Multiuser Virtual Environments I: Worlds, Inc.
Wedding bells rang in an Internet 3-D virtual environment for the first time on May 8, 1996 when Tomas Landhaus, 27, and Jeanette Stanhope, 31, were married in AlphaWorld, a Worlds Inc.'s 3-D community, where they met in January.Alphaworld, the first functioning 3-D online community, is a visually rich, virtual environment where people can chat with other real people from all around the world. Visitors are seen as animated characters known as "avatars." Avatars are the visual embodiments that people choose for themselves. They also are the users' point of view in cyberspace, literally. You turn your avatar's head to the left to look left, right to look right. Your cybernickname is shown above your head, and your "chat" is seen as text on the screen.
Citizens of AlphaWorld have the right to own land and build their own virtual home on it, engage in commerce, explore the environment, and experience its content. Just download the environment, and the online connection allows you to see and interact with other visitors. (At the present time the client software is only available for Windows.)
Worlds Inc. is a widely acknowledged worldwide leader in Internet Virtual Reality. It has been leading the trend "toward a new online paradigm," from being one of the first to enable online banking with Visa to creating a virtual playspace for children in pediatric hospitals in conjunction with the Starbright Foundation. They have recently made important deals with IBM, a major Japanese online service, and the United States Information Agency.
Worlds Inc. believes that its technology represents a whole new metaphor for interaction and connectivity. Using the company's applications, people can "interact through their computers rather than simply with them." None have done so more intimately than Tomas and Jeanette, known as Starshadow and Janka online. They met in AlphaWorld in January but didn't meet in person until March. The wedding took place in a park in AlphaWorld, specially built for the occasion. Russell Freeland, a Worlds employee and AlphaWorld citizen, performed the ceremony.
"This is a fantasy come true for me," said Jeanette, "AlphaWorld is a romantic place and the closest thing to reality. It is a great place to meet other people. Tom and I are building a house in AlphaWorld together."
A Host of New Uses
In a less sexy application, IBM is using Worlds' technology to create an
interface for the IBM Digital Library--a collection of resources that
includes the Vatican Library and art collections. They are also building a New Product Gallery, where surfers can virtually test-drive IBM products, and a Virtual Branch Office for private conferences and cyberchats. Users will be welcome to arrange meetings in virtual conference rooms, living rooms ,and even pool side.
The United States Information Agency (USIA) recently announced an agreement with Worlds to develop the platform for providing information and access to agencies and departments of the federal government. The Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress have agreed to be among the first organizations to take advantage of the new project, which they are calling the Virtual Information Resource Center (VIRC).
"This partnership with USIA promises to open up the vast informational resources of the U.S. government for businesses, schools, and individuals worldwide," said Dave Gobel, Chairman and founder of Worlds Inc. "The Internet is the most powerful distribution system ever created. VIRC harnesses it through the latest technology to create an intuitive and easy way to access information, whether that information is resident in a database or in another person's mind."
"VIRC gives us the ability to have a virtual USIA office accessible from anywhere on the globe," said Tony Jackson, USIA Project Director of the Virtual Library Project. "This means that even as budgets and levels of staffing shrink, our reach actually increases in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. This is a tremendous opportunity for USIA to continue to offer a first rate level of service in the future."
The Smithsonian and the Library of Congress contributions add exponentially to the quality of experience and learning that users can gain from these vast public treasures. It is expected that other agencies and organizations will follow suit.
This past March, Worlds Inc. announced a comprehensive alliance with Nissho Iwai, the largest trading company in Japan, and Toppan Printing, one of the largest printing and publishing companies, to license and produce 3-D multiuser applications.
"This alliance promises to dramatically alter the face of online computing in Japan," said Don Fowler, CEO of Worlds Inc. "Coupling our technical expertise in cutting-edge applications with two of Japan's strongest developers and distributors of content is sure to have a major impact on this market."
Japan's leading online service, the nearly 2-million-member NiftyServe, already plans to deliver a number of these environments to its users. Partly owned by Nissho Iwai, NiftyServe will immediately begin to offer the latest version of Worlds Chat, the 3-D chat and entertainment environment created by Worlds Inc.
Moving Worlds: The New VRML Standard
Worlds, Inc. was criticized last year for introducing its own proprietary
standard for virtual environments, which it called VRML+. This past
February, in conjunction with a large number of other leading Internet
companies, it expressed support for "Moving Worlds," a proposal for the
next generation of the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML)--VRML 2.0.
The Moving Worlds proposal will bring multimedia and multiuser
capabilities to the emerging standard for 3-D Web-based environments.
The Moving Worlds implementation will eventually move the existing VRML specification forward with such new features as multiuser capabilities, full motion, live content and animation, physical behaviors, importation of 3-D objects into HTML, enhanced audio features, and the ability to connect with databases. With these capabilities, VRML authors will be able to create interactive environments that take full advantage of "Internetworked" computers.
"'Moving Worlds' is a tremendous opportunity to enhance the online experience for millions of people," said Dave Gobel, Chairman and co-founder of Worlds Inc. "Currently few companies have been able to harness the multiuser capabilities of the Internet the way Worlds Inc. has done. . . . 'Moving Worlds' will help bring our dream of social computing closer to realization. As an open platform, hundreds more developers will be able to move away from the existing 2-D Web paradigm to the more intuitive and powerful paradigm of multiuser 3-D."
But not everyone agrees that 3-D is the best paradigm for online multiuser environments. Next week I'll discuss The Palace, a popular 2-D chat environment.
