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Open Source Chat Bridge Between Virtual Worlds

Posted by Soulskill on from the more-the-merrier dept.

wjamesau writes "The Parallel Selves Message Bridge, a new addition to the code forge of OpenSimulator, the 'Apache for virtual worlds,' makes it possible for users within one OpenSim world to send IMs to users currently logged into another Second Life-compatible world. In the future, technology like this could make it possible to keep in contact with friends in other virtual worlds and MMOs without having to log out. Imagine orcs and space commandos existing in alternate realities but still in contact!"

43 comments

  1. How is this new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There was inter-MUD chat, and inter-BBS chat systems developed 10 or 15 years ago. This isn't anything new other than "Hay guyz! If ur MMO lets you run EXEs you can do something kewl!"

  2. And the point would be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And the point of that would be???

  3. just like real life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    wow. that sounds just like real life. i'm chatting with a friend in a parallel universe right now. this free program will allow the same thing to happen between parallel cyber universes as well.

  4. More Astroturf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Second Life sucks and the recession is going to kill it. How about more articles on technology that are useful instead of flogging that POS?

    1. Re:More Astroturf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm fucked, and the weekly ritual is already done.. My lady cussed the shit out of me for pulling out at the necessary time and hitting up her glasses.

      Wait, what are you talking about?

  5. You can chat cross server/games today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SoE allready allow you to send tells cross servers and games.

    So not really something new about that

  6. Steam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Steam can kind of do this. A terrorist in CS:S can chat to an infected Zombie in L4D.

  7. This has been done already... by mldkfa · · Score: 3, Informative

    This was done over 15 years ago. Something called intermud for muds and moos and other such MMOs to talk to each other.

    1. Re:This has been done already... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 1

      Isn't it nice to see what was done years ago now bandied as a new and novel solution?

      When we look to see exactly what a MMO and such games are, they are a IRC server with a RPG attached to it on the hip. The old dialup guys saw it for what it is, and now it's something cool and new. And even in those days, it was harder due to no real shared protocol, unlike now.

      --
    2. Re:This has been done already... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it's so boring and unimpressive, one wonders why nobody adapted it to modern games earlier.

      Let's face it, there's a world of difference between the muds of old and todays sim games.

    3. Re:This has been done already... by Plazmid · · Score: 1

      Heck, just the other day I had an IRC chat with some people in the Second Life. Awhile later, the people in the Second Life forgot there was a chat application there, and proceeded to do things that were better done in an IRC channel that wasn't about programming. Hilarity ensued.

    4. Re:This has been done already... by KyoMamoru · · Score: 2, Informative

      And let's not forget Xfire. http://www.xfire.com/ " Xfire is a free gaming tool that automatically keeps track of when and where gamers are playing PC games online and lets their friends join them easily. It doesn't matter which online game your friends are playing, which server browser they are using, or which gaming service they're playing on; Xfire is intelligent enough to recognize where your friends are at any time. "

    5. Re:This has been done already... by sortius_nod · · Score: 1

      Not really... same games with a different UI...

      I'd even go so far as to say most MMOs (and yes, I play them) are direct rips of MUDs.

    6. Re:This has been done already... by ushering05401 · · Score: 1

      Nothing against you 689415, currently modded to +4, but this is getting stupid.

      There was inter-MUD chat, and inter-BBS chat systems developed 10 or 15 years ago. This isn't anything new other than "Hay guyz! If ur MMO lets you run EXEs you can do something kewl!"

      Can we get a system for shooting stupid fucking mods in the head?

      This site feels more rigged than a U.S. election. Why do I have to browse at -1 to make sure that I am seeing all the relevant comments?

      Why is this site promoting someone who posted the exact same shit that an AC posted before them?

  8. I can only imagine... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 0, Troll

    Lemee see.. Im on ICQ and I want to talk to someone on CS:Source.

    ICQ:AIM
    AIM:XMPP
    XMPP:CS-Source

    Ok.. what would that look like again?
    Creepy_Crawler!ICQ!AIM!XMPP!CS-Source

    Yay. uucp bang path crap again. Or not as bad: non-1-to-1 namespace mapping over multiple protocols.

    --
  9. About time. by Crossmire · · Score: 2, Insightful

    At last, computer users will no longer have to run an additional program just to chat to their friends. I'm sure the chat system in these 'virtual worlds' is also on par with instant messengers and IRC clients.

  10. WHY by slvrshwr · · Score: 2, Informative

    A technically valid but functionally pointless idea.

  11. HEY! I'VE HAD THAT FOR YEARS! by denzacar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Its called TELE-PHONE.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    1. Re:HEY! I'VE HAD THAT FOR YEARS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      And you also wore an onion on your belt, which was the style at the time.

    2. Re:HEY! I'VE HAD THAT FOR YEARS! by EvilIdler · · Score: 1

      Your phone does IM? I have to use a VoIP client AND a Jabber-compatible client :(

    3. Re:HEY! I'VE HAD THAT FOR YEARS! by pmontra · · Score: 1

      It isn't because people in MMOs don't give you their phone number. They give you only they're nickname so you need an in-game IM system. Even MSN/Skype/etc won't do.

    4. Re:HEY! I'VE HAD THAT FOR YEARS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you mean an iPhone? Not everyone can afford 60 dollars a month for a toy, you know.

  12. Xfire by Saffaya · · Score: 1

    Does a pretty good job of allowing game to game communications.
    Not only MMOs, but every kind of online game.

    Regularly updated to keep functionning even after your beloved resource-hog/pain-in-the-ass/ supposedly cheat preventing/mandatory 3rd party program (Xtrap, GameTrap, whatever) prevents every other network or keyboard using program on your computer to work properly.

    1. Re:Xfire by xch13fx · · Score: 1

      woops i skipped passed this. Yea what about xfire??!

  13. Already happening in other games.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At a different level albeit. Using IRC as a intermediary we link the ingame chat to a channel with a bot logged into the chatprotocol of the games relevant to the usergroup. Thus transfering all text written in each game to IRC and back into any other games where there's a bot present. Even allows users to log into the IRC channel and monitor/participate the chat without being ingame.

    1. Re:Already happening in other games.. by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Using IRC as a intermediary we link the ingame chat to a channel with a bot logged into the chatprotocol of the games relevant to the usergroup.

      Yep, I've done already done that with Left 4 Dead, call of duty 4, team fortress 2, Second life, Furcadia.

      Even allows users to log into the IRC channel and monitor/participate the chat without being ingame.

      Indeed.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  14. Already Doing It... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been doing it for years using Ventrilo. Let's not pretend this is something new... apparently whenever there's a lack of original news or ideas someone regresses and hashes over old topics. Ventrilo works from within virtual worlds and any other games or programs you happen to be running.

    1. Re:Already Doing It... by xch13fx · · Score: 1

      how about xfire. it works in fps' too!!!!1 omfg

  15. MOO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I built something like this for text-based virtual worlds back in the heyday of MOOs. I think I called it an ansible or something comparably geeky, but you could carry it around like a walkie talkie and hear/talk through it to a completely separate network.

  16. Why use a new, MMO-specific protocol? by merreborn · · Score: 1

    The Matrix Online gave every character a AOL IM handle. yourchar@thematrixonline.com or something like that. The game had an integrated IM client, so you could IM other characters, or anyone with an AIM handle, and anyone with an AIM handle could IM you, IIRC.

    Of course, AIM's protocol is proprietary. But why not use XMPP? XMPP has a huge advantage over this product: there are already a ton of clients out there -- no one has to install anything special to be able to talk to your users.

    1. Re:Why use a new, MMO-specific protocol? by argent · · Score: 1

      But why not use XMPP? XMPP has a huge advantage over this product: there are already a ton of clients out there -- no one has to install anything special to be able to talk to your users.

      Given the number of incompatible IM protocols in use in games, one wonders if that isn't seen as an advantage by the game companies. :(

  17. Re:It's written in C# by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    You seem angry...

  18. IRC is fine if properly impletmented by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anarchy Online has supported using IRC as a means of interfacing to the game and chatting with other users without actually "logging in" a metaphysical avatar, and it was released in 2001. Using this method, the player community has generated a host of bots and other problems that actually reduce the server load (they do all of the loot rolling, have information about items posted, can show you links to items, etc) by effectively outsourcing it to a player's IRC bot hosted at their house. It's very useful. ^^

  19. Gaim Battle.net protocol plugin by skeeto · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There used to be a Gaim plugin for Blizzard's Battle.net that I used several years ago. I could talk to people on Warcraft 3, Starcraft, Diablo, and even World of Warcraft (I think).

    However, I somehow appeared strangely in the chat lists because people were always IMing me, out of nowhere, thinking I was some kind of official Blizzard tech support. Sometimes I had fun messing with them by telling them go through futile exercises: "Ok, try unplugging your monitor for 30 seconds. No? Ok now try ..."

    Unfortunately, Blizzard shut down the protocol this used, so it's a dead project.

  20. Re:It's written in C# by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd hate to see what he says about Python, then...

  21. Re:It's written in C# by Garridan · · Score: 1

    ...eats more memory that an elephant zombie.

    There, I fixed that for you.

  22. Re:It's written in C# by FlyByPC · · Score: 1

    Yes, but I doubt talking to Eliza is going to be much help. (Especially if the Eliza app was ported to Java.)

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  23. This is meant to be impressive or news worthy? by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

    This is meant to be impressive or news worthy?

    I wrote a opensource IRC relay system for Second life back in 1.9.

    It isn't hard or even more news worthy in my opinion.

    --
    Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  24. Some guys need to get out more by Alain+Williams · · Score: 1

    The real world really isn't that frightening.