Building the Metaverse

Posted by ryan at 04:40 PM in internet . | 6 Comments

After reading an article about it, I recently signed up for a trial account on there.com, an online community. There.com is not a an online game like the Sims Online, but it is bit more than a glorified chat room. Subscribers have an avatar to explore the world with. The avatars are customizable and there are plenty of objects in the world to interact with, on your own or with others. Users can make virtual money by designing new objects for the game and selling them in online auctions. There.com will also let you buy money for this virtual world using your real world credit card.

Another online world which I have not yet tried is called Second Life. From what I have read, Second Life differs from There.com with its advanced tools for building more elaborate objects to use in the world.

I remember being excited about the prospect of virtual worlds years ago when VRML was making the rounds. I'm not sure people were quite ready for all of that 7 years ago, but now that online communication is becoming second nature, the ways we communicate should become more advanced. One of the first things that impressed me about There.com is the fact that when I walk around in this virtual world, it isn't empty.

Whether or not either of these worlds will make it, I cannot say. But I like the direction they are both headed in. User created, submersive virtual worlds.