Yes, my brother and I started the original Meridian 59. It was bought from 3DO by two of the developers and is still running here. The original 2.5D software renderer has been upgraded to 3D hardware in the intervening years.
Several people mentioned the MMORPGs that this patent appears to affect most. Meridian 59 went live in 1995 and was published in 1996, well before the patent application, and of course the client/server architecture for avatars goes back at least to Lucasfilm's Habitat (1986?). The only thing that is even remotely new in the patent is having the clients deciding which avatars to display depending on load. How is that not an obvious algorithm?
We need to have a reader go and work for the patent office to stop silliness like this.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, my brother and I started the original Meridian 59. It was bought from 3DO by two of the developers and is still running here. The original 2.5D software renderer has been upgraded to 3D hardware in the intervening years.
Several people mentioned the MMORPGs that this patent appears to affect most. Meridian 59 went live in 1995 and was published in 1996, well before the patent application, and of course the client/server architecture for avatars goes back at least to Lucasfilm's Habitat (1986?). The only thing that is even remotely new in the patent is having the clients deciding which avatars to display depending on load. How is that not an obvious algorithm? We need to have a reader go and work for the patent office to stop silliness like this.