Why OWorld?
Since 1995, early examples of 2-D and 3-D graphical virtual spaces began to appear on the Internet. Many were venture-backed projects that failed to find commercial success or a significant user base. Some virtual world platforms have flourished as small-scale community spaces, and have supported well-regarded experiments in learning. However, as we stand in 2000, this grand vision of a unified virtual world Cyberspace is in danger of never becoming a reality, if left solely to commercial interests.

Inspired by standards and platform efforts such as VRML and Java3D, many skilled developers are finding it easier than ever to cook up their own world platforms in their garages (you may be one of them!). Like the original Home Brew computer club which gave birth to the personal computer 24 years ago, the OWorld community brings together visionaries, developers and users of a whole new generation of net-based virtual spaces.

The Medium of Multi-User Virtual Worlds

The time is ripe for an "open" virtual worlds movement. Graphics, networks, and processors beg for us to pioneer Cyberspace as a shared computing playfield. As with the birth of the personal computing devices, getting us all talking is the key to seeing whether we have what it takes to build this future.

The future of Cyberspace is unknown today. Consider when motion pictures were invented. The first movies were made by placing the camera on a tripod in an auditorium, and filming a traditional play. It was some time before directors realized the scope of the new technology and unfettered it from traditional constraints. Are we doing the same thing now, by creating shared virtual environments that look like caricatures of the physical world?

The limitations imposed on movement and appearance in a virtual world are very different from those of real-world physics and spatial geometry. Perhaps computational requirements take the place of energy or thermodynamics. Just what global characteristics are desirable -- should we simulate gravity or employ arbitrary frames of reference? Can avatars and other objects pass through each other without hindrance? Can there be more than three spatial dimensions? How do we treat size and scale - can objects or agents shrink or expand at will?

We believe issues like these should be examined now, at the dawning of OWorlds, so that we realize their potential more readily.