o n the other side of the tionality of a building, and so those designs are pure scale, extremely large worlds require players to travel fantasy for the most part. h owever, if humanity does long distances in order to socialize with other players. decide to shift the amount of time spent online rather perhaps if the player limit was greatly increased in such than in the consciousness of the real world, then those worlds their popularity would become greater. it is im- supporting elements and constraints of real world ar- ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021 11 B. ŚLIWECKI Redondo E. (2021), Mixed Assessment of Virtual chitecture will not be needed [h . h . achten et. all 2000]. Serious Games Applied in Architectural and Urban h Vac installations, sanitation equipment and piping, Design Education, “Sensors” Vol. 21, 3102. structural reinforcement, electrical infrastructure and all 5. Gómez-Tone H.C., Bustamante Escapa J., Busta- the other crucial elements of buildings could be sim- mante Escapa P., Martin-Gutierrez J. (2021), The plified and kept in the real world, while the aesthetic Drawing and Perception of Architectural Spaces features of buildings will be reimbursed in the virtual through Immersive Virtual Reality, “Sustainability” world. Brutal, simple, lackluster interior designs with Vol. 13, 6223. 6. Karuzaki E., Partarakis N., Patsiouras N., Zidi- minimal decoration of the tangible building, and the anakis E., Katzourakis A., Pattakos A., Kaplanidi lavish, on demand customization with infinite budget D., Baka E., Cadi N., Magnenat-Thalmann N., Rin- and possibilities of Virtual r eality and digital graphical gas C., Tasiopoulou E., Zabulis X. (2021), Real- representations of space may be what the foreseeable istic Virtual Humans for Cultural Heritage Applica- future might hold in store for humanity. tions, “Heritage” Vol. 8, 4148-4171. d esigners and architects that will work purely in 7. Komarzyńska-Świeściak E., Adams B., Thomas L. (2021), Transition from Physical Design Studio to the digital world will have a task of constantly upgrading Emergency Virtual Design Studio. Available Teach- knowledge of trends in the digital world, just like those ing and Learning Methods and Tools—A Case of the tangible world, with the exception of updates and Study, “Buildings” Vol. 11, 312. “patches” to their designs [e. Komarzyńska-Świeściak 8. Kurkiewicz D. (2003), Wirtualna architektura – et. al. 2021]. t he profession of an architect will start granica wyobraźni, „Czasopismo Techniczne. to become entangled with that of a programmer, as it Architektura” Vol. 100, 8-A. is happing now with parametric architecture and the 9. Montag C., Diefenbach S. (2018), Towards Homo Digitalis: Important Research Issues for Psychology use and design of robotics in prefabrication, site prep and the Neurosciences at the Dawn of the Internet of and specialist fabrication means. c oding skills and the Things and the Digital Society, “Sustainability” Vol. ability to create simulations is no longer a futuristic as- 10, 415. st pect of the 21 century designer, as most architectural 10. Salwierz A., Szymczyk T. (2020), Methods of creat- companies require workers to hold knowledge in those ing realistic spaces – 3D scanning and 3D modeling, fields. t he difference between tasks of an architect of “Journal of Computer Sciences Institute” Vol. 14, p. 101 – 108. the real world and that of the virtual counterpart would 11. Shao D., Lee I.-J. (2020), Acceptance and Influenc- be that buildings could be updated very easily with little ing Factors of Social Virtual Reality in the Urban El- effort, unlike that of real world architecture that requires derly, “Sustainability” Vol. 12, 9345. time, effort and considerable funds. d igital architects 12. Skoczylas O. (2018), Emotional reactions of the re- of tomorrow will need to shift their knowledge from the spondents compared to different ways of perceiving structural and engineering field to the programming the square in front of the WICA building of the Lublin and c Gi specializations that go hand in hand with the University of Technology, “Teka Komisji Architektury, Urbanistyki i Studiów Krajobrazowych” vol. 14, nr 3. creation and maintenance of virtual reality and the so- 13. Suchłocka K., Siewczyński B., Szot J. (2020), ciety that finds shelter inside. Architecture in the age of digitalization and coding meanings, “Przestrzeń i Forma” Vol. 44, p. 177-190. 14. Świt-Jankowska B. (2010), Współczesne narzędzia LITERATURE pracy architekta a jakość nowo projektowanej 1. Achten H.H., Vries de B., Jessurun J. (2000), DD- przestrzeni mieszkalnej, „Architecturae et Artibus” Doolz – A Virtual Reality Sketchtool for Early Design, Vol. 2, no. 2. In: Proceedings of CAADRIA Conference, Singa- 15. Urbanowicz B., Szuliński T. (2020), Wirtualna pore, p. 451-460. rzeczywistość w architekturze. Zastosowania i 2. Asanowicz A. (2014), The phenomenology and phi- korzyści, „Builder” Vol. 24, no. 2. losophy of simulacra influence on the VR, “Architec- 16. Van N.T.T., Vrana V., Duy N.T., Minh D.X.H., Dzung turae et Artibus” Vol. 6, p. 5−8. P.T., Mondal S.R., Das S. (2020), The Role of Hu- 3. Bum C.-H., Mahoney T.Q., Choi C. (2018), A Com- man–Machine Interactive Devices for Post-COVID- parative Analysis of Satisfaction and Sustainable 19 Innovative Sustainable Tourism in Ho Chi Minh Participation in Actual Leisure Sports and Virtual Re- City, Vietnam, “Sustainability” Vol. 12, 9523. ality Leisure Sports, “Sustainability” Vol. 10, 3475. 17. https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/ 4. Fonseca D., Cavalcanti J., Peña E., Valls V., technology-driving-innovation-folder/virtual-and- Sanchez-Sepúlveda M., Moreira F., Navarro I., augmented-reality/report.pdf 12 ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS - vol.13 - 4(50)/2021

Journal

ARCHITECTURAE ET ARTIBUS – de Gruyter

Published: Dec 1, 2021

Keywords: human 2.0; digital living space; virtual perception; online social platforms; virtual reality architecture

There are no references for this article.