Comments on: Web-based VW news round-up http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/ Raph Koster's personal website: MMOs, gaming, writing, art, music, books Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:02:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: musings of a social architect: And a choice quote from Raph...http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/comment-page-1/#comment-132864 musings of a social architect: And a choice quote from Raph... Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:09:49 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/#comment-132864 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Raph’s Website � Web-based VW news round-up. ... that’s what all the most popular apps on Facebook seem to be: either fancier versions of [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%-->

[...] Raph’s Website � Web-based VW news round-up. … that’s what all the most popular apps on Facebook seem to be: either fancier versions of [...]

]]> By: Len Bullardhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/comment-page-1/#comment-132842 Len Bullard Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:22:45 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/#comment-132842 ".. the one mentioned" is the Media Machines FluxPlayer. FluxPlayer does require installation. It's free and no floating logo as seen in some systems. I'm not sure what 'live' means. If by that you mean, MU, that is so. MM works with the Web3D Consortium so is likely implementing the specification for the network sensor. The advantage here will be that X3D worlds from ANY vendor will interoperate. The Media Machines 3D editor is superb and is free for personal use. In fact, that editor is a very generous contribution to the 3D community as it supports several formats and has professional editing features. It also supports the H-Anim standards for avatars. 3DXplorer is a Java application. If one doesn't have Java installed, as some Windows installations don't, it doesn't work. It also leaves some native libraries which anyone can see looking at their directory tree. The claims of "3D for everyone" based on that are a little disingenuous but that is the right idea and kudos for getting your application out there. Best of luck. “.. the one mentioned” is the Media Machines FluxPlayer.

FluxPlayer does require installation. It’s free and no floating logo as seen in some systems. I’m not sure what ‘live’ means. If by that you mean, MU, that is so. MM works with the Web3D Consortium so is likely implementing the specification for the network sensor. The advantage here will be that X3D worlds from ANY vendor will interoperate. The Media Machines 3D editor is superb and is free for personal use. In fact, that editor is a very generous contribution to the 3D community as it supports several formats and has professional editing features. It also supports the H-Anim standards for avatars.

3DXplorer is a Java application. If one doesn’t have Java installed, as some Windows installations don’t, it doesn’t work. It also leaves some native libraries which anyone can see looking at their directory tree. The claims of “3D for everyone” based on that are a little disingenuous but that is the right idea and kudos for getting your application out there. Best of luck.

]]> By: 3DXplorerhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/comment-page-1/#comment-132835 3DXplorer Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:48:43 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/#comment-132835 Dear Raph, Let us add a few precisions: 1) 3DXplorer princing is not going to change. The Studio is free for all. The player is free for low-trafic sites and requires subscription for high-trafic websites. 2) We agree with some of the challenges you mentioned. We work on them and will most likely show them soon, stay tuned. 3) We are sure, other online, multi-platform, multi-navigator, free tools, like 3DXplorer will be released in the future. For now, we don't see that much. If we are not wrong, unlike 3DXplorer, the one mentioned is only running on windows, requires pre-installation, and its not yet live. One last precision: 3DXplorer has no specific innovation claim on quality of renderring or such. The main claim of innovation is on "3D for everyone" as there is no need to pre-install software, its multi-platform(PC/MAC/LINUX) and Multi-navigator (IE/FF/SAFARI/OPERA/...). That maybe considered as not that important for gamers, but makes huge difference for the majority of the Internet visitors who are not familiar with 3D. Hope this clarifies a bit. Regards Dear Raph, Let us add a few precisions:
1) 3DXplorer princing is not going to change. The Studio is free for all. The player is free for low-trafic sites and requires subscription for high-trafic websites.
2) We agree with some of the challenges you mentioned. We work on them and will most likely show them soon, stay tuned.
3) We are sure, other online, multi-platform, multi-navigator, free tools, like 3DXplorer will be released in the future. For now, we don’t see that much. If we are not wrong, unlike 3DXplorer, the one mentioned is only running on windows, requires pre-installation, and its not yet live.
One last precision: 3DXplorer has no specific innovation claim on quality of renderring or such.
The main claim of innovation is on “3D for everyone” as there is no need to pre-install software, its multi-platform(PC/MAC/LINUX) and Multi-navigator (IE/FF/SAFARI/OPERA/…).
That maybe considered as not that important for gamers, but makes huge difference for the majority of the Internet visitors who are not familiar with 3D.
Hope this clarifies a bit.
Regards

]]> By: Wonderland: Gaia's Bebo apphttp://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/comment-page-1/#comment-132807 Wonderland: Gaia's Bebo app Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:06:16 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/#comment-132807 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Got this from Raph: Gaia Online put out a Bebo app, and is now planning a Facebook one too - so presumably it worked nicely for them. It got a 5-star (out of 5) average rating from Bebo users; Virtual World News reports  the app got 100,000 downloads (Gaia has 4 million users). [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%-->

[...] Got this from Raph: Gaia Online put out a Bebo app, and is now planning a Facebook one too – so presumably it worked nicely for them. It got a 5-star (out of 5) average rating from Bebo users; Virtual World News reports  the app got 100,000 downloads (Gaia has 4 million users). [...]

]]> By: Len Bullardhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/comment-page-1/#comment-132763 Len Bullard Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:59:35 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/01/14/web-based-vw-news-round-up/#comment-132763 I found 3DXplorer to be disappointing. Bad 3D, over claimed, and so on. This isn't a market changer. That sort of thing can set VWs back. Speaking of that, and still thinking about the game devs and cheating threads, what happens in the gaming communities when the market turns "Serious". My background being somewhat other than musician by day, I follow the progress of 'serious games' as closely as I can. http://thebulletin.metapress.com/content/w044377343n41421/fulltext.pdf That is a good read. What would a Corporation for Public Gaming achieve? Are virtual worlds a better or worse test bed or is it the case that to achieve a high fidelity simulation, open worlds aren't the best means, that is, the game has to be focused on a particular mission or organization as the public safety sims tend to be. At the same time, will standards for worlds that can quickly be interconnected for just-in-time gaming be better for public gaming? Is this where we see the real "Kobayashi Moru" take place, that is, cheating in these games is really unacceptable? A lot to think about... whatever the case, at the edges of the gaming community things are happening that will reshape the current gaming culture from one that is focused on entertainment, RMT, cheat codes, etc., into something else. On the other hand, note the statement about 'getting someone who really does know how to build a game'. They can't do it without you but are you really ready to drop the 'wild eyed gamer' stance and do 'serious' work? I found 3DXplorer to be disappointing. Bad 3D, over claimed, and so on. This isn’t a market changer. That sort of thing can set VWs back.

Speaking of that, and still thinking about the game devs and cheating threads, what happens in the gaming communities when the market turns “Serious”. My background being somewhat other than musician by day, I follow the progress of ‘serious games’ as closely as I can.

http://thebulletin.metapress.com/content/w044377343n41421/fulltext.pdf

That is a good read. What would a Corporation for Public Gaming achieve? Are virtual worlds a better or worse test bed or is it the case that to achieve a high fidelity simulation, open worlds aren’t the best means, that is, the game has to be focused on a particular mission or organization as the public safety sims tend to be. At the same time, will standards for worlds that can quickly be interconnected for just-in-time gaming be better for public gaming? Is this where we see the real “Kobayashi Moru” take place, that is, cheating in these games is really unacceptable?

A lot to think about… whatever the case, at the edges of the gaming community things are happening that will reshape the current gaming culture from one that is focused on entertainment, RMT, cheat codes, etc., into something else. On the other hand, note the statement about ‘getting someone who really does know how to build a game’. They can’t do it without you but are you really ready to drop the ‘wild eyed gamer’ stance and do ‘serious’ work?

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