by Gary Welz
Developments in Online Virtual Environments
VR on the Net is becoming more standardized and integrated with other media types.IBM, Apple, Black Sun Interactive and other companies have recently banded together to propose the Living Worlds Initiative to help standardize features of multiuser VRML communities. They intend, for example, to enable avatars from one vendor to operate on the clients and servers of others.
The specification of the VRML language itself is now in its second generation, dubbed VRML 2.0. Version 2.0 includes sound as a standard feature as well as the ability to manipulate objects in various ways. For example, you can use such things as proximity sensors to turn the lights on when someone enters a room. A likely cornerstone of VRML 3.0 will be standards for the exchange of electronic data in various formats including streaming audio and video.
A notable developer of virtual environments is David Colleen, founder of Planet9 Studios, the creator of a number of virtual cities, including SOMA, (the South of Market Street Area of San Francisco), Virtual San Diego, and Virtual New York. Colleen says, "We're moving toward a situation in which different media types talk to each other and in which VRML worlds are enhanced with audio and video."
Online multiuser virtual environments are becoming increasingly important and continue to grow in popularity. The award-winning Cybertown with its VRML Conference Room and Campus Crash Cafe is one of the most interesting. PointWorld from Black Sun Interactive is populated with unique avatars from a variety of international developers.
AlphaWorld is a popular and innovative multiuser environment that was developed by Worlds, Inc. using a proprietary variant of VRML called VRML+. Christopher Dean, VP of Marketing for Worlds, says his company's products are the most fully integrated multimedia products on the Web. They now incorporate Voxware's 2-way voice streaming software into their worlds and also make it possible to stream audio into a world to provide ambient music or a live radio station.
Worlds recognizes both the Netscape and Microsoft Internet technology camps, and created two different sets of tools and servers--Gamma for Netscape/Java developers, and Active Worlds for Microsoft/ActiveX developers. Worlds will license both technologies to enable companies to build 3-D multiuser Web pages, business applications, and virtual environments.
The company has recently released the Active Worlds Development Kit that includes a 3-D environment server, a browser that can be distributed free of charge, tools to modify objects, and a library of avatars with articulated motions. The avatars will be able to wave and make other gestures, and in version 1.1 they will be able to move their faces. AlphaWorld is an example of the Active Worlds technology.
The Active Worlds Development Kit is designed to enable developers to create their own worlds and link them to AlphaWorld and any other made with the Worlds' technology. Dean envisions a "Web of Worlds," and believes that every Web site will eventually have a 3-D world as a component. This area would present a place for the members of that site's community to see and interact with each other. There are a dozen such worlds in existence now, with more being created every day.
The Active Worlds Browser is an ActiveX Container Application. This means that a click on a URL embedded in a world will launch Internet Explorer and the Web browser will pop up in the 3-D world allowing a collection of avatars to surf the Web together. The browser will also become an ActiveX Control so that it can itself be launched within IE.
The Gamma Family of developer tools and servers will port to the Moving Worlds/VRML 2.0 standard. "The Gamma family will represent the most powerful integrated platforms providing all the solution pieces to construct and operate 3-D multiuser virtual worlds," says Maclen Marvit, VP of Development at Worlds. "By licensing our World-building technology, we will enable other companies to create and distribute 3-D multiuser applications on the Internet."
So how is this technology being employed? Metro Goldwyn Mayer has recently partnered with Worlds to create a large scale multiuser strategy game based on the television series "The Outer Limits." It will be playable by thousands of users simultaneously, and will run on a TCP/IP network, so there's a possibility it could become an Internet game.
More significantly, it's possible for game developers to use Active Worlds servers and not have to develop their own platforms. This would free them to focus on the development of the games themselves and concentrate on laying the foundation for common Internet gaming standards.
