30 Days in livly isalnd. User activity and interaction

 Brief contrast between lively and picrew 

From my observations of Picrew's website as compared to Livly Island banners the variety in terms of avatars and art styles differ completely, whereas Livly Island's selections come mostly from accessories and outfits with consistency and minor subtle changes. In Picrews website library the selections of art styles range from cartoon-ish to anime and semi-realism. Accommodations for people with diverse art preferences are suited and adjusted from the number of submissions on the website.

Target Demographic 

For Livly Island's data, user activity was gathered from the official Livly Island discord. There is a channel dedicated to introductions where players give a brief overview describing their interests and a bit of trivia regarding themselves, and when they started playing. From looking around these intros the assumption of an average target user ages around 18 and above. 

Brief User Activity in Picrew 

 Upon putting keywords of picrew in the Instagram search engine I happen to stumble over multiple avatars that correspond to the users' taste and self-image. At times these picrew submissions have gotten attraction and reached realms beyond the website, gaining trends for a temporary amount of time with examples such as“あの子がこっちを見ている“!! Which in english is translated into They are looking over here" which spawned a community in Twitter posting their mitch-matched avatars that form inserts and hyperfixations. Moreover, People opted to create their drawings and submit them to the website allowing people to click and play around.

User Activity in Livly Island 

Livly Island which shares a similar concept with Picrew feels like an evolution that contains frequent updates to fill in the stylistic choices of the players while Picrew's limitations of options in style are dependent on the individual creator. With many choices in store, the possibility of character-making reaches heights that exceed Picrews.

In-game interactions tend to be short and direct with usually exchanges of compliments, however, even from quiet conversations come loud actions and interactions outside the game. Creativity and passion play a big part in the community as I have seen people create based on their passion for the game. 

Instagram ( Art, Photography, and crafts)

Creativity is abundant in Livly Island as users seen from tagged posts in the official Instagram account showed players experimenting with avatar designs putting them alongside animals as seen below and overlaying them into real-life photography with accompanying songs from the official Livly music soundtrack. One player created a real-life compact terrarium of their island in the game and another drew a full-scale illustration inspired by their island. 

Twitter and Tumblr ( Fan art Focused) 

On Twitter and Tumblr, I found that artists redrew their avatars in their styles and have created their stories and personalities into them. It became a sort of medium that allows players to experiment with character design as most of these were used to create OCs and such. Additionally, the feature to decorate the island proved appealing for players letting them bring the environment and context to life, along with keeping it consistent with the Livlies design. Art would have a wide range of expression from simple illustrations to comics and prompts. Art may be a silent way of communicating but the lengths it reaches people are wider than a word-to-word conversation.

Mascots and Representation

Moving to Livlies, which are the pet-like companions of the Hom. Its cute appearance as a mascot represents the game as a whole. Users who fawned over them would buy merchandise and meet life-size mascots in hosted events. They are usually accessories in themselves that users apply to their creations as intended in the game, yet do have a supporting role in real-life user activities as well. I saw a lot of photos that had the Livlies in it being used as a model that many people in certain fan communities do with plushies, acrylic stands, and plushies.

Discord 

The official Livly discord server has multiple channels dedicated to in-game announcements, news, art exchanges, etc… With most platforms being visually based interactions such as art, photography, and crafts the interactions here are a mix of text and images. users on different servers would converse with all sorts of topics. In Discord, multiple channels are for specific types of topics about livly. This includes art showcases, games, questions, rules and regulations, and so on. The rules here are to maintain a civil and hate-free space for all users, encouraging more respectful exchanges between people. The server is quite casual with engagement towards learning new information and tips in gaining a better livly experience coupled with a community that enables positivity and common ground. 

Meta livly

Meta Livly is a separate app that shares the same title and company as Livly Island with the difference being the involvement and incorporation of nuts. Although I wasn't able to try it because of the unavailability in certain countries, I do want to mention it as these hom nfts still do exist and are on websites that sell them online. Despite it being a modified version of the original, the player's ability to purchase, create, and sell ntfs gives us a deeper understanding of Livly’s appeal and the possibility of commercializing creations from fandom passions and how it could reach official developers who are keen on the idea as well, whether it be a good or bad idea.