Bruce Damer, [e-mail]

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• Bruce Damer, bruce_at_damer.com
• damer.com digitalspace.com ccon.org
  biota.org digibarn.com

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About Me

• Started life on a PDP-11 fresh out of high school
  (1980), programmed graphics, videotext systems,
  dreamed of self replicating robots on the moon,
  designed board games, built model space stations.
• Worked at IBM Research in 1984 (Toronto, New
  York), introduced to Internet, optical computing.
• Graduated from USC in 1986 (MSEE). Introduced to
  Internet and artificial life, vector graphics
  mainframe/multiplayer games while student.
• Worked for Elixir Technologies 1987-94, wrote
  some of first GUI/Windows-Icons Publishing
  software on the IBM PC platform. Sold in 100
  countries. Helped set up first software lab in
  Czechoslovakia. Developed artificial life
  software, 3D worlds (Charles Univ Prague)

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About Me

• Established Contact Consortium in 1995, held
  first conferences on avatars (Earth to Avatars,
  Oct 1996)
• Wrote Avatars! in 1997. Hosted and supported 9
  conferences until 2003 on various aspects of
  virtual worlds (AVATARS Conferences, VLearn3D,
  Digital Biota)
• Founded DigitalSpace in 1995, produced 3D worlds
  for government, corporate, university, and
  industry. Evangelism for Adobe (Atmosphere), NASA
  (Digital Spaces, open source 3D worlds for design
  simulation of space exploration) and NIH
  (learning games for Autism)
• Established Digibarn Computer Museum (2002)
• Virtual Worlds Timeline project (2006-2008) to
  capture and represent the history of the medium
• New Breakout, CyberSpace to OuterSpace
  hyper-evolving the exo-Terrestrials (open source
  3D, 2007-).

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About Me

• See more at www.damer.com

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Overview of Presentation

• The Virtual World, its Origins in Deep Time
• Text Worlds
• Graphical Worlds
• Internet-Connected Worlds
• The Avatars Cyberconferences
• Massive Multiplayer Online RPGs
• Virtual World Platforms
• Virtual Worlds Timeline Project and Other Research

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Overview of Presentation

• Fashionable Avatars
• Avatar Space meets Outer Space
• Lifes Journey exoBiota
• And Finally We Come to the End, or Back to the
  Beginning!

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• History of Virtual Worlds

The Virtual World, its Origins in Deep Time
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The Virtual WorldA new medium born at the dawn
of the space age and during the very birth of the
computer,will come to shape our world and our
future out of this world.
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So what is a Virtual World?A placedescribed by
words or projected through pictureswhich creates
a spacein the imaginationreal enough that you
can feelyou are inside of it.
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Socomputers projectwords and pictures
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therefore we find virtual worldsonly on
computers right?
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But waitWas the digital computer the first
place people experienced virtual worlds?What
about
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25,000 BCE
in the Caves of Lascaux?
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Or in 1671
Through The Lanterna Magika
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Or in 1894
Through the Edison Kinetoscope
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Kinetoscope Parlor - 1890s
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Projection of Film, Lumiere, Edison - 1895
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Now crank the clock forwardto 1962
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and computers are here (just barely) but we can
already play Spacewar!(worlds first multiple
player videogame running on the PDP-1in February
1962 when yours truly was just a couple of weeks
old!)
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Space War! in Action

• Space War Film Clip

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And then in 1974 a couple of guys figured out how
to put players on two computers connected by a
cable into the same 3D space and
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Hello (3D virtual) World! (Maze War)
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Early version of Maze War game
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Maze War in Action

• Maze War Film Clip

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Maze War - 1974

• Maze War was the first multiplayer 3D
  first-person shooter.
• Players were represented as Avatars (vector drawn
  names at first, 3D eyeballs in Xerox Alto
  version, late 70s).
• Displayed maps of the levels.
• Player positions shown on map.
• Originally written by Steve Colley in 1973-1974
  at the NASA Ames Research Center in California.

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Maze War had all the features of the modern
first person shooterbut wasnt too
imaginativeso enter
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• History of Virtual Worlds

Text Worlds
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Text Based Games

• Early online worlds took the form of text based
  interactive environments known as MUDs
  (Multi-User Dungeons, Domain or Dimension)
• The first MUD was put online in 1978.
• This game can still be played online at
  http//www.british-legends.com/
• by Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle at Essex
  University on a DEC PDP-10

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Login SCREEN MUD1
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• MUDS always start by asking for your name.
• Your name would be your tag and would identify
  you in the game world.
• Text commands are translated to movement and
  actions.
• Limited interaction with other players beyond
  chat.

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Avatar MUD

• Avatar MUD released in 1979.
• First mainframe Role Playing Game (on PLATO).
• Based on Dungeons and Dragons rules.
• Mixed text and graphics.
• First system to use the A,S,D,W movement keys
  scheme.
• Allowed for groups, or parties, for completing
  quests.

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First Commercial MuD

• In 1978, Alan E. Klietz wrote a game called
  Milieu on a CDC Cyber, which was used by high
  school students for educational purposes.
• Later ported to the IBM PC in 1983 as Septer of
  Goth supporting 10-16 players via modem.
• In 1984, Mark Jacobs created and deployed a
  commercial gaming site, Gamers World.
• Gamers World games later ported to GEnie.

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• TinyMUD was released in 1989
• TinyMUD allowed players to build the world and
  everything in it.
• A range of commands were available for
  interacting with other players, objects and the
  game environments.
• Many other MUDs were spawned from this concept,
  and the number of players expanded.
• BBS Muds dominated the online world until the
  Internet killed them in the mid-90s.

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And now affordable personal computers come with
graphics so why not
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• History of Virtual Worlds

Graphical Worlds
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Habitat by Lucas Games - 1987

• Habitat was released on the Commodore 64.
• Created by Randy Farmer and Chip Morningstar.
• Hosted on Quantum Link, an online service for the
  Commodore 64, and progenitor to America Online.
• Players could see, speak and interact with each
  other in avatar form.
• Avatars had to barter for resources within
  Habitat, and could even be robbed or "killed" by
  other players.

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Chaos in habitat

• The virtual world of Habitat was completely open.
• Only the underlying software was off-limits.
• This initially led to chaos in-game.
• Players eventually self-governed their world.

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DOOM - 1993

• Proved that real-time 3D could achieve high
  performance on consumer PCs.
• Internet was spreading so it was only a matter of
  time until

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• History of Virtual Worlds

Internet-Connected Virtual Worlds
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Worlds Chat Space Station - 1995

• Worlds Chat Space Station combined the 3D visual
  appeal of Doom with an interactive online virtual
  world.
• Players created unique avatars.
• Players could either chat or whisper to each
  other.
• Friends lists would allow for communications with
  others from different locations on the station.

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Views from the Space Station
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The 1990s - The Early Adopter Cambrian
Explosion period

• Multi player gaming vs. multi user social virtual
  worlds

1994-1996 along with the explosion of the web,
an explosion of social virtual worlds platforms
Lets take a look
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The 1990s - The Early Adopter Cambrian
Explosion period
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Alphaworld - 1995
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Active Worlds

• Alphaworld was the first Active World, and ran
  from an Internet browser.
• Citizens could chat with other citizens and build
  buildings from selected objects.
• Citizens claimed land by placing objects, other
  users could delete objects and buildings.
• Precursor to Second Lifes in-world building
  paradigm.
• Individuals could own worlds and universes.
• This platform is still online today with over 700
  Active Worlds http//www.activeworlds.com/

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Ron Britvichs AlphaWorld design notes, Spring
1995
Leading to AlphaWorlds launch, Summer 1995
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Alphaworld Growth from 1995 - 2001
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Fujitsu WorldsAway Dreamscape

• Direct offspring of Habitat
• Virtual currencies, prices and private turfs
• Vending systems and barter trade, gift giving
• Precursor of Second Lifes object economy
• Financial success, but sold by parent, operating
  as Vzones

WorldsAwaygoes onlinein 1995
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The Palace - 1995
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Palace Worldlets

• The Palace was created by Jim Bumgardner, an
  employee of Time Warner Interactive
• Users could design their own custom avatars,
  collect props, play games, and define actions
  using scripts.
• Registered users could create their own chat
  rooms called Worldlets. These could be public or
  private.

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• Voice and lip-synch avatar heads intimate
  conversation
• Stereo sound, attenuated
• Worlds and avs built by users, hand edited files
• Unique experience in cyberspace, music, prayer
  vigils
• Parent bankruptcy, acquired by DigitalSpace in
  2001, offers free
• 200-300 regulars
• Attracts artists Noel Paul Stookey Virtual
  Party, MTV

Travelergoes liveSpring1996
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Traveler - 1996
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Traveler Film Clip (CNET TV)
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Black Sun Interactive (Blaxxun) Pointworld

• First multi-user VRML platform
• Inspired by Snow Crash
• Personal cyber-cards
• User built worlds
• Many community events and firsts
• Still operating today, Cybertown
• Blaxxun users in SL

Black Sungoes onlinein early 1996
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Other worlds coming online in 1996

• Various platforms, companies, university research
  efforts

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• History of Virtual Worlds

The Avatars Cyberconferences
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The Avatars Conferences full circle
1998
1999
1997
2000
2007

• 1996

2004
2002
2003
2001
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The Avatars RL Conferences
Earth to Avatars 96 (San Francisco)
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The Avatars RL Conferences
Avatars 97 (San Francisco)
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Tour of Avatars98 Exhibits Area

• Av98 Film Clip

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Massive Multiplayer Online RPGs

• Current Platforms

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Everquest - 1999
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MMOs Invade Mainstream

• In 1999 Sony Online released Everquest.
• Everquest was the first truly 3D massive
  multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG).
• Thousands of players could be online at once
  participating in shared quests, player vs. player
  (PVP) combat, and player vs. environment
  (PVE/exploring).
• This game launched the current generation of
  MMOs, including virtual world platforms.

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Everquest and Everquest II

• Tailor made to appeal to the Dungeons and Dragons
  crowd of game players (both paper and computer
  based).
• Promoted player guilds and social interaction.
• Active in-world economy.
• Spawned many expansions and an Everquest II in
  2004.
• http//everquest2.station.sony.com

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Runescape - 2001
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Star Wars Galaxies - 2003
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World of Warcraft - 2004
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WOW The 2,000 lb Gorilla MMO

• World of Warcraft currently boasts over 8 million
  paid subscribers.
• The recent release of The Burning Crusades
  expansion broke all sales records.
• Some say that WOW is hurting innovation in
  computer games because it holds so much of the
  MMO market.
• Fantasy setting with two groups of races that are
  at war with each other Alliance vs Horde
• Quest and story driven game engine, heavy social
  focus. High level content available to groups
  only.

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http//www.mmochart.com
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Virtual Worlds a Reality
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Virtual World Platforms

• Current Platforms

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Virtual Reality?

• Virtual Worlds differ from MMOs because they are
  open platforms, often allowing the players to
  shape the world content. Virtual Worlds are not
  Virtual Reality (no immersion).
• There are no quests, no specific goals, and
  varying degrees of user control over the
  environment.
• These worlds are usually built around social
  interactions, commerce, and collaborative
  activities.

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The Sims Online - 2002
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Toontown Online - 2003
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There.com - 2003
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Be There or Be square

• There.com was very innovative (gesture/emotion
  tied to chat).
• Fully integrated voice and music support.
• Economy based on user created items.
• First online virtual world to have trademarked
  items for purchase.
• http//www.there.com

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MTV Virtual Laguna Beach - 2006
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Virtual Laguna Beach and The Hills

• MTV infused There with new capital by licensing
  the technology.
• Virtual Hills and Laguna Beach is a mirror of the
  MTV reality show settings.
• Teens come online to watch episodes of the two
  shows in virtual theaters, then they go out and
  shop, socialize and party.
• http//www.vlb.mtv.com

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Forterra Systems Inc.
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Second Life - 2003
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Second Life Platform

• Second Life was launched in 2003.
• The entire virtual world of Second Life has been
  created by the residents.
• Full 3D tools built into the client software for
  creation of in-world objects.
• Full scripting language to support intelligent
  behavior and animation.
• Growing support for multimedia, video and audio.
  Limited formats so far.
• Economy based on Lindex Exchange, a floating
  currency exchange between US and L.

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Future of Second Life

• Client software was just placed in Open Source
• Server software rumored to be in open source by
  end of 2007.
• Spatial voice support coming in 2007.
• Security being added into system in preparation
  for a distributed architecture.
• Linden Lab trying hard to be the next big thing
  in virtual worlds, Web 3.0
• Continuation as separate company or acquisition?

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• Near Future

The Coming Metaverse?
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The Metaverse

• Neal Stephensons novel Snow Crash gave rise to
  the concept of a Metaverse.
• This is the vision behind current work on fully
  immersive 3D virtual spaces.
• These are environments where humans interact (as
  avatars) with each other (socially and
  economically) and with software agents in a
  cyberspace, that uses the metaphor of the real
  world, but without its physical limitations.
• Will there be a universal format and standards
  for shared 3D cyberspace?

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The Coming Metaverse

• Several new platforms are in development.
• A new organization Metaverse Roadmap has formed
  to draw a Roadmap of future virtual worlds.
  http//www.metaverseroadmap.org
• Many expect that a merging of virtual worlds and
  the Internet will lead to the next generation,
  often referred to as Web 3.0
• Note this has been tried/dreamed of before. Can
  we overcome the stovepipe effect?

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Multiverse 2007?
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• Formed in 2004 by a team of Netscape executives,
  currently in BETA.
• Will provide independent game developers with the
  resources they need to enter and compete in the
  MMO and Virtual World markets.
• One client will allow entry into any Multiverse
  developed platform.
• Both MMOs and Virtual Worlds for Indie
  Developers.
• http//multiverse.net

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Arden Multiverse 2008?

• What is Arden The World of William Shakespeare?
• Its a synthetic world, a massively-multiplayer
  online role-playing game where the lore is drawn
  from the plays of William Shakespeare.
• EverQuest meets Macbeth.
• Its going to be built by professors and students
  as an academic research project at Indiana
  University.
• http//swi.indiana.edu/ardenworld.htm

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3B Villages - 2007
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Kaneva Beta 2007?
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Google Metaverse 2007?
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Virtual google Earth?

• Google released SketchUp program for adding 3D
  buildings and objects as a layer to Google Earth
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vFABcWGb93QYmodere
  latedsearch .
• Benchmark Capital analyst Michael Eisenberg
  calling the rumored project a "world game."
• Google is courting in-game ad company AdScape in
  preparation to monetize the virtual world.
• Will Google Earth evolve into a multi use
  platform?

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• History of Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds Timeline Project and other Research
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Key Anniversaries in the History on the 7s

• Luscasfilms 1987 Official Avatars Handbook,
  Damer 1997 Avatars!, many books publications
• Academia hundreds of research programs
• 2007 Need for a comprehensive timeline project
  to capture ephemeral artifacts before they are
  lost

Lucasfilm 1987 Damer 1997 -
VWTimeline 2007
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The Social Virtual Worlds Timeline Project

• Sponsored by the Contact Consortium
• Avatars book, version 2.0
• Enable the community to tell the history
• Simple web-based timeline, Wiki entry, MIT SIMILE
  project Ajax Timeline
• Scope from 1970s to present
• A place for current virtual worlds history to be
  recorded, within the context of the movement it
  represents
• Several universities, companies and individuals
  being signed up (HUMLab, University of Umea)
• You can be a part of it! See www.vwtimeline.org

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Research on Virtual Worlds

• MMOG Chart, Industry statistics on virtual worlds
  and MMOs http//www.mmogchart.com
• The Daedalus Project, Nick Yee. The psychology
  of MMORPGs http//www.nickyee.com/daedalus
• Terra Nova, serious researchers blog on MMORPGs
  and Virtual Worlds http//terranova.blogs.com
• PlayOn, exploring the social dimensions of
  virtual worlds http//blogs.parc.com/playon

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History of Virtual Worlds

• Ralph Kosters Online World Timeline
  http//www.raphkoster.com/gaming/mudtimeline.shtml
  
• Bruce Damers Virtual Worlds Timeline, the
  origins and evolution of virtual social worlds
  http//www.vwtimeline.org
• The Lessons of Lucasfilms Habitat
  http//www.scara.com/ole/literatur/LessonsOfHabit
  at.html

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Further Reading

• Avatars! Exploring and Building Virtual Worlds on
  the Internet Bruce Damer
• Designing Virtual Worlds Richard A. Bartle
• Synthetic Worlds The Business of Online Games
  Edward Castronova
• Convergence Culture Where old and new media
  collide Henry Jenkins, MIT
• The State of Play Law, Games and Virtual Worlds
  - Jack M. Balkin
• Second Life The Official Guide Linden Lab

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Second Life Video Documentary Explosion

• What is Second Life? Philip Rosedale (342 mins)
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?v5GZPoOC_06Mmodere
  latedsearch
• NOAA Virtual Education Island (429 mins)
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vis8YX32GAyQ
• Henry Jenkins, MIT on Global Kids Island (232
  mins) http//youtube.com/watch?vsAQ2V356q-Y
• Global Kids/Unicef Competition (227 mins)
  http//youtube.com/watch?vjQr0izgm0iw
• Text 100 Island (259 mins) http//www.youtube.co
  m/watch?vsynxFmQJ_0A

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• Developing Applications

Fashionable Avatars
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First there was the Avvy Awards 1996-2001
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Then there was Ratavas Line 2003 Pushes Avatar
fashion to the next level!
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Hey, what about

• Combining a passion for avatarswith a
  fascination for garment design with your iPod,
  your cell phone, your GPS, you are becoming your
  avatar!
• But how to house all that gear?
• How about in a Cyber garmentof the 21st Century!

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But what

• would such a garment look like?
• What would it do (house your gear)?
• What genre would you derive it from?

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Sir John Harman Admiral 1580s Look at that cool
jacket! Hmm holds a lot of gear!
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Building A Rennaissance Doublet
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Piece by piece
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Done!
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Works?
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OK got that

• time to design the cyber version!

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Channels Hackable S100 Stores your Warez YT from
Snow Crash?
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Now sew it

• (a lot of late nights in the bus)!

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Its done!
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Hey

• now I want my in world Avatar tolook like my
  out world me!

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• Plain JaneBruce in Second Life
• Lets go looking for some clothiers!

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Wow

• I found a cool designer and bingo,
• From the photos of Cyberwearz
• My garment returns to the Avatar realfrom whence
  it began!

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See how

• well this all plays together?
• Now for another round, print outmy in-world
  garment to fabric and

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Whole Garment KnittingCAD/CAM comes to the
apparel business (Shima Seiki)
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• Futuristic Applications

Avatar Space Meets Outer Space And other Virtual
Worlds Applications from DigitalSpace
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DriveOnMars DigitalSpace/JPL 2003-2004
DigitalSpace training environment for NBL
Drive On Mars night-day transition, basic
modeling of vehicle systems,RAT instrument
deployment
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Mining the Moon - DigitalSpace and Colorado
School of Mines 2004
Colorado School of MinesPrototype Lunar Bucket
Wheel Excavator
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Mining the Moon - DigitalSpace and Colorado
School of Mines 2004
DigitalSpace Lunar analog simulation of BWE
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Lunar Landers DigitalSpace/NASA JSC, Ames
Research Center 2006
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Lunar Landers DigitalSpace/NASA JSC, Ames
Research Center 2006
Movie of rock encounter landing simulation
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Lunar Landers DigitalSpace/NASA JSC, Ames
Research Center 2006
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Lunar Landers DigitalSpace/NASA JSC, Ames
Research Center 2006
Movie of microsat landing simulation
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Lunar Rover Polar Ice Mission DigitalSpace/NASA
MSFC, Ames Research Center 2005-2006
Find the Light

• Crater Rim (Sunlight Area) Exploration
• Imaging of site from surfacetime data
  collection to correlate with LRO orbital images
  of same conditions (pan every 2 hours over 1
  year)
• Geotechnical properties of lunar regolith
  (bearing strength, soil composition,
  cohesiveness, block and slope populations)
• Biological effects of radiation, reduced
  gravity over 1 year
• Crater Floor (Dark Area) Exploration
• Physical environment and geotechnical
  properties (temperatures, soil characteristics,
  etc.)
• Examine both surface and subsurface of cold
  trap region
• Volatile deposits elemental and molecular
  composition, species abundance, physical state,
  distribution and extent number of samples from
  varied locations in crater floor locations and
  settings documented

Touch the Ice
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Lunar Rover Polar Ice Mission DigitalSpace/NASA
MSFC, Ames Research Center 2005-2006
RLEP2 Pre-Phase ATeamX, JPL Dec 12-15th, 2005
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Lunar Rover Polar Ice Mission DigitalSpace/NASA
MSFC, Ames Research Center 2005-2006
Cold traps in permanently shadowed craters 12-20
samples at 1-2m depth, test volatiles, water ice.
Nominal Target Shackleton 19 km complex impact
crater Steep interior slopes 25-35 Interior
walls loose material Rough floor Eratosthenian
age Ice distribution may be heterogenous
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Dawes CraterLunar Analog to ShackletonElevation
map producedby measurements team
Direct versus spiral traverse into the crater
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RLEP2 Rover, DigitalSpace/NASA MSFC, Ames
Research Center 2006
Movie of RLEP2 Rover slope/rock encounter
simulation
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Building a Moonbase Tele-robotically
DigitalSpace/Raytheon 2004-2005
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Mining the Earth DigitalSpace/Xstrata Nickel
2006-2007
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Digital SpacesOpen Source Integrated Modeling
and Simulation
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DSS Open Source Framework

• High performance 3D graphics, cross platform
• Industrial strength, vertical applications
• Physics, CAD, collaborative and synchronized
  simulation
• Multi-user, streams, research, pedagogical
  functions
• Linux of 3D, LGPL licensed for commercial
  applications
• www.digitalspace.comwww.digitalspaces.org

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DigitalSpace DSS modular plug-in architecture
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• Future Technology

exoBiota Lifes Journey into the Cosmos
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Lifes Journey
LifeSpace
CyberSpace
OuterSpace
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LifeSpace
4 bya of life on Earth, going between energy
levels
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LifeSpace
Ocean to land, structure building, atmosphere
transforming
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LifeSpace
Hominids, structure building and transforming the
atmosphere
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Are we appropriately adapted organisms to live
outside of the Earths biosphere?
19th Century Pressure Vessel Voyages
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Digital Biota Conferences Digital
Burgess(Banff, Canada, 1997)
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Digital Biota Conferences Digital
Burgess(Banff, Canada, 1997)
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Growing gardens in cyberspace(Nerve Garden, 1997)
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Evolving virtual creatures(Karl Sims)
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Evolving virtual creatures(Karl Sims)
1994 Movie of Sims Creatures
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Lifes Journey
Hyper-evolution
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Lifes Journey
Hyper-evolution
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Lifes Journey
Breakout! From Cyberspace to Outer Space
The greatest technological innovation of human
civilization is the creation of Cyberspace.
Cyberspace provides not only the tools to tie
together billions of human beings, power
economies and further knowledge, it is also an
experimental space for an exponential leap of
another sort evolution. As life on Earth moved
from the oceans to the land and then to the air,
we see that with sufficient energy and
complexity, evolution will project itself into
any place capable of supporting it. The field of
artificial life provided a hint that evolutionary
processes could take place inside compute space.
With the arrival of massively multiplayer online
games, we now have virtual worlds with rich
behaviors, billions of objects and the minds and
hands of millions of users which could serve as a
primordial soup for a next generation of
artificial evolution. Beyond this, modeling and
simulation of the whole solar system could
produce a virtual laboratory for the development
and experimentation with self replicating,
evolving robotics capable of living on the
surfaces of planets, rocky asteroids and icy
objects.
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Lifes Journey
Cyberspace can provide the digital primordial
soup to hyper-accelerate the trial-and-error
process of natural selection and create working
models for better spacecraft to take us beyond
the Earth, as well as suggesting methods to
engineer exo-Terrestrial life forms that can seed
the solar system and provide the infrastructure
to synergistically cohabit with humans. And if
human civilization fails (as it might well) then
we will have established a foothold for a complex
form of Earth life to break out from the certain
doom of the planet's gravity well. If we do
survive and are able to journey forward and
encounter other successful sentient
civilizations, we may find that they also had to
find ways to re-invent their own biological
systems to extend beyond their own evolutionary
crucible.
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Lifes Journey
And why do we need to think about all this?
Today's spacecraft are based squarely on 19th
century concepts which use rigid pressure
vessels, valves and fragile elements such as
wiring and solar collectors. As experience with
Apollo, Shuttle and 25 years of space stations
show, these are not reliable designs for long
term human space travel. For crews to survive
long journeys we need to move beyond the steam
engine to ships that can repair themselves. These
ships will be more like collections of living
organs with human beings as a symbiotic brain.
And when humans return to the Moon or go on to
Mars, they will find their stay limited by the
available resources they carry along or are able
to produce locally. For people to live for long
periods off the Earth we need to create a whole
new form of biology suited for life out in the
solar system, a kind of exo-Terrestrial life.
This new kind of life will be able to live in a
hard vacuum, collect solar radiation, crack down
and digest the elements of orbiting rocky and icy
objects and even adapt to environments such as
the Martian poles.

276

• Past Future Vision

And Finally we come to The Endor Back to the
Beginning
277
Bonus!(This has been a vision of cyberspace for
a long time)
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Escape in Finite State Fantasies (1976) by Rich
Didday
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The Personal Computer, Use it, Dont let it use
you!
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Future of Social Virtual Worlds discussion

• Make a buck, sustain high development and content
  creation costs
• Creating inclusive community experiences,
  sustainable companies
• Distributed vs centralized content
• Shared realities, political organization
• New medium of artistic expression
• Learning spaces, research environments
• Open source?
• Your thoughts?