“HistoryCity” by Lim

This 3D virtual world for kids is set in 1870s Singapore. The world features functional buildings; personal decorateable rooms; animated objects that can be picked up and dropped; personal theater stages upon which dioramas can be built from objects found in the world; over 200 avatars representing people and occupations of the period;  agents that provide news, stories, poems, jokes, pawn brokering services, and messaging services; clubhouse memberships; maps; and 22 communities, each with its own distinct architecture, and music.  

The world has been tested in both Singapore and Canada to study users’ individual and social behavior and learn how to make HistoryCity more engaging. Kids can also contribute material to the community’s ongoing corpus of news, stories, poems, and jokes, including audio contributions. Multilingual text chat, as well as audio chat (using microphones and sound cards), are supported.