Virtual environments for the category: 'News'
The Convergence of Virtual Worlds and Social Networking Sites
TerraNova has an interesting article written by game designer Bob Moore. He discusses some of the latest trends regarding virtual worlds and social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace — especially related to the convergence of the two. Moore writes: “We’re starting to see a convergence of virtual worlds and social networking sites in the new wave of virtual “social” worlds (e.g., Kaneva, vSide, Virtual MTV) and new 3D Facebook applications (ActiveWorlds, Gaia Online). This might be dismissed as fad. After all, everyone is either trying to replicate or piggyback on the success of America’s #3 (MySpace) and #9 (Facebook) top-visited websites…However, I think there is more to a convergence than mere hype. I see some interesting similarities and possible synergies between virtual worlds and social networking sites but also some important differences that could make integration tricky.”
Moore makes three basic points: (1) Virtual worlds ARE already social networking sites, to some degree; (2) Social networking sites provide profiles and buddy lists for your WHOLE life, not just your virtual one; and (3) On social networking sites you play yourself, while in virtual worlds, you play someone else. He then explores whether it’s a good idea to combine virtual worlds and social networking sites.
Read the article on Terra Nova.
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Metaplace: Virtual Spaces for the Masses?
Could a new virtual environment platform, Metaplace, bring virtual spaces to the masses? Raph Koster, one of the former developers of massively multiplayer online game Ultima Online who quit his job to form a brand new MMO company, thinks so. He recently announced Metaplace, a brand new virtual world venture that promises an open-platform, open-ended approach to virtual worlds. Users of Metaplace (http://www.metaplace.com) will be able to build 3D virtual worlds quickly using simple, sharable building blocks and templates.
The resulting online spaces, which could be used for gaming, e-commerce, or socializing, can be embedded in a webpage, MySpace or Facebook profile or weblog.
“We are out to democratise virtual worlds and bring them to absolutely anybody,” said Mr Koster, founder of Areae, the company that is producing Metaplace. “You can come to the site, press a button and have a functioning virtual world that supports multiple users in about 30 seconds.”
While details are sparse at the moment, all we know is that Metaplace is a very ambitious attempt to go beyond merely building a virtual world. It’s an attempt to build an open virtual world standard. Metaplace claims that the platform will be able to integrate smoothly into current web standards. This means that people should be able to integrate whatever is built in Metaspace into websites, RSS feeders, and more.
Recently featured as one of the top 40 hottest startups at the TechCrunch40 conference, Metaplace is definitely a virtual environment to keep an eye on.