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Metaplace!

September 18th, 2007 (Visited 15806 times) Tags:

It is an amazing relief to finally get to talk about what we are making.

It’s been interesting to see the reactions everywhere. Lots of folks “get it,” some don’t (and that’s fine, no need to persuade everyone with just a FAQ and an eight minute demo!). Lots of folks saying “exactly what I predicted!” — which is fair.

For me, the bottom line is this: man, I have never had as much fun working on something as I have had working on this.

Even in an eight-minute demo and the FAQ, I can only get across a fraction of what we think we can do with what we have built. It’s just large, hard to convey in soundbites. That’s why I am so excited to see what people do with it.

Some of my daydreams:

Someone gets a simple cell phone client working during the beta.
We see someone teaching classes with it.
Someone makes an MMO bigger than WoW in it.

There’s things that I worry about as well, of course. Like, I see some of the MMO gamers worried already that this isn’t “for them.” But it IS. This is how we get the variety and diversity of games that you have wanted. This is how we get experimentation back. You know a lot of us are oldschool MUD guys, and we have missed the days when new stuff was getting tried all the time. To some degree Metaplace is about bringing that quality back.

We fully expect most users to be players, not makers. That’s just how it is. So for us, fun is absolutely key. I’m putting my money where my mouth is on that point, too. Yes, we have a new MMO we’re working on. And yes, we’re doing it in Metaplace.

I am still here at TechCrunch, and we’re mobbed, so I can’t write more. But I will be back — I am sure there are many questions!

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42 wrote on September 26th, 2007 at 4:16 pm:

4Gamer.net ― ［ゲーム開発者セミナー］ラ.. レジデント初期研修用資料: ネット時代の煽..Raph’s Website ? Metaplace!Metaplace – Metaplace Announcement 仕事耕具：“旧ソ連の発明法則”でアイデア.. Martin Fowler’s Bliki in Japanese – オブ.. 4Gamer.net ― ［AGDC 2007］ラフ・コスタ..

Virtual Fashion Technology wrote on September 26th, 2007 at 1:03 am:

featured as one of the 40 hottest startups in the TechCrunch40 conference. [IMG Metaplace] Metaplace is a web-based program developed by Ralph Koster, who is a very ell know game developer. He recently formed his own virtual world company.Here is a link to his blog.Mr. Koster wants to revolutionize and democratize access to virtual worlds for everyone with this product. He says (and demonstrates in the video pasted below) that Metaplace is very versatile and user friendly and can be used for gaming, socializing

The Gophur Hole wrote on September 20th, 2007 at 4:41 pm:

It looks like we finally get a definitive answer to the question, “So when isRaphgonna unveil this mmo-as-web standard he’s been on about?” It’s all over the web so I’ll leave the commentary to those with more time. I’ll simply add, “Sounds very cool, sign me up.” Metaplace – Metaplace Announcement

gamebunny wrote on September 19th, 2007 at 4:25 pm:

the internet by providing everyone with “a virtual place of their own.” Find out more at the official METAPLACE site, a post at Cuppycake’s (the platform’s Community Manager) site, Areae, and of course,Koster’s blog. Grats to all concerned on the big reveal. Sounds promising! “Our motto is: build anything, play everything, from anywhere. Until now, virtual worlds have all worked like the closed online services from before the internet took off. They had custom

Jon Paludan wrote on September 28th, 2007 at 8:53 pm:

Metaplace! - Raph Areae’s Metaplace Announced - Mike Sellers Mediegigant lægger tv-serier gratis på nettet - Peder Bjerge Byg dit eget 3D-univers helt gratis - Mads Elkær

Gaming, Programming, and Micro-ISV Hodgepodge wrote on September 21st, 2007 at 5:55 am:

specifically for developing games. There are some big questions though, like will you be able to deploy these games anywhere or only at InstantAction.com? WIll I be able to take my existing TGB game and deploy it in this new environment? The secondannouncementthat caught my eye was Raph Koster’s latest endeavor, Metaplace. It promises to allow people to create MMORPG’s, puzzle games, etc, eventually. It will be interesting to see how much is working at this point. Here

Gamasutra - Koster's Areae Announces Metaplace Online Worlds Engine wrote on September 18th, 2007 at 7:50 pm:

[...] and so on. We expect to keep working on the 3d client support.” In addition, Koster himself has commented on the announcement on his official weblog, explaining of the technology: “We fully expect most users to be players, [...]

GameSetWatch - Koster Reveals Metaplace - Online Worlds For Everyone? wrote on September 18th, 2007 at 9:17 pm:

[...] addition, Koster himself has commented on the announcement on his official weblog, explaining of the technology: “We fully expect most users to be players, [...]

~chron | recent posts wrote on September 18th, 2007 at 9:18 pm:

[...] Koster has announced his company’s secret project: Metaplace. It’s some kind of virtual world framework [...]

Koster's Areae Announces Metaplace Online Worlds Engine wrote on September 19th, 2007 at 12:28 am:

[...] so on. We expect to keep working on the 3d client support." In addition, Koster himself has commented on the announcement on his official weblog, explaining of the technology: "We fully expect most users to be [...]

Slashdot | Koster's Areae Unveils Metaplace wrote on September 19th, 2007 at 2:56 am:

[...] breaths a sigh of relief [...]

Metaplace: a new vision in an emerging market « Only the Wise wrote on September 19th, 2007 at 3:48 am:

[...] http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/09/18/metaplace/ [...]

raccaldin36: Mandatory Pimpage wrote on September 19th, 2007 at 6:49 am:

[...] course I’m linking it. And, you, *points at you people with world ideas*, go make them.http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/09/18/metaplace/Also, I can’t believe how much technical information I had to look up to put in. And yes, I do know [...]

Worlds In Motion - Koster Reveals Metaplace - Online Worlds For Everyone? wrote on September 19th, 2007 at 7:08 am:

[...] addition, Koster himself has commented on the announcement on his official weblog, explaining of the technology: “We fully expect most users to be players, [...]

Minor Studios » Blog Archive » TechCrunch40: Flowplay and Metaplace wrote on September 19th, 2007 at 8:07 am:

[...] was presented by the energetic and passionate Raph Koster, and the idea is a virtual world that can live anywhere – on Facebook, your phone, your blog, and [...]

Koster's work appears: Metaplace - Page 2 - Quarter To Three Forums wrote on September 19th, 2007 at 1:13 pm:

[...] what I’ve read, yes you can charge money, if people will pay it. Raph’s site And as far as a worldly MMO, the difference is between directed MMOs like WoW (gamey), where goals [...]

Trusted Worlds » Blog Archive » Metaplace Decloaks Off The Starboard Bow wrote on September 19th, 2007 at 11:04 pm:

[...] Koster’s announcement [...]

Machinima Premiere: Comments wrote on September 20th, 2007 at 4:58 am:

[...] New reports about Ralph Koster’s Metaplace. Blog.VWNGigOMCuppytalkTerraNova Posted by bllius on Thursday 20 September 2007 – 00:43:04 | Read/Add [...]

panovoyant: Metaplace wrote on September 20th, 2007 at 5:09 am:

[...] go before anything like a true 3D client is available.More information is at Metaplace’s creator, Raph Koster’s site, TechCrunch40 and this Youtube [...]

Gaming, Programming, and Micro-ISV Hodgepodge » New Web Platforms For Game Development wrote on September 20th, 2007 at 9:57 pm:

[...] second announcement that caught my eye was Raph Koster’s latest endeavor, Metaplace. It promises to allow people [...]

DTF.RU - �� -�� wrote on September 21st, 2007 at 6:27 am:

[...] TechCrunch 40 �� . � �� , �� [...]

My best beloved wrote on September 21st, 2007 at 11:04 am:

[...] друг за другом высыпалось откровение Рафа Костера о MetaPlace и новости от секонд лайферов – тенденция, однако. Current [...]

Plaguelands » Blog Archive » The Meta-Space Craze wrote on September 21st, 2007 at 11:05 am:

[...] Koster answers some F13 questions. Thoughts from Bloggers Cuppy, Metaplace Community Mistress – Demo Video with Raph and Other Thoughts. The bearded horse’s mouth – Koster’s blog with comments/questions. [...]

mbravo: cyberspace - it is everting wrote on September 21st, 2007 at 1:01 pm:

[...] друг за другом высыпалось откровение Рафа Костера о MetaPlace и новости от секонд лайферов – тенденция, однако.(Post a new [...]

Massive Update: Weekly MMO News news from 1UP.com wrote on September 21st, 2007 at 3:09 pm:

[...] Manager Tami Baribeau writes in a post why gamers should care. Over at his site, Raph just breaths a sigh of relief. There’s been plenty of other discussion of this topic by now, from the Fires of Heavens board to [...]

Чего новенького? wrote on September 21st, 2007 at 11:23 pm:

The Massive About Metaplace at MMOG Nation wrote on September 22nd, 2007 at 8:28 am:

[...] Virtual World News and GigaOM have writeups of the presentation at the TechCrunch Conference, while Areae’s Community Manager Tami Baribeau writes in a post why gamers should care. Over at his site, Raph just breaths a sigh of relief. [...]

A nodal point wrote on September 22nd, 2007 at 4:10 pm:

friends wrote on September 23rd, 2007 at 1:16 pm:

[...] друг за другом высыпалось откровение Рафа Костера о MetaPlace и новости от секонд лайферов – тенденция, однако. [...]

Metaplace: Next SL challenger? - Page 2 - SLUniverse Forums wrote on September 24th, 2007 at 1:55 am:

[...] is getting our usability to a level where anyone can make something. See in the comments on Raph’s log. So getting started should be easy. The devil is in the details, as always. All the above is [...]

Name the Time, Name The MetaPlace by GamingMoments Network wrote on September 24th, 2007 at 6:11 am:

[...] a similar way to the web, playable on any hardware that supports the platform. Koster says in the developer’s blog: “Our goals are sort of idealistic. We think there are all kinds of things on the Internet [...]

Drahziana » Blog Archive » Metaplace wrote on September 25th, 2007 at 9:28 am:

[...] That’s just recklessly good. So here’s your handy buzz phrase play book (I get credit for none of [...]

Metaplace | mmodig wrote on September 25th, 2007 at 3:06 pm:

[...] Raph finally got around to telling us what Areae is all about. A MMO popularity contest, or something, [...]

Rambler: 'www.metaplace.com' (��: 17) wrote on December 16th, 2007 at 5:30 am:

[...] Raph’s Website > Metaplace!… got so many hits its down now or busy (metaplace.com) so I haven’t been able to examine… … … 4:20 pm: I’m excited about metaplace.com. I heard it from Yahoo! [...]

leeander.com » Metaverse U: Il Summit per i mondi virtuali organizzato dalla Stanford University (SHL) wrote on February 5th, 2008 at 9:27 am:

[...] di notevole spessore. Da Howard Rheingold a Mike Liebhold (Institute for the Future), passando per Raph Koster (Metaplace, e di cui vi avevo parlato ai tempi dello scorso eTech per la sua Theory of fun), [...]

Reader Comments

Staarkhand said on September 18th, 2007 at 5:17 pm:
My first 5-second impression (literally): pastel colors, hallmark card looking little girl, cutsie dinosauresque creature, hello kitty fonts…

Wondering why MMO players think this may not be intended ‘for’ them? My first reaction is acute (/pun) repulsion, and I’m going to get past it only because it’s you.
RodeoClown said on September 18th, 2007 at 5:33 pm:
What kind of costs are involved?
Does it cost to make your own stuff?
Does it cost to play other people’s?
Can you make money by making your own MMO?
Bissrok said on September 18th, 2007 at 5:50 pm:
To be honest, this wasn’t what I was expecting (building games to play on MySpace and cellphones?). Despite all the warning signs, I thought you were building an MMO with a lot of customization.

But, after I got over the shock of all that, I realized that there’s an enormous amount of potential with something like this (there’s already people anxious to get started on building their games). It’s not what I had expected, but it’ll probably be a lot more fun than what I had in mind.
Meparch said on September 18th, 2007 at 6:00 pm:
Well it was sort of what I was expecting with all the social network and RMTs talk. A platform that merges myspace with secondlife with a little UO thrown in for good measure. I guess the gamers will need to wait and see what the MMO is like before they get excited about this. I guess I am interested in when the 3D engine comes out and how usable the tools will be for the creation side of this.

Will be interesting to see where exactly this goes. Bissrok should be thinking the internet Ed uses in Cowboy Bebop. Good luck with this Raph.
rootdown said on September 18th, 2007 at 6:19 pm:
Can’t wait to sink my teeth into it!
Aaron said on September 18th, 2007 at 6:23 pm:
It’s a phenomenal idea, Raph! I really hope y’all can do what you’re trying to do.

Obviously, there’s a lot of important information still under wraps, but the general concept sounds like a real winner. I’m sure most folks in our little blogosphere are very interested right now in designing Metaplace games. With help from there and other places, it should get a quick start. If it can hit the ground (release) running, I bet it will draw a lot of attention from gamers and non-gamers alike. It also seems like the sort of thing which non-gaming news media will take considerable interest in.

I can’t wait to try building games with it, solo and collaboratively. I bet I’ll be playing a lot of Metaplace games, too. Good luck!
Jason Maskell said on September 18th, 2007 at 6:25 pm:
Incredible idea. I hope it lives up to the vision of it I have in my head.

I’m going to have to google to find this 8 minute video. I’ve been watch the techcrunch 40 live blogging, but I didn’t look too closely at the metaplace stuff in it.. Now I’m going to have to go back and take a closer look.
Rory said on September 18th, 2007 at 6:41 pm:
This sounds awesome! I know several people who are looking for MMO platforms who will be thrilled to hear about this project.
Nick McLaren said on September 18th, 2007 at 6:47 pm:
I’m pretty excited about it! I can’t wait to see what I can build with the thing. I can absolutely see why this would be fun to put together because your basically providing a functional version of play-doh, that enables the player and designer to create new games/worlds in ways that were not possible previously, and with features not available until this. Heck… I’m giddy! LOL! =)

Cheers,

Nick
David S. said on September 18th, 2007 at 7:23 pm:
I do wonder how big the worlds can actually become, per instance. Is instance even the right word to use? Oh so many questions…
Cameron Sorden said on September 18th, 2007 at 7:45 pm:
Congratulations on your launch! If there’s one thing I love in my games, it’s the power of the players to breathe new life into them and just create cool stuff. It looks like that’s exactly what you’re giving people, so I’m excited to watch this develop and see what happens.
Vargen said on September 18th, 2007 at 8:20 pm:
We see someone teaching classes with it.

Funny, the professor I’m working for just asked me to investigate various options for creating virtual worlds & multiplayer games for educational use. I’ll have to dig up this video of which you speak… (might have missed it when checking out the site earlier).
Aaron said on September 18th, 2007 at 8:26 pm:
I just posted my first idea for an educational Metaplace game.

I can picture Areae’s tool being put to a lot of different uses. And, as I said there, something like Metaplace just might help the games industry garner more respect in our culture. We can make games that are fun, but not only fun.
Raph said on September 18th, 2007 at 8:35 pm:

What kind of costs are involved?

Play for free.
Build small worlds for free.
If they get too intensive, like we say on the faq, then we’ll talk money.

Does it cost to make your own stuff?

Not unless it’s heavy. Think like hosting fees.

Does it cost to play other people’s?

No, not unless they start charging you.

Can you make money by making your own MMO?

Yep.
Justin Willcox said on September 18th, 2007 at 8:44 pm:
I’ll use it. I would pay dear to use this. It is exactly what I and several of my friends needed and wanted to see come available. We were at the point of using a crudely hacked quake mod and some filthy database work to try and simulate the environment we want to build. While it might not be for everyone, to me and my ilk it is highly magnetic. I’m very excited – Raph, if you have time I dropped you a note enquiring about early use and involvement. Hurray!
Susan Wu said on September 18th, 2007 at 8:52 pm:
Congratulations to the whole team! You’ve accomplished a ton and I’m excited to see what people start doing with the platform…
Andrew Wooldridge said on September 18th, 2007 at 8:55 pm:
Ok time to sound like a geeky fanboy. I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time. Ever since I got my first TI-994A I’ve been trying to create adventures and worlds on the computer. The resources and time it takes to get chat, objects, etc. has always made the prospect of creating an mmo too involved. People like me just want to get to the cool stories, explore the rooms the RPG had as fillers just in case there’s something interesting there. I even played Half-Life 2 more for the amazing atmosphere and storyline than the shooting aspect.

I do have one question for you however. Will it be possible to – using your scripting language – create persistent NPC’s that can respond to players? I mean more than just an inkeeper that tells you “what’ll you buy” but a true bot that could do things like fetch RSS feeds, keep your house protected while you are gone, etc.
Grimwell said on September 18th, 2007 at 9:06 pm:
Congratulations Raph! (and everyone else on the team). Well done, and a lot of it in a short time. It must be a huge relief to be able to talk about some of it finally.

Also, brilliant move in giving old MMO pundits a place to put up or shut up. It used to be easy to rant from a blog and cry out about how things should be done, now there is this little thing en route that sorta calls out the armchair designers and says “You think you can do better? Here’s your chance!”

I think you just pwned half the old school blogging community.
Amaranthar said on September 18th, 2007 at 9:17 pm:
Congrats Raph. Looking forwards to seeing who exactly pwns who.
Michael Chui said on September 18th, 2007 at 9:59 pm:
Heh. It’s like… Multiverse… for the web.

Speaking of Multiverse, how are you paying for this? I have a hard time believing their model (you make money, we make money) works. I take it you’re going to make your shiny new MMO-via-Metaplace a revenue stream?

*goes and signs up for alpha*
Kerri Knight said on September 18th, 2007 at 10:03 pm:
Congrats and good luck with this, I too can’t wait to see all the sandboxes to play in!

P.S. please purchase the rights to the Firefly/Serenity MMO, find Joss Whedon, take him to lunch, hire him as a creative consultant, etc… :9.
geraintcb said on September 18th, 2007 at 10:11 pm:
*blink*
Well, I wasn’t expecting anything particular, but this sounds… interesting. But I guess I will have to see (and use!) it before I can understand the… scope of this.

*sees the “alpha signup!” button and mashes it*
Now I have to play the waiting game again – I just have to play around with this
Wilfried said on September 18th, 2007 at 10:18 pm:
Just out of curiosity, what will be the differences compared to Multiverse?
Mike Rozak said on September 18th, 2007 at 10:42 pm:
Where’s a link to the video of the “8-minute demo”?
Matt Fisher said on September 18th, 2007 at 10:58 pm:
It took me about 2 minutes to “get it”… (the “build your own apartment” thing threw me, got me thinking of it as a 3d-facebook or something) but I’m quite excited, now. I don’t see how it wouldn’t be for MMO players, there’s not one of them (us) that isn’t a back-seat developer and wants to mess around with some concepts without having to develop a graphics & networking architecture first.
Thee said on September 18th, 2007 at 11:45 pm:
Wow, that sounds exciting, Raph! I have been wondering what you are up to since you first announced your new project “back then”. I am quite surprised and can’t wait to learn more. I am definitely going to get involved into all this as much as I can. I just started working on http://www.metaplace.info – a community-driven site with forums and stuff. Still pretty much work in progress, but that’ll change in the days and weeks to come.

So yeah, looking forward to read more about Metaplace! Keep the information coming!
Sulka Haro said on September 19th, 2007 at 1:08 am:
So where can I see the 8 minute demo? Either I’m blind and just can’t see it online or it’s not posted anywhere.
Olivier Lejade said on September 19th, 2007 at 2:25 am:
Raph, congratulation for the launch!

Sorry to ask but I have three hard questions that lots of people are probably going to keep repeating until you answer them clearly – so you’d better bite the bullet now and be done with it…

1- Are you releasing any code (client or server) and if so, under which licence?

2- Assuming the server is proprietary and the protocol is public, how are you planning to react if/when somebody rewrites a server?

3- Have you applied for any software patents on Metaplace?

Best of luck in any cases!

O.
Ola Fosheim Grøstad said on September 19th, 2007 at 3:08 am:
A place of places. Nice name, nice project! The site states “Metaplace lets you play the same game on any platform that reads our open client standard.” Are there any prelinary docs available on the protocol?

Ola.
Stephen said on September 19th, 2007 at 3:34 am:
Man, you are making my dream a reality been waiting for something like this for ever

Im thinking a fishing game that actually models fisheries stocks/depletions vs recovery rate at the same time – as people play the game part, they contribute to the research part

but lets not get ahead of ourselves….

yay
Reza said on September 19th, 2007 at 3:44 am:
This is an exciting news.
Can’t wait to start buiding one.

Reza
Lobosolitario said on September 19th, 2007 at 4:20 am:
Looks like I was lucky to get there ahead of the crowd earlier – the server is timing out on me now when I try to access it.

This might be answered in the FAQ, but since that’s currently not available to me, could you specify a bit more as to what exact technical skills one would need to create content and/or games using Metaplace?
Eaglewing said on September 19th, 2007 at 4:56 am:
Businessy question : How will YOU make money from it? Will you monetize the platform (so if somebody builds something heavy, will you include a profit margin in your fees), or only the big MMO you will be building on it?
TheAmazin said on September 19th, 2007 at 5:16 am:
Ohhhhhhhh man you guys better be making the next UO in there. You know damn well that’s all anyone wants from areae.
Jason said on September 19th, 2007 at 5:40 am:
It says something about your idea that half the pages won’t load for me because the server is too busy. Either that or is says something about your space provider…
Wendel Gascoigne said on September 19th, 2007 at 5:55 am:
The BBC has published an article on Metaplace: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7002479.stm

It’s got some quotes from Raph and a couple of screenshots.

Wendel
Amaranthar said on September 19th, 2007 at 6:00 am:
I’m curious about a few things.

If someone makes a game in 2D, it sounds like it’ll be very easy to change it to 3D later, is that so?

Is there an ability to make art in Metaplace, or do you need other software to do that?

How far does the movement range of avatars go? Can they swim, climb? Can movement be added if it’s not in already?
Prokofy Neva said on September 19th, 2007 at 6:01 am:
Unfortunately, this site apparently got so many hits its down now or busy (metaplace.com) so I haven’t been able to examine it yet, and I hope to soon.

But from what I gather, it’s essentially a developers’ site, in which developers will be able to use a platform to mash up various games that will work across platforms and be pasteable to each other as elements for free or for sale. That’s all good, but…it’s an elitist approach to worlds nonetheless that puts all the tools in the hands of savvy developers. Unless you learn computer coding, HTML, flash, etc. you can’t play this game of world-making.

I was struck by the discussion on gigaom:
http://gigaom.com/2007/09/18/metaplace-unveiled-raph-koster/

“While Second Life is evolving as an immersive 3D metaverse which slowly incorporates web elements like XML and RSS in-world, Metaplace is beginning as a web-based network which swallows the attributes of online worlds. As Koster put it: “We don’t think the Net is getting stuffed inside a giant 3D client.” That’s just the Second Life strategy, which demonstrates the fundamental philosophical difference between Raph Koster’s Areae and Philip Rosedale’s Linden Lab. Rosedale wants a one-world utopia where all Second Life users share the same space. Koster wants a metaverse that looks more like the web. “Cramming people into one world doesn’t make sense to us,” he told me.”

It seems funny to me to think of SL as some kind of Klein bottle that you stuff things in or can’t get out of.

I view it as very open-ended and flexible precisely because it’s a platform where dummies like me, ordinary people without programming and HTML, can come on it, and to be sure, with a bit of a learning curve, enter it and then start making and doing stuff — and a very wide range of stuff.

So while “one worldism” might seem cramped to Raph Koster, to me, it seems democratic because it means that anyone can come in (of course, if they get the DSL and graphic cards!) and participate without having to learn some complex set of developer tools.

And I don’t want to be niched into Cartoon Network or Suicide Girls. I’d like to be able to have the diversity out there where my customers can include both cartoons and suicide girls; that’s what is pluralistic and democratic about SL, almost in spite of its creators, who tend toward the elitist and to favouring their fellow programmers, naturally. Still, their world-product, if they don’t destroy it through their grid-product, is very compelling and interesting as a massively open social experiment.

Having a very long tail of little niches where somebody can make their pirate game and somebody else can make their book club sounds…like the Internet with merely bells and whistles, like a new form of video or flash. It’s not a place where you have a *world* which is socializing, interaction, etc. Having an auction house somewhere, where people can trade their little worldlets sounds interesting, but still, favouring the 10 percent class of widget makers and not everyone else.

So then what I’m supposed to do is go and consume somebody’s little worldlet, and naturally I don’t like the sound of that.

The only potential I can see for this is if some developer, a la Second Life, makes something very robust and compelling, but that has easy entry for ordinary people, and then enables *them too* to go and paste and copy the widgets from the other games/worlds and adapt that robust and compelling platform *themselves as ordinary people*.

It may seem ironic that freedom could come in oneworldism and a proprietary space. Yet it does, for precisely the reason that it makes tools and spaces available democratically to the general public for their varieties of use, rather than requiring people to become devs.
Metaplace - Interaction design for the masses said on September 19th, 2007 at 6:04 am:
[...]It could do for interaction design the same that HTML did for interface design. [...]
Wendel Gascoigne said on September 19th, 2007 at 6:29 am:
Prokofy, shouldn’t you wait until you’ve seen the site and have read more facts before you write a long post on elitism and the benefits of oneworldism based on your own conjecture? For instance, the website certainly suggests that those who are not coders will still have access to drag and drop (I’m paraphrasing here) type development tools, that they will be able to use pre made templates, …

Wendel
Ryan Shwayder said on September 19th, 2007 at 6:39 am:
Grats on the announcement, Raph. Looks very cool. Now I know why you were semi-offended by my RMT post, but this type of… Metaplace… is the perfect platform for RMT. Anyway, seems like this could really take off if you guys execute it well.
Ryan Shwayder said on September 19th, 2007 at 6:47 am:
I vote that we make a Bloginati Metaworld with doorways connecting to each. Like a Virtual World Webring where you can read posts from MMO bloggers in a shared space, making real-time comments with the other readers.
robusticus said on September 19th, 2007 at 6:56 am:
Raph, just a quick note – I feel lucky to be sentient and awake today. I hope there’s a Minh Le and a Tim Holt in here, because they made some truly kick ass games in the grand scheme of ALL things.

Prokky, the extinction of the programmer species is a long task. But every good programmer has signed up to it and gives the project a fair bit of effort so there is hope yet.
Joe said on September 19th, 2007 at 7:25 am:
Unfortunately, this reeks of the typical Koster problem: good idea, terrible implimentation. You needed to hire some actual tech pimps Raph, people who would tell you “no, you don’t want to use PHP and mysql” and match your ideas with the best technology available, instead of the lowest common denominator.
Nick Koranda said on September 19th, 2007 at 9:22 am:
Congratulations!

I cant wait to see how it will work. The one specific thing I want to see is how the “modules” will be shared, such that a guy in China making say a movement system will be able to code it in such a way that someone on the other end of the world will be able to drop it into their world. With common formats/interfaces you can truly be able to build worlds community style.

Again, congratulations!
foo said on September 19th, 2007 at 9:57 am:
So… Neverwinter Nights 1 + myspace + club penguin. My 9-year-old will be pleased.
James said on September 19th, 2007 at 10:20 am:
I am very excited for this game, I can’t wait to see the ideas and projects creators will come up with.

I’m especially interested in the social applications such tools can provide the internet and really help to stimulate a new trend in digital media.

I’ve started a site for the developer community to begin meeting one another and discussing possible projects and ventures, I hope to see some of you there. Still working on improving it constantly but it’s got basic functionality

Check us out: myMetaplace.com

Good luck, I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Tess said on September 19th, 2007 at 10:28 am:
Coming, as I do, from the Tiny family of MUDs, of course I get what you’re doing. I just have no clue how you plan to make any money at it.
Naum said on September 19th, 2007 at 12:56 pm:
/gratz

Looking forward to getting more info as I would be very interested in developing on such a platform…

…good luck Raph!
Slyfeind said on September 19th, 2007 at 2:34 pm:
Wow, fansites are cropping up already…and they’re not related to IGN. Yes, you HAVE reinvented the Internet!

I agree that the pastel foofoo girls on your site are giving the wrong impressions. Show more robots and elves.
Fabled said on September 19th, 2007 at 4:20 pm:
I’m excited about metaplace.com. I heard it from Yahoo! News and it seems to be a great idea to give people the tools to build their own online world on the internet. This reminds me of my builder days using an OLC (online creator) with a Diku/EmlenMud.
Prokofy Neva said on September 19th, 2007 at 5:12 pm:
>the website certainly suggests that those who are not coders will still have access to drag and drop (I’m paraphrasing here) type development tools, that they will be able to use pre made templates,

Yeah, I picked that up already, and I prefaced my remarks by saying I couldn’t read the site, but I still think that EVEN if you can “drag and drop,” that the REAL point of it is for coders and developers to make words, it’s aimed at that 10 percent. And that may be a good thing — it may even boost the 10 percent to a 20 percent with its ease of use. But it’s still a different premise than Second Life, which also frankly has the same pasteability.
Raph said on September 19th, 2007 at 9:02 pm:

The real point is NOT for developers and coders to make worlds. The real, underlying point, is to change how virtual worlds work. The more obvious point is virtual worlds for everyone, and not just the “tekkie elite” you decry.
Prokofy Neva said on September 19th, 2007 at 9:10 pm:
Raph, the proof is in the pudding. If I can log on, learn the stuff pretty quickly, and make a world and populate it and sell stuff in it, then what you say will be true! I wouldn’t even insist on doing that in a day or 7 days, but just being able to do it in principle even in 3 weeks. I understand you’re changing how virtual worlds “work” and making the ponds more shallow to wade in and splash around in, but…can dummies make those ponds? And will people come? We’ll have to see.

Look, I’m sorry, but you can’t expect it all to be fanboyz and glory : )
Cuppycake said on September 19th, 2007 at 9:38 pm:
Prokofy -

I have made a world in Metaplace and I have no programming skills whatsoever. It can and will be done =) A big part of our first rounds of testing is getting our usability to a level where anyone can make something.
Michael Chui said on September 19th, 2007 at 11:48 pm:
Raph, the proof is in the pudding.

So, like, wait for the pudding, will you? It’s in bloody ALPHA.
thefoxcub said on September 20th, 2007 at 12:19 am:
Hi,
I write and research for an innovative website that has, for the last year or so, unofficially followed the development of a new TV series and game, Ice Planet. We are always looking for new ways to improve the experience of our visitors and see metaplaces as a fantastic opportunity to develop our webspace and maintain our innovative approach. I understand that beta testing is ongoing and would love to get involved.
Over00 said on September 20th, 2007 at 4:47 am:
For those looking for a demo, saw this on Metaversed: http://metaversed.com/19-sep-2007/raph-koster-demos-metaplace
Azaroth said on September 20th, 2007 at 5:01 am:
Congrats Raph. I think there’s going to be a big market out there for Metaplace.
Aaron said on September 20th, 2007 at 8:05 am:
Raph, I finally got around to watching your little demo, and it raised a couple questions.

You showed how the toolset is currently divided into sub-toolsets for different types of games (space shooter, arcade, etc). Will it be possible to combine genres with Metaplace? If not through a graphical tool, would someone with at least a little programming knowledge be able to take a few lines of code from one genre template and try to apply them to another genre?

For example, if I wanted to combine an arcade-type air-combat game (ala 1942 or Galaga) with an RPG-style character panel (for attribute and skill upgrades, visual customization), might that be possible? Or say I wanted the player to be able to eject from the plane and parachute down to the ground, at which point he could fire rockets at the planes in first-person view?

I’ll understand if it’s too early to know or comment, but does enabling that sort of genre crossover sound like something y’all are considering?
Wendel Gascoigne said on September 20th, 2007 at 9:50 am:
Aaron,

I don’t see why it wouldn’t. As far as I understand, the drag and drop is there to help the non programmers. But, if you dare go behind the scenes and can manage the complexity, you could certainly implement the Metascript code you need to handle both styles. If you think of your shooter example with RPG panel, it just adds behaviours to the original template.

Just conjecturing here. But it seems reasonable, if not necessarily easy depending on your design.

Thinking about this though Raph, can you maybe post some hints aobut how the interface and logical layer will relate? Everything published seems to indicate a nice separation between the 2. So, for example, your cell phone, web browser and custom built 3D client – let’s be ambitious – (aka the UI’s) can all connect and interact with your world (aka the Logic).

Does that make sense?And can you tease us with some hints of what kind of tools we’ll have to work both levels and how they will talk to each other? XML?

Wendel
Raph said on September 20th, 2007 at 10:13 am:

Stylesheet: a “world in a box” with base functionality to use a starting point. Ex.: chat world, match-3 puzzle game.

Module: logic and behaviors you can drag and drop in. Ex.: health bar, RSS reader, combat system, RPG character panel.

XML: 4x too big. We use MetaMarkup, which we developed to be lean, mean, and human-readable. You generally don’t need to write it by hand, the tools make it for you.
Kerri Knight said on September 20th, 2007 at 12:56 pm:
The real point is NOT for developers and coders to make worlds. The real, underlying point, is to change how virtual worlds work. The more obvious point is virtual worlds for everyone, and not just the “tekkie elite” you decry.

I certainly hope that:

Many players will gain a respect for the amount of work that goes into interactive MMO worlds

Many DEVs will see, through actions and not only words (yay forums!), what kinds of activities people prefer

Both sides will work a lot closer with each other on a number of titles, matching niche interests with the unique individuals willing to organize/govern/maintain them.

oh, as I was surfing this way, thinking “I’m gonna check whats up on Raph’s site”, I caught myself typing in http://www.metaplace.com, see its already 100% natural! :9
torncanvas said on September 20th, 2007 at 2:25 pm:
This sounds awesome. Thanks for answering some of the questions. My only concerns now are performance and security.

Would the framework work well enough to say, support a moderately advanced Flash action game?

What security measures are in place to prevent hacking/spoofing?
Wendel Gascoigne said on September 20th, 2007 at 2:50 pm:
Come over and speculate with us about those things at http://forums.metaplace.info/index.php (a Metaplace messageboard set up by Thee)

We have a few discussions going. And hopefully the devs will drop a hint or 2. *hint, hint, nudge, nudge*

Wendel
Bart Stewart said on September 20th, 2007 at 2:53 pm:
Lots of questions, of course, but overall, this is what I was hoping it would be: a much more open way to build worlds. (And I’m loving the comment that the reference world will be a “worldy” MMORPG.)

I don’t know if it’ll work. A system that’s too loosey-goosey and informal may never develop the internal structure that holds the whole thing together over the long term. (This is why so many open-source projects are never completed.) We need to see how Metaplace in action will balance constructive structure with expressive freedom.

That said, it’s necessary for someone to take the chance on building something like this, to try it and see if it works, because the monolithic, 5-years and $30M, army-of-professionals approach is clearly not working. More and more that looks like an evolutionary dead end. Something like Metaplace is necessary for the game/world industry to survive through adaptation to the new, more distributed online environment.

So if world-builder properties like Multiverse and social sites like Habbo Hotel and BarbieGirls were first movers in this more personalized Web 2.0 space, perhaps Metaplace will be to them what WoW was to MMORPGs, and will enjoy similar second-mover rewards.

Or is that shooting too low?

P.S. My only problem with the name “Metaplace” is that I keep wanting to misspell it as “Meatplace”, which for several reasons is probably not where Raph & Co. were going….
Michael Chui said on September 20th, 2007 at 5:07 pm:
Gah. Too many sites to track now. I was having trouble before, too. No idea how Raph does it.
Raph said on September 20th, 2007 at 5:53 pm:

Bookmarks, and RSS feeds.
Oliver Hemp said on September 26th, 2007 at 5:26 pm:
“Approaching World #5419b. Off to your left you can see a 1000x scale replica of a young man’s penis. Straight ahead is the fur-friendly Brothel of 5419, famed throughout the 5410s for Tailless Tuesdays.”

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