Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

action potentials in virtual places, as its visual and structural characteristics reflect the main
purpose for which it was built; and at the same time, they construct several other significations to
interpersonal and textual meta-functions.
The consideration of how potential visitors move in and around the virtual places is a major
determinant in the design of experiential features. If the visitors are not using a landmark or
personally sent teleport request to a specific location, their avatars normally enter the sim through
designated entry points. The entry point (or the ‘landing spot’) designates how the first-time
visitors will be introduced to a place and how potential movement paths are signified.
Aspen: The landing spot, where people arrive on this sim, is a backyard which doesn’t look
very friendly. We have put up some signs asking people if they have the guts to become a real
superhero. And then, they have to follow this dark path, and then they arrive here at the
costume bazaar in the open
The landing spot functions as the location where initial discourses are formed about what the place
is about, and what type of experience visitors should be expecting if they choose to continue
exploring. In Metrotopia, as Aspen mentions above, the formation of the experiential function
emphasizes the superhero genre conventions and a path of movement to access the costume
bazaar, which is supported by multimodal presentations of verbal and non-verbal messages about
‘becoming a superhero’. The multimodal configuration of various discursive elements, such as the
posters and other non-verbal signifiers around the place, operates on the interpersonal semiotic
level by setting the mood and style. As a result, textual semiotic elements support the experiential
and interpersonal dimensions of design-based communication, providing the visitor with not only
a visual reference to the Superhero concept but also a path to start exploring.
In Metrotopia’s design, chronotopes between different areas within the designed place (sim) and
movement within each interaction space is organized to fit the requirements of the initial design
brief. These design elements include interactive posters, which were designed to visualize the
specific place in coherence with the comic-book graphic style, while affording teleportation to the
visualized location upon clicking. These posters were placed on the walls of a passageway that
connects the costume bazaar to the city square. After the intended visitors (participants of Caitlyn’s
experiment) pass the ‘dark pathway’ and reach the costume bazaar to modify their avatars’
appearances, this second passageway directs the movement into the main street (and the city
square) while affording direct teleportation to various interaction spaces.
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