> > The
> > question is whether the distribution of spaces on such a disk will
> > really be any different in nature or structure from those on the
> > main web.
>
> No different, just that if you want the non-local links to work, you have
> to be connected. A space with only local links will work just as well as
> any other. Faster, even.
>
> Actually, from an aesthetic standpoint there is potentially a great
> difference between CD-ROM distribution and Internet distribution.
> CD-ROM implies a tremedous centralization of resources, a major site
> for authorial control.
Major site? I think you're still thinking Internet. I don't consider
Capitol Records to be a major Internet site, yet they produce thousands
of CDs every day. The point is that I think spaces can be developed on a
single stand-alone system, and published on CD, just like all PC-oriented
CDs are today.
Of course some worlds should be developed under strict authorial
control. What if Van Gogh had spent all his time collaborating? None of
his work would exist today. It would be a mish mash of all the other
no-name artists who lived near him.
> Whereas the distribution of a VR world across
> many Internet nodes, implies the interaction of many authors with
> conflicting interests.
The operative word, here, which helps my point, is "conflicting".
Sometimes you get a better result by working alone, or pairs.
I am not saying we should restrict anything to one form of distribution or
another. All I am saying is that the CD-ROM road is not being planned for,
as far as I can see, yet it is the most cost effective way to put large
volumes of data in the hand of paying customers.
> For instance, how do you provide a common set of recognized "meanings"
> to a distributed Internet audience? It's relatively easy to
> standardize 3d graphical display, but how do you standardize
> behavioral interaction? In the broadest political sense, you simply
> can't.
Here we go with the "commonly recognized meanings" thing again. Okay,
I'll say it again: Yes, we need to work on this. Yes we need to provide
for people whose languages are written a ideograms. Yes we need to gain
expereince in their background in order to understand how to represent
things to them.
How is any of this helped by being on the Internet? In fact, I think the
Internet would make it much worse. A host may only have the resources to
store two or three versions of a space, so those who need representations
of another type cannot understand that host. If I were selling CDs, I
would only sell one which is of the correct representative type to a
particular customer, or I would risk losing that customer. In other words:
I would sell a Japanese represented space in Japan, and a Chinese one in
China. On the Internet, you have to please everyone with the same product,
and so you have to make that product so flexible that it demands more
host resources than the average space author can afford.
--- Andrew C. Esh mailto:andrew_esh@cnt.com Computer Network Technology andrewes@mtn.org (finger for PGP key) 6500 Wedgwood Road 612.550.8000 (main) Maple Grove MN 55311 612.550.8229 (direct) <A HREF="http://www.mtn.org/~andrewes">ACE Home Page</A>