Sure; you just have to recognize that that's only *part* of the
solution. It's been *very* clear to me, essentially from the start,
that a proper VRMUD (which is essentially what we're talking about)
has a number of components. One of those is VRML, which describes the
actual *objects* in that "world". But there's a lot more to it than
that; we definitely need highly sophisticated clients and servers,
and probably a protocol defined for making them communicate...
(The time is probably near for us to start discussing this in hard
detail. Anyone want to start up a technical VRMUD list?)
>2) Another important factor. Many people on IRC last night have read
>SnowCrash, so I'd like to use that as sort of a philosophical branching
>point. Are we moving towards one big world (i.e. a metaverse) or are we
>heading towards a number of different worlds (i.e. the current situation
>with MUDS/MOOS/MUSHS/etc).
I don't think that's 100% clear yet, but *I* certainly intend the
former -- my entire purpose, from the beginning, has been to build a
seamless Cyberspace. I think this is a hole in VRML, but I've been
letting it lie while we get things started. WWWAnchor works so long as
the worlds are separate, but it doesn't work well for worlds that can
"see" each other. (That is, it doesn't define any such connection.)
Very early on in the process, I proposed a concept of "portals",
which permit worlds to see each other and permit movement between
them. I still think it's the right way to go, and I'll be arguing
for it again. But I'd like to see the 1.0 browsers up and running
right, before we start the Big Argument about how to lay out
Cyberspace...
-- Justin
Who still doesn't entirely understand the
Cyberspace Protocol proposal, and will
be asking for clarifications of that
first...
Random Quote du Jour:
Re: Tinkertoys
"And I learned something, too -- that some adults just didn't understand how
you can build whatever you want, so long as you don't run out of sticks and
spools. And only just this minute while I'm writing this, I realize what
all that meant. Those adults simply weren't spool-stick-literate!"
-- Marvin Minsky