An avatar which is tied to your smartphone GPS coordinates and visible through the phone's camera display. If you want to view someone's avatar, point the camera at them and the camera will overlay the avatar over the real-world image of the person in an augmented reality type display.
Additionally, each user could customize the imaginary scenery around their avatar. Thus you could have some elven avatar surrounded by a woodsy type surrounding, or a demon surrounded by fire and ash. When two avatars come together, the scenery blends and interacts. So your elves trees may start burning and animals start dying when the demon approaches. With this type of scenery, you could build in a system of influence which is modified by any number of methods.
The avatar motion wouldn't be able to mimic the motion of the user unless there were some method to add proprioception. Possibly some sort of sensors at joints.
Additionally, you could have multiple layers/domains. This way you can keep your demented perverted avatar in the xxx domain away from your kid-friendly hello-kitty avatar.-- toodles, Jun 29 2010 Flocks of Birds http://www.razor3d....ck%20of%20Birds.htm [pertinax, Jun 29 2010] Baking It http://surre.al [theircompetitor, Oct 03 2011] //some method to add proprioception// I think what you're looking for is called a "flock of birds". See link.-- pertinax, Jun 29 2010 Flock of birds looks cool, but it doesn't look like it would be a good solution for everyday use since it requires a magnetic field generator that doesn't work well near other metal or magnets. Plus, the display of other avatars via the cell phone may depend on the earths magnetic field to determine azimuth of the display.
I figure there are enough ways to skin a cat that it didn't need to be completely specified here to define the system. I'm envisioning an avatar system that you use everyday just because you can. Other games could be built on top of the system as they develop.-- toodles, Jun 29 2010 This is interesting(+), but GPS is not accurate enough for people. I think it's down to 5m, fine for driving directions, but not enough for this. Generally I've seen visual clues trigger the AR, so you'd know which character to display by GPS but exact placement would be "over" a figure.
You could replace most of that with a IR beaconing system built onto a hat, set of glasses or necklace. You'd need a least three beacons for orientation, but then the camera could see the beacons, filter them out and then superimpose the "correct" image on top of them. This also allows you to create a whole IR beaconing suit, so that the image can be conformal and moves with you.
Similar possibilities are available for an Xbox Kinect type interface if portable.-- MisterQED, Jun 29 2010 This reminds me of Neal Stephenson's outstanding book Snow Crash, where everyone has an alternate self who exists in the "Metaverse."-- DrWorm, Jun 29 2010 boy, so it sure has been a while, and been working on it a while. But our Kickstarter is live, check it out!-- theircompetitor, Jun 27 2013 But they can only talk in Na'vi.-- not_morrison_rm, Jun 27 2013 They talk in the language of love :)-- theircompetitor, Jun 27 2013 [theircompetitor] How is your kickstarter related to this idea?
I see no mention in the text of the kickstarter that there would be any connection between the virtual and real world. I didn't watch the videos though, so maybe there was something there that I missed.
Speaking of this idea, Goggle glass would be the obvious platform of choice for this.-- scad mientist, Jun 28 2013 //Goggle glass would be the obvious platform
If we're talking shoes, then I can see that being a pay-for Google app, you get to look taller to other people.
Alternatively it could superimpose a 1970's glam rock costume over people you don't like.-- not_morrison_rm, Jun 29 2013 we are using augmented reality in a number of ways, [scad_mientist], from "claiming" things you have in the real world into possessions in the virtual, to layering your face onto the avatar's face. Oh, and we are probably not going to be anonymous, so it winds up being about people sharing an experience (whether that sharing is hanging at a blackjack table or in a 3D representation of a real location)-- theircompetitor, Jun 29 2013 It would be fun to have a real time overlay of someone in a meeting, using a smartphone and it's camera.-- Ling, Mar 31 2014 random, halfbakery