Hi! I've been lurking here for <<blah blah>>, and I've been working on
<<yada yada>>, and if I had to sum up the single concept that I'll try
to vehemently apply to every scenario that comes across the list, it
would be << Object Oriented LISP | standardized text representations
in VR | Gopherspace | Why the 7 layer ISO model Sucks | Sonny Bono>>.
This idea of not talking about the concrete stuff gets increasingly
difficult, the more you know about implementation. I think what we're
trying to do here is step away from that implementation stuff (and try
to avoid the accompanying holy wars), try to find out what's out there
between the cracks and crevases of The Obvious to discover new
paradigms, unpredictably synergetic effects, and groundbreaking
experiences in a VR environment. From what I can tell, that's why Kevin
guides us away from the concrete discussions... it's been done, it's
being done, in lots of other places, and that's not the intent of this
list. If this has been stated 50 million times already, I apologize. If
it's incorrect, then sorry, I've only been here a couple of days.
The best model I've found for conceptualizing radical VR ideas
without the limitations of implimentation details is Reality. Star
trek does this with the holodeck, but they've been pretty uninspired
about how they use the thing... all they've done for the most part is
reproduce external realities, or fantasies that adhere to the laws and
physics of external reality, with very minor variations.
What if we could step away from implementation details by saying "our
model is a holodeck-like structure of infinite size"? This means we can
get away from what would and wouldn't work, and emphasize the
conceptualization and creation of totally new and radically different
kinds of Virtual Worlds themselves.
For example, what about a VR world that has no discernable shapes,
only unique algorythms that gave a "signature" to particular
collections of waves of color, and whose boundaries (width and motion),
intensities, and hues were determined by biofeedback mechanisms such as
respiration, heartbeat, galvonic skin response? A multi-user
environment with voice contact where you could go swimming in this
mess, and eventually chart out areas like "the Blue Quick Place", and
talk to "The Green Cloud that turns Red whenever you mention Rush
Limbaugh". What would the effects be? People would suddenly be
extremely empathic, due to all of the visual feedback, for example. It
would be wierd. <<and even still, there's this little voice inside my
head that says, 'hmmm... one 64K voice line, one 64K for change data,
propogate the algorythms when dirty and progressively render them
locally based on a heirarchy of proximity'... but we'll just ignore Mr.
Implementation Voice, shall we?>>
As were previously mentioned, a Dali-esque or Escher type world would
be totally a trip. What would the walls of an Escher world feel like? I
imagine gritty, like heavy paper. I'd want to be able to draw new
stairs, new doors, and them highlight them and click!, and have them
rendered into Escher's style. Then you could determine orientation
however you wanted, and walk on, creating the world as you go. I gotta
tell ya, the prospect of getting lost in an environment like this,
especially a multi-user environment, does not excite me. :-)
bye,stu