[Sosfbay-discuss] An Introduction to Virtual Worlds

[Tian Harter]

 >
 >
 > *Corey Bridges
 > *
 > *An Introduction to Virtual Worlds*
 >
 >
 > Corey Bridges is co-founder, Executive Producer and Marketing Director
 > of the Multiverse Network, Inc., a company founded in 2004 by a team
 > of Netscape veterans, and aiming to become the world’s leading network
 > of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) and 3D virtual worlds.
 > Multiverse has pioneered a new technology platform designed to change
 > the economics of virtual world development by providing independent
 > game developers with the resources they need to enter and compete in
 > the $2 billion online game market.
 >
 > Corey was a member of the original launch team for Netflix, and a
 > pre-IPO employee at Netscape, where he worked as product manager for
 > the company's flagship Internet browser.
 >
 > Corey also has written and directed a number of short films, and
 > produced commercials and TV specials. An award-winning writer, he has
 > collaborated with well-known technology expert John Dvorak on multiple
 > books. He has spoken internationally about the future of virtual
 > worlds.
 >
 > Corey, who oversees business development and developer relations with
 > thousands of game development teams, ranging from garage developers to
 > Fortune 100 companies to Hollywood legends, will introduce the concept
 > of virtual worlds and describe Multiverse's unique technology
 > platform, which is expected to change the economics of virtual world
 > development by empowering independent game developers to create
 > high-quality, MMOGs and non-game virtual worlds for less money and in
 > less time than ever before.
 >

Corey began his summary of the history back in the 1980s, when Multi- 
User Dungeons (MUDs) began appearing. They were text based
approximations of the dungeons and dragons role playing games that many
kids of the time were already familiar with. You moved by typing "go 
forward" or whatever. This would produce a few lines of text describing 
your new situation. Later they got more elaborate, adding graphics and 
more sophisticated user input.Ultima Online was the first massively
multi player game where emergent user behaviors produced an interesting 
culture. That idea has since been run with by many other developers.

World of Warcraft is now the 800 lb. gorilla of MMOGs. Their system 
consists of backbone servers that the company controls and console 
systems that users buy for $50ish or download (about 6 Gigabytes) and 
then play from their home computers, paying about $15/month for connect 
time. This works out to about $1 Billion per year, and makes them the
#1 media company in the world. Typical users play for about six months
before moving on to other things. Not only does the company make a lot
of money off the system, but there is a healthy aftermarket for things
like weapons and developed characters on eBay and craigslist that 
results in many millions of dollars changing hands every year.

Lately products like Second Life have shown that MMD can be used for
non-game applications. Multiverse has stepped into this relm by 
designing a system that makes it easy for developers to build up 
whatever kind of multi player universe they want. Many of the designers
worked at Netscape on their famous browser, so the Multiverse system is
built starting with many of the lessons learned from that experience.
Like most such systems it boils down to client software on the user's
computer and a server where everything is orchestrated.

Corey explained that the company gives away its developer kit and client
software. Then when a product gets good enough that it develops a
revenue stream they take ten percent. Multiverse began developing their
technology about four years ago now. At this point in time they have
about 25,000 users in a variety of settings. He expects client
applications to be developing revenue streams this year for the first
time.

During Q&A a number of interesting things came up:

Multiverse gets its funding from angel investors. A lot of the
development was done on the cheap, with a lot of the key people working
out of their homes etc. Hopefully now it will start paying off. At this
point the stock is informally worth about a buck a share. So far they
have raised and spent about $4 million.

A college in Florida designed a game where you could "level up" your 
character by demonstrating a detailed understanding of the laws of physics.

There have been several religious groups that have used the system to do
something. One group made a simulation of Jerusalem so that you can 
visit a historically accurate simulation of the place as it was at 
various times in history. A Christian group did something else a bit 
more tongue in cheek.

If you want to play with their software to try it out please visit:
http://battle.multiverse.net
-- 
Tian
http://tian.greens.org
I'm now a card carrying member of Global Exchange.