Laddawn.com : Avatars - early research/things to think about

Collected some points of interest to think about when implementing an avatar system...

1. http://authenticorganizations.com/harquail/2009/10/19/crafting-business-avatars-an-authenticity-exercize/
2. http://www.csmg.us/2009/10/guidelines-for-using-avatars-in-business.html
3. https://wikis.pepperdine.edu/display/GSBME/Virtual+Worlds+and+Personal+Avatars

Avatar Study conducted by microsoft
AvatarStudy_Microsoft.pdf 

From a Laddawn Organizational Standpoint

high level - the idea of avatars vs. real people

Avatars - should be playful, safe, fun, without consequence, fake, artificial, idealized, fantasy
Real people/Laddawn Customer Support - about work, serious, having consequences, genuine, authentic, factual, truthful.

From an organization standpoint, some questions to think about:

1. What should avatars from our organization look like, to express our values?
2. Do we need to educate Laddawn CS on the risks and responsibilities of reputation management?
3. Extend the code of conduct to include avatars in 3D virtual environments?

Avatar Fun Fact
"Gartner predicts that by year-end 2013, 70 percent of enterprises will have behavior guidelines and dress codes established for all employees who have avatars associated with their organization when they’re online."

From a Design and Avatar implementation Standpoint

Avatar Styles + online web apps samples

 For canned avatars, what is the look Laddawn is going for?

More bold and a bit funner?

More stylized like Atlassian uses?

A few online avatar makers I have reviewed...

http://www.faceyourmanga.it/ (my favorite)

http://www.clayyourself.com/ (unique, but not as detailed. Not many options compared many of the other online avatar makers.)

http://doppelme.com/ (middle of the road. Lots of options but not done very well)

http://pickaface.net/ (Pretty nice set of options but is flash based)

http://avatars.yahoo.com/index.html (need to login with yahoo, Facebook or Google to use)