Raph Koster

Thoughts on the Metaverse Summit
May 8, 2006May 8, 2006 Game talk
149 Comments

So, I’ve already linked to a ton of other people’s commentary on the Metaverse Summit, but I haven’t given any of my own thoughts yet. If you’re used to thinking of me as the pie in the sky idealist, prepare for some grounding…!

Annotated versus virtual reality
There was a definite tug of war between two competing versions of what the metaverse means. One of them is the virtual world thing that most readers of this blog will be familiar with. The other is the annotated world augmented reality thing, which is the idea of pulling web data into the real world by overlaying it on our physical existence via heads-up specs and the like. In between is the “mirrorworld” which is a compromise, replicating the real world into virtual space and then annotating it there.

Read More “Thoughts on the Metaverse Summit”

Read More Thoughts on the Metaverse Summit
CNet on the Metaverse Summit
May 8, 2006May 8, 2006 Game talk
11 Comments

A different article than the earlier one which was on SDForum, and it merits a callout box on the front page of news.com…

What’s really entertaining is that the two comments on the article so far are arguing about VRML. One poster says, in effect, that there needed to be more people with practical experience doing 3d worlds at the summit, because otherwise, the merits of VRML would have been clear.

I’ll be blunt: there are next to no important things being done in terms of online virtual worlds using VRML, and I don’t know any significant players in the field who use VRML. The people with practical experience avoid it like the plague. 🙂 Give up already on VRML!

Read More CNet on the Metaverse Summit
Early survey data posted
May 8, 2006 Game talk
2 Comments

Mischiefblog has posted some of the early raw data from that survey I mentioned a while back, so that those who wish to can run their own analyses.

Some of the prelim results are up too, confirming some usual findings: more women who are partnered, age around 30, and so on.

Read More Early survey data posted
The Sunday Poem/Song: December
May 7, 2006May 7, 2006 Music, The Sunday Poem
7 Comments

Today is my surviving grandmother’s 94th birthday. She’s in hospice now, near the end of her life. I’ve written various things about my grandparents before, and even my great-grandmother, but today I wanted to share one that wasn’t written as a poem, but as a song, at a time when her husband, my grandfather, was failing. It’s on After the Flood, and it’s called “December.” You can follow along the lyrics with the song:

Read More “The Sunday Poem/Song: December”

Read More The Sunday Poem/Song: December
Metaverse Roadmap roundup
May 6, 2006May 6, 2006 Game talk
14 Comments

I just spent two days at the Metaverse Roadmap Summit where I got to meet people like Esther Dyson and Doug Engelbart. I’m not going to write on it right now (too fried) but here’s some comments from around the web for it and the SDForum held the day before:

Read More “Metaverse Roadmap roundup”

Read More Metaverse Roadmap roundup

Meta

Policies

Find Raph Online