On Wed, 3 May 1995, ZB Lucas wrote:
> It would seem to me that the two of these concepts are completely
> intertwined in the way that we are going to design the system.
agreed. If we do a full "metaverse" - i.e. the whole 'net is one big
world - then there has to be a universally accepted coordinate system. I
have some ideas (vague) on how to do this, and will outline below. Note
that when I say "one big world", this _does not_ mean that there is only
one data server on the 'net; rather, it means that the data servers run a
common protocol and work in tandem with each other, and whose specs are
carefully designed ahead of time.
> RE: SnowCrash versus MUD topology
> i would like to introduce the term Realm. (similar to Domain) a Realm
> can be any kind of shared virtual space. At this point i am assuming
> that there would have to be a Realm Controller/Coordinater to assist in
> the syncing of all processes in a Realm. it is possible to have as many
> Realms and Sub-Realms as desired. which is like the mud topology.
> however this also works with the metaverse. in snowcrash, the top realm
> was the Strip, and everybody else just registered their realms with the
> Strip. Hiros house or the BlackSun were actually Realms or Sub-Realms
> registered to certain locations and dimensions on the Strip. their
> registered size doesnt actually affect how large the Realm is, that is
> handled by the new RC/C. The cool aspect of this is the fact that it is
> possible to register a portal (which of course is just another object in
> a realm) in multiple Realms.
This is an interesting idea. In fact, as Daniel Sandler pointed out, in
SnowCrash it is even mentioned that the strip is a server, with virtual
"links" to other servers (i.e. BlackSun) elsewhere on the 'net. There are
also links to massive domains (i.e. Hiro's neighborhood) which have links
to yet more servers (i.e. the neighborhood has a virtual link to Hiro's
home).
Which brings up the debate: do we use a universally accepted coordinate
system, or does each server maintain its own coordinate system? If the
former, then we will need a method of specifying an arbitrarily large
metaverse, since all servers must use the same coordinates. If the
latter, then we will have trouble in (for example) Hiro's house: imagine
trying to look out of the window - it would be difficult to render
information from another server with a different coordinate system. (This
is, of course, our "portal" discussion all over again.)
I'd personally vote for the former: a big universal coordinate system.
How about this: all objects are positioned in coordinates _relative_ to
any other object. Of course, we must have some sort of "absolute" frame
(or do we?). If we do, then we have one (and only one) absolute beacon
that is universally acknowledged by all servers as at position (0,0,0).
to form a lattice grid; the spacing between these relatively positioned
beacon objects is constant in all directions. Beacon objects are
guaranteed not to move. Because of this, we have a coordinate system
which can be extended out to infinity (simply add more beacon objects
when needed), but we have a definate frame of reference, since a few of
the beacons are positioned relative to the "absolute beacon".
Discussion?
-- David Peck http://www.mbhs.edu/~dpeck/ Mac SW Programmer --