Announcing Areae
Just click on the picture, go to the website once 4pm rolls around. It explains more than I can here.
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Just click on the picture, go to the website once 4pm rolls around. It explains more than I can here.
Comments are closed.
And it figures, the server is having issues. Give it a few. 🙂 I’ll post with updates shortly.
Seems to work now. Until you crash it. 😉
GameDaily BIZ: article here.
And Gamasutra.
Gamasutra article is up, too.
Good luck raph!
–matt
Congrats and good luck,Raph.
Thanks, Matt. We’re pretty excited. 🙂
WTG Raph!
Need an in-house counsel? 😉
I bet you are excited. CRV seems like a good match too.
–matt
CNet!
Wow, I can’t wait to see it. Good luck!
And just down the street from me!
(I wish I had the skill set to program. Unfortunantly I’m a community management type of guy)
Congrats Raph. Have fun!
Enough with all the backslapping, I wanna know about the “some new tech that will literally change how virtual worlds are made” you guys intend to use. Parametric SubD’s? Mixed parametrics and mesh? Give it up, dood.
I want to know how that helicopter plans to land. It’s fire and explosions and carnage just waiting to happen, isn’t there? =P
And if they have the technology to make a flying saucer lift off, why the heck are they still using rocket-propelled spaceships?
Okay, I’ll be quiet and just say good luck now.
Good luck!
Thinking it will be some mini worlds, distributed, p2p thingamajig… It’s all in the logo!
So, a virtual smörgÃ¥sbord of games and other activities, fill your plate with this or that according to your appetite? Or something else … I guess I’ll await further info. 😉
Congratulations and best of luck on it, Raph!
Good luck!
Is that a ding?
Grats! I hope you find a lot of enjoyment in it!
It’s the first time I’ve seen an illustrated business plan, and only using one picture/cartoon. 😉
we await your latest game with baited breath mr.koster!
pre-cu ftw!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congrats, Raph. I’m looking forward to the Firefly world ;).
Congrats
virtualworld yummy
Were I in San Diego, I’d be harassing you for a job like there was no tomorrow… alas no.
Best wishes and best of luck!
As I was ruminating on your illustrated business plan, I was thinking that it was nice not to see buzzwords like, “State-of-the art virtual world that empowers players to blah blah blah”.
I still can’t figure out the what the helicoper and helipad symbolize. (A way to quickly navigate through/above the virtual city of players’ apartments?) At first glance I thought it was an ambulance helicopter, which had me even more confused. (Also, the woman silhoette looks like she’s holding a wand, which had me perplexed until I realized it was part of the road meridian.)
Other than that, that picture probably provides a better idea of what you’re doing than if you had put out a 10 page press-release filled with the traditional buzzwords.
http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/node/1575#comment-8328
I plan to sell my services for good.
No.
Evil.
Much better pay.
And by services I mean powers.
Ugh.
Typing powers instead of services is clearly not one of my powers.
/me heads off to register http://www.areaescorts.com
err, whopsie, don’t click that link, it’s aready owned by someone else =/
Nice! I was just waiting for this. 🙂
Good luck with your new virtual worlds, Raph! I’m a big fan of making MMOGs for all player types by implementing systems that EVERY player can enjoy. 🙂 I will surely check that site regularly. 🙂
Best regards,
Jorgen D – ex-SWG player, buyer of your book, and everyday reader of your blog. 🙂
Oh, and one last thing.
Congratulations, and good luck Raph (and John).
Congratulations…
Congratulations Raph! I can’t wait to see what comes out of your new venture 🙂
1. Why does it look like Toon-Town?
2. Are you going to have real estate for sale?
Can’t wait to see it — but it doesn’t seem like any SL 2.0 lol
: )
1. The cartoon has nothing to do with what the eventual world will look like.
2. You have to wait a few months to find out. 🙂
unbeliever:
Spell Areae correctly. The domain’s available.
The helicopter could symbolize connection to the Web 1.0 (kind of like the plane on Fantasy Island… that is definitely a thought-provoking (fun!) illustration.
Anyway, congratulations! I am looking forward to seeing what you and your many cohorts have in store…
w00t!! Congratulations Raph (and everyone else involved). I’m sure it’s very exciting to have this out on the public, and just a little troubling as we can all start getting pesky and asking questions. 😛 Good luck! (Sorry I’m late to the party, I had my last ‘D&D in MI’ night last night and didn’t get in my net action.)
Ok
User created? Or game-god created?
Shards? Or Central Asset Server?
Congrats and good luck! Has anyone made “web 3.0” jokes yet?
No, you can be the first!
Lots more sites chatting about this, and they are not all pointing back here, so:
http://www.corpnews.com/node/160 and associated thread Also http://www.corpnews.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3701
http://www.grimwell.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3072
http://www.grimwell.com/index.php?action=fullnews&id=376
http://www.secretlair.com/index.php?/clickableculture/entry/raph_kosters_areae_announced/
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/16/0940216
http://www.hrej.cz/novinky/2006/12/16/raph-koster-predstavuje-novy-tym-areae/ (in Czech!) http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2006/12/game-god-goes-virtual.html
http://www.satine.org/archives/2006/12/16/introducing-the-web-20-game/
http://mythicalblog.com/blog/2006/12/16/congratulations-to-raph-and-john/
http://damianov.wordpress.com/2006/12/16/areae-appears/
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/45055
http://n3rfed.blogs.com/n3rfed/2006/12/raphs_brave_vir.html
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=73781
http://www.3pointd.com/20061215/raph-koster-launches-new-virtual-world-studio/
http://www.mmodig.com/?p=470
http://www.watercoolergames.org/archives/000700.shtml
http://www.igda-sandiego.org/web/154
http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/node/1575
GL man…
Ok
Boxers? Or briefs?
Mounds? Or Almond Joy?
Seriously… glad to see it happen. We wait with unfair, early criticisms at the ready. 😉 Based on the pre-beta experience I’ve had with your website, for example, I’d like to complain about the lack of color choices for my avatar. Pale yellow? Pale blue? Very bleh. And why can’t I be the giant dog…
For really though… when you need folks to kick the tires, you know where we all hang out, eh?
Add mmplay to the list, if anyone likes to talk in German, that is 😉
http://www.mmplay.de/index.php?seite=snews&tid=14464
Congratulations to you, Raph, and my very best wishes for the future of yourself and your new born company. I’m looking forwarded what the bunch of great people in the surroundings of Areae Inc. will come up with 🙂
This is excellent news! Congrats and good luck. I’m looking forward to whatever it is you come up with.
p.s. my prediction: the first sex-based world created with Areae will be called Areolae. Someone better trademark that, quick.
Awesome Raph! Looking forward to Areae’s first project.
Sounds like a hybrid between SL and Multiverse…
I hate the waiting game, I just finished it with Nintendo. :frown:
Congratulations, Raph!
Looking forward to future updates.
Thanks for posting on our site.
You can be sure we Pre-CU vets who have no game will be there when you beta.
You have my unconditional support for your new MMO.
Wow, way to get everyone talking. Post a little pictogram of a product feature and let the world start yapping about it. 🙂
I’ll be watching, and hoping for something great.
Awesome. Congratulations and best wishes.
Here’s a piece I did on the Herald “More Worlds!”
http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2006/12/more_worlds.html
OMG! You’re working with Bartle? You guys are going to 0wn together!
Awesome Raph!
Good Luck!
I love the splash page!
Here’s my 2-cent bucket of cold water on this shameless exhibition of vaporware:
http://kamiharbinger.com/index.php?entry=/mmo/20061217_0009_announcing_vaporeae.txt
Since I don’t expect him to link it himself, this looks to me like a generic response to the accusations of vaporware:
http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2006/12/more_worlds.html#comment-26643067
You don’t get to call it vaporware until there’s a product announced. Right now, it’s just a company. I pronounce its name fine, but I also don’t confuse an emperor with a salad. Then again, one should always speak the language of his audience, shouldn’t they?
Augescunt aliae gentes, aliae minuuntur; inque brevi spatio mutantur saecia animantum et quasi cursores vitae lampada tradunt. As Robert Frost says, life goes on.
Very exciting news, especially the people you’ve got working alongside you.
Have the appropriate amount of fun.
Congratulations! And enjoy your Christmas.
Michael: If there were no claims of superior technology, I would agree with you, it wouldn’t be vaporware, it’d just be a public relations puff piece; I find those tedious, but not worth worrying about.
But Raph implied in that quote, and insisted in a private email to me this morning, that he has real technology (pay no attention to the engineers not working behind the curtains). That makes it vaporware until he manages to actually show something that works.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur. “Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound.” That’s a trick that’s been used for 1500 years by thieving priests and politicians who want the masses to stop asking inconvenient questions and just give them money. Your pathetic attempt to impress with Latin has failed, boy.
I prefer the words of a modern poet: “Don’t believe the hype”.
The term ‘Vaporware’ does not mean absolutely everything you’ve seen claimed, but haven’t seen with your own eyes. The term exists for truly dubious software claimed to be in development, such as a $75 million Fallout MMORPG that will get one million subscribers. Vaporware is such a nice word, and it doesn’t need to be rendered meaningless by covering every unreleased piece of software.
Kami: has it occurred to you that Raph himself counts as an engineer working behind the curtains? And has it occurred to you that “superior” technology may not, in fact, mean entirely “new” technology?
I’m beginning to understand why everyone gripes about Second Lifers. 😛
@Kami
Besides having the best intentions, and improving the offerings for gamers by innovating. Isnt it enough that he’s going to try something new?
You cry vaporware, and cry foul because he dosnt give details. But I’m afraid thems the breaks and thats business. Sometimes you just CAN’T reveal as much as you’d like about what your planning to to even though you want to. From a business POV its about market, timing, and ensuring someone doesnt steal your ideas in development.
It’s important to be innovative and tell people the direction your heading, it’s just as important to be the first mover in a new space.
So how about you give him a break, be happy there are people out there trying to improve the games space, and support innovation…
There are reasons for everything…
Where’s the Sunday poem?
*Gets worried*.
It’s a haiku about non-existence. Except it took itself seriously.
I need those Sunday poems; I hadn’t realized it was Sunday.
Hi! To me this sounds like a MMOG with FireFox as client or like MUD + Web 2.0. Something like going back and branch off from MUDs in a different direction and go paralell to todays MMORPGs — kind of making todays MMORPGs the neanderthal men. We’ll see.
Stop feeding the trolls! You’ll just encourage them.
There you go, Prok. 😉
“The board is set. The pieces are moving.” – Gandalf
Good luck Raph!
A little late maybe, but, Good luck!
Unfortunately for me, I do not have the skillsets required to join a venture like this (not to mention living thousands of miles away).
Just wanted to wish you luck, Raph.
Congratulations Raph. I hope you are successful with the new venture and that you and your team can achieve your goals.
Congratulations and good luck!
Good luck Raph. Two years ago we talked briefly in a session at GDC about you using your name to independently influence the industry for the better. I’m glad that’s come to fruition because yours was a talent wasted behind the walls of what corporate game development has become. May your journey ahead be fruitful. Again good luck and best wishes.
Good luck!
I’m starting the “Guess Areae game”: It’s going to combine beardy, worldy, gamey and usery (I get dibs on this term). Extending the Web 2.0 principles, “The client is the Browser”. Worlds are build on the platform layer. Games and user-impactful content populate the worlds.
I have high hopes for you and this venture, so don’t suck! This is going to make you or break you!
Just kidding 😉
Let the guessing game begin.
And if there is a bright new idea Raph haven’t thought about already, he can include them!
Frank
Raph, congrats! glad you are now “officialy” in web 2.0 camp 🙂
Perfect and fitting poem, Raph!
One more way to pronounce it (and I think some linguist purists out there would insist on this or some other “right way” perhaps given the usual meaning of these transcripted vowels):
“ar-e-aah — like the word “yeah” only a bit shorter.