Speaking of Avatars

[Jon A. Lambert]

I spent a couple of mindless minutes the other day looking at 
Microsoft's Chat client for IRC.  It might be of interest to some
graphic client developers, so I've included an attached .jpg 
screenshot of what a session looks like.  

There where several hundred users on this particular server 
and there was no appreciable lag over and above the normal IRC text 
mode as all the graphics are generated from within the client.  While 
I found the comic book aspect quite irritating after awhile, it 
struck me as a format that may be quite suitable for a Superheroes, 
X-Men or Anime type mud.  

While the initial selection of avatars was quite limited, I found 
the analog selection of expressions or poses in the lower right 
corner of the screen an interesting implementation.  One may select
varying degrees of smiles, smirks, frowns, etc. by moving the 
selector button from the neutral position anywhere within the 
circular control.  It wasn't really an analog selection.  Various 
comic backgrounds could be selected and were also limitied.  

The text input window has various buttons to alter the way 
conversation was directed, the default button or enter was 
room scope chat.  The other buttons send the text in thought 
ballons, whispers to a specific person, email to a specific person, 
and plays a sound (.wav file) to the room. 

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