I tend to avoid the word "metaverse" because it's become so overloaded. Even in 1999 when we started VOS we tended to avoid using the term explicitly as people were throwing it around with no real definition except "that thing from Snow Crash". That said, the word does pop up here and there, such as "mesh" -> "MEtaverse SHell" :-)
However what Kao writes here captures the big picture pretty well. What a lot of people are looking for is essentially a closer integration of current and future applications in a way that isn't well served by current systems (operating systems, languages, toolkits). We made a concious decision very early on that a successful "metaverse" system would need to be modeled after the World Wide Web by way of an infrastructure that could be easily repurposed to a very wide variety of applications. Thus, while we're focused on online 3D as our goal (which greatly helps motivate a design that solves specific problems), the trend in VOS development has always been towards a more general meta-structure that enables integration between a lot of different systems. What has emerged over the past few years is the growing understanding that simply having an immersive space is not sufficient, it is the potential interactions between entities (users, agents, monsters, whatever) and the emergent behavior that arises from those interactions that's really useful and interesting. The system that enables the greatest variety of interaction (currently Second Life) is going to be the one that people gravitate to. On Mon, Apr 02, 2007 at 12:34:15PM +0200, Karsten Otto wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I just came back from vacation and am catching up with my e-mail > right now. > I may be late to the discussion, but I want to throw in my two cents > anyway :-) > > What is the Metaverse? (Matrix, Cyberspace, YouNameIt) > > In my opinion, it is not a protocol/file-format/system, it is a feature. > > <background> > In the "traditional" Internet world, you don't have a one-size-fits- > all protocol, file format, or tool. What you use depends on the > requirements of your application. If you want to transfer a file, you > use an FTP client and the FTP protocol over TCP. If you want a live > audio stream, you use an audio player supporting RTP (or something > similar) over UDP. Sure, there is the common IP protocol, but by > itself it is good for nothing at all. > > The WWW integrates a number of these different functions in the form > of hyperlinked multi-media documents. But this is still only a > partial solution! Sure you can watch a video in the browser, but for > a better experience most people download it and use a full-screen > standalone player. Sure you can design great documents with HTML/CSS, > but PDF still has its place. There is AJAX, but... you catch my > drift. The Web-Browser can get you 90% of almost everything, but > never all, and nobody really expects it to. Its main quality is to > provide a common interface for browsing information. > </background> > > The Metaverse/Cyberspace/Matrix in SF literature has the same quality > as the WWW - it is an integrator for a number of different spatial > content and applications. This is something we don't have today, > regardless of what LL or anybody claims. VRML, Collada, Flux, even > VOS... interesting building blocks already out there, but no > Metaverse by themself. > > I don't believe that a single protocol, data model, or system could > ever solve all problems and accomplish every goal. Like in the > traditional Internet, the requirements differ too much among 3D > applications. When you chat with friends in a virtual pub, you need a > different protocol than when you go to the arcade to play an FPS > game. When you do virtual flight training, you need a different data > model than when you study surgery at Virtual Medical School. And so > on... > > In my opinion, if we want a Metaverse (do we?), we need something > that can get us from application A to B without too much of a hiccup. > It likely has to support multiple protocols and data models for this > purpose. It will not deliver 90% right from the start, and I'd settle > for a lot less. After all, you cannot really compare Mosaic to Mozilla. > > The question to ask of every protocol/data model/tool thus is, how > well does it serve integration? Or in other words: How metaverse is it? > > Regards, > Karsten Otto (kao) > > _______________________________________________ > vos-d mailing list > vos-d@interreality.org > http://www.interreality.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/vos-d -- [ Peter Amstutz ][ [EMAIL PROTECTED] ][ [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] [Lead Programmer][Interreality Project][Virtual Reality for the Internet] [ VOS: Next Generation Internet Communication][ http://interreality.org ] [ http://interreality.org/~tetron ][ pgpkey: pgpkeys.mit.edu 18C21DF7 ]
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