Re: storing visiblity info. in VRML (fwd)
Brandon Van every (vanevery@rbdc.rbdc.com)
Thu, 31 Aug 95 19:25 EDT
> >One of the key concepts in the book Snowcrash (admitedly fiction) was
> that of a
> >'standard' numbering scheme to implement 'unreal estate'. I can see
> 'regions'
> >being something like this, and I think that it may be a good idea.
> However, I
> >think it's more likely for all concerned to simply go their seperate
> ways.
> >Getting concensus I think will be difficult on 'real esate claims'.
> Who gets
> >0.0.0?
> >
>
> Well, in Snowcrash the protocol was developed by the ACM, and space
> was sold to companies, with the profits going to maintain the
> infrastructure. So the person with the most money gets ( 0, 0, 0 ).
>
> An extension of the current situation is much more likely. There
> will just be dozens of interconnected vegas-style "strips", with each
> one seeming to be the center of the metaverse while you're there.
I offer the following conjecture: the entire concept of "virtual real
estate" may very well fall flat on its butt. The whole concept is
predicated around the notion that users are actually willing to wander
around a virtual world on foot when the neighborhood is commercial.
On-foot traversals are tedious, and it's very unlikely that people
will waste their time going out of their way to see commercials.
It seems that the concept only works if people are "forced" to be
there, as in, if they are "captive subscribers" and that's how the
interface works, or they're in the middle of a game universe and there
happens to be a rotating Coca-Cola in the sky. If VR advertizing
pollution does indeed take off, I'd expect to see "no advertizments!"
bantered about as a feature of many online services. They may charge
more, of course....
Cheers,
Brandon