Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

Figure 7.5. (left) Snapshot of the ship and other freebie models in Metrotopia harbor
Figure 7.6. (right) Snapshot of my avatar posing with the freebie poses, holding a light saber collected
from the Fight Club/Dojo in Metrotopia
Although PAL includes some elements that are appropriated, the co-designers describe the overall
design as one-of-a-kind. AmyLee also mentions how she “tweak[s] some open source scripts”
although she is not a programmer herself. Tweaking, or appropriating and re-using, is also a
method she uses for applying textures that are found online, as “usually you need to rework them.
at least, resize and clean.” In the second interview, she also mentions how certain objects have
been “carried over from previous designs.” On the other hand, the co-designers of PAL and
workshop students had more in common about their complaints on issue of not being able to find
desired resources and/or having to spend much time trying to find what they are looking for in
improperly organized freebie stores. In both cases, the co-designers often mentioned how finding
freebies that work –and work the way the designers want it to do – requires effort and time
investment, especially with freebies. In some cases, the challenge of collecting inworld resources is
not the lack of content; but, on the contrary, it is the abundance and disorderly presentation and
archiving of accessible resources, and inefficacy of the tools for browsing/searching them.
Figure 7.7. (left) The chair with feathers, purchased and used by Superheroes & Supervillains group
Figure 7.8. (right) Batman costume purchased and appropriated to female heroes in Metrotopia
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