Future Technology for VW

[Jose L. Salmeron]

Hi all,

I have seen a lot of technologies used for developing virtual worlds. For instance, Squeak/Smalltalk in Croquet SDK, Java in Project Wonderland, and so on.

Anyway, It is possible that browsers will be more accepted that hard clients for virtual worlds. In fact, I think that the VW future is related with Web3D. Maybe, Ogoglio or something like that could be the best option. Are you agree?

Regards

[Doctor]

I just had a look at the Croquet website and have found that they have added VRML support since I last looked at Croquet 2 or more years ago. I will have to look into this and report back to the forums on my findings.

[Hiperia3D - Jordi R Cardona]

I mostly agree with what you say. I think hybrid architecture is the perfect solution for this, as it solves problems that are present in pure P2P systems, like different bandwidth, security, and synchronization.

How are "portals" in Croquet? What is the difference with Blaxxun or a VRML Anchor?
...
SecondLife and Active Worlds have a built-in web browser that does what you say. I agree that it is the best solution. The exception may be 3DXplorer, that is plugin-less and then it's perfect as a web browser technology.
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>Since the topic has (sort of) been opened, has anyone thought about the possible
>networking topologies for a multiuser VRML/X3D chat.

Yes, I did. In fact, I've been building a server and client for VRML/X3D multiuser worlds. It is a big challenge, and the easy part was building shared events, that are already done. The hard part are avatars, as VRML/X3D doesn't distinguish between avatar position and viewpoint, and that's a big problem, and so does the lack of collision detection between objects.

I will not release it as opensource, but I will release other tools (converters, building apps, optimizers) like I'm doing now with the X3DV Module Suite. The reason to keep it copyrighted is that opensource projects are hard to finance, and building and maintaining things like this cost money, time and tons of effort.

As an user, I never worry if someone is proprietary or opensource. The important is that it offers you enough freedom and lasts in time, like for example AW has done. Some projects that are or become opensource disappear when they can't pay their costs.

I also think that good worldbuilders should have free access, and some revenue share if it is possible.

[Jose L. Salmeron]

I am completely agree with your comments about open source. No users select any technology just for open source. It is an added value for developers.

[Wes Gray]

I think we are on the verge of a revolution in what a browser based virtual world can look like. The speed of the realtime rendering will increase while the broadband Infrastructure advances. I've been checking out the unity3D engine for an upcoming project and was floored to launch their demo right from my browser and experience lightning fast speed and detailed graphics. The plugin took about 3 seconds to install, very seamless experience. I really believe that is where we are going.

Whether web-based virtual worlds replace downloaded clients remains to be seen, Some VWs take hours to download, but are worth the wait. On the other hand, some ask you to install visual basic runtime, then the client software, etc. A lot of new users will opt for the web-based VWs.

[Bruce Lehmann]

Interesting point :-) I have always felt that in some of these discussions, the eend user gets forgotten. Even though PC's have become more powerful and faster, they still tend to come with built-in video and an OS (Vista) that takes alot of the power just to run itself. Some of the platforms that have come or are coming online take alot of jiuce to run and this can be a BIG minus for the end user experience (See my reviews on Just Leap In, etc). Also, open source projects are too "geeky" for end users. If it is not easy to download/install, view, if it is slow and laggy or buggy, the end users will look elsewhere. Remember, alot of people are merely "point & click" users and only want it to work. And, unlike most of the people that hang out here, the are involved in the virtual world to socialize and be entertained, not to get involved in the architecture and details that make it work. Without them, however, there is less of a future for the developers and biulders.