Metaverse Launched?

jlouderb writes "Following in the heels of Worlds Inc. Blaxxun Interactive and Linden Labs, super-stealth project There Inc. launches Wednesday at CES. ExtremeTech has a preview of the world up, which is characterized by expressive avatars that look like idealized humans. Backed by a long list of notables, including Halsey Minor, Trip Hawkins, Jane Metcalfe and Louis Rosetto, it's an ambitious effort. But will the target market of Wal-Mart moms show up? Who knows, we all laughed at AOL too. You can sign up for the public beta and find out for yourself."

Comments

Umm...

[Britissippi]

Its The Sims Online all over again?

I mean honestly, I just don't get it.... If you want to go out and meet people and have fun... Then get up, go outside, and go have fun!

Re:Umm...

[DebH]

Yeah but real live people don't come with a volume control. :P

SO let me get this straight...

[Anonymous Custard]

So... it's just like a MMORPG, except when some kid pisses you off, you can't murder him?

Re:SO let me get this straight...

[kien]

So... it's just like a MMORPG, except when some kid pisses you off, you can't murder him?

Right! You just shoot him with a paintball gun...it's much more humane. :D

Paintball guns don't kill avatars...avatars kill avatars....errrr...

--K.

ANOTHER brave new world?

[ianscot]

Because There focuses on non-tech geeks, and because communication and chatting forms the core of the world, the company limits you to normal, human looking avatars.

So, what, we can't make ones that look like us in real life?

Shooting daggers and a very Mario-like floating heart convey deeper emotions.

"Deeper" being a relative term... How many times in one day do you wink at someone?

There expects its audience to skew more towards women than men, at least at first. Why? Well according to CEO Tom Melcher, "men will go where the women are, but the reverse isn't true."

The logic there doesn't quite work. Why not just say "The company behind There has figured out what drinking establishments have known for several hundred years"?

Shame...

[ContemporaryInsanity]

You can even customize your Avatar by visiting a Spa for a "facial", although we didn't get a chance to try that out.

Jesus Christ.

[Lukey Boy]

Am I the only one who laughed my ass off at those "cutting-edge" graphics? And it requires a sick machine too (with 3D acceleration)! God, I've had video games on the PC and PS2 for years that blow the shit out of this thing.

Thanks for the offer guys, but I'll keep not buying Nike in the real world ;-)

This isn't new.

[Anonymous Coward]

For all of you who think this is a new thing, Blaxxun's been doing it for years with their atrociously clunky, sanitized Cybertown, which allowed creation and sale of furniture and other objects used to customize hideously-unlivable, 10-polygon homes and served as basically a chat room for slumming soccer moms and toadying males in it for the girls.

Not quite so

[CrystalFalcon]

The book describes in detail that while some people hang out and expand the Metaverse with their own code, most teenage girls are happy to go to Wal-Mart and buy an avatar in one of three pre-packaged breast sizes; "improbable", "impossible", and "ludicruous".

Re:I can see ho wthis may appeal to women .... but

[Neck_of_the_Woods]

I know one, but I keep her locked up in the house coding away and only let her out once a day to tan.

Re:Gee

[Greedo]

Wow. I'd love to live in a world where everyone was perfectly built and had great hair. All the men have great pecs, and all the women have perfect boobs and mid-riff revealling clothes.

This is like all those teen movies, but REAL!

Er ... meta-real.

Requirements?

[eGabriel]

I am still not clear as to package format, glibc version, kernel version, and c compiler version requirements for this, but I signed up for the beta anyway, since there isn't a gentoo ebuild for it yet.

Oh well, should be a matter of weeks, I am sure.