Gateway to Other 3D Worlds

I remember being on a MUCK and there was a room where you could talk to people in a channel on IRC and they could talk to you...

...so what about a gateway in Second Life where we could look through and see people on another 3D Internet-based world, like World of Warcraft, EverQuest, There, etc? The developers would need to come up with a communications protocol for the gateway, and make it a standard thing you could add to a 3D program.. it would compensate for the different types of 3D engines so that as you are near the gateway you can see and hear avatars on the other side properly. While this sort of thing has limited practical use, it is a very very cool looking thing and it is most certainly completely possible, it's just a matter of programming. (You could not pass through the gateway, of course - that would take a bit more programming effort and coordination and concern for security - just like crossing the border from one country to another in real life.)

The gateway might look like a sort of large mirror or arch with a frame around a clear aperture that might ripple a little like water... it might resemple the following gateways somewhat:

(click URLs to view images)
http://gallery.sirkain.net/albums/mjsstorage/TheSettlersII_GatewayScreenshot.jpg
http://gallery.sirkain.net/albums/mjsstorage/SLStarGateV42FrontByYwoskiKhan.jpg
http://gallery.sirkain.net/albums/mjsstorage/SLStarGateV42RearByYwoskiKhan.jpg

On the following links you can find the names of other possible worlds this could be implimented in conjunction with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMORPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MMORPGs

We could also speak to people in other 3D worlds or the real world on a laptop or TV screen in SL this way, or (more fun but kinda strange too) talk to someone in the REAL world who has a web cam... we'd be our virtual selves but we'd be talking to them on their web cam in a program like Skype, Yahoo Messenger, or Microsoft NetMeeting. Imagine talking to your mom like this? Welcome to the future, baby.


Oh yeah... that makes me think of another thing. We may need cell phones in SL that can be reached by real-world cell phones some day, as well as cell phones avatars have in other 3D worlds. They would have both text and (digitized or synthesized) voice support.

This was one of my goals with OSMP:
http://metaverse.sf.net

Luckily, I no longer have the time to spend on this sort of thing, since I actually have a life now!

One word for communications between 3D worlds and offline games: Xfire

Can do the portal now:

Set up a video stream of the screen of a computer running the client for other chosen online world, add post processing effects to taste. Set parcel's stream URL to said stream. Build portal and apply media texture to correct face(s). > Partal done.

Chatting to peeps in other worlds depends on whether they've got any external comms or not, I'm guessing they haven't. It'll be easier and faster once Jabber's introduced, but could be done now.

If I read your post properly I think your ideas are mostly, if not all, things that will be standard in the future, but they aren't going to be feasable for quite some time.

Can do the portal now:

Set up a video stream of the screen of a computer running the client for other chosen online world, add post processing effects to taste. Set parcel's stream URL to said stream. Build portal and apply media texture to correct face(s). > Portal done.

Chatting to peeps in other worlds depends on whether they've got any external comms or not, I'm guessing they haven't. It'll be easier and faster once Jabber's introduced, but could be done now.

If I read your post properly I think your ideas are mostly, if not all, things that will be standard in the future, but they aren't going to be feasable for quite some time.

Yes, I agree with you that it will be standard in the future, but I want people to start thinking about it, talking about it, and experimenting with it right now. Like, right away, so that it is standard sooner than later. I know it is completey possible right now with todays technology... and yeah, in the future (if not already) it will be a common thing to actually be somwhere in virtual reality, with all your other communications services (phone, IM, doorbell) ignored or shut off... so reaching a person in virtual reality will be a neccesity... whether it is from one VR world to another, or from the real world to the VR world.

For example: if everyone in the family has to go right away to a funeral of a friend or family member that just died... I could check to see if my brother could be reached in VR and contact him. In the past this was not possible because people online could be got knows where (programming? in a MUCK? IRC?) ... but now they might have some kind of universal VR phone number or whatever.

It really should be a standard, natural, expected thing.

It also fits in with my motto: "What happends in VR, stays in VR." .. what this actually means is that VR should be as immersive as possible and you shouldn't have to leave it to do something unless you actually have to physically go someplace. Anything related to data and information exchange should be able to be done in the VR world, without even having to go to a web page. This is why terminals and laptops in SL should be "real" as well, and not just pointers to web pages or text notes that end up in your Inventory.

I wish I wasn't so busy right now, I'd love a conversation about VR tech and how people will use it - it's one of my favorite subjects, I've even started designing my own metaverse protocol and streaming technology (only in my head so far though ).

For now I'll just say that I think you're totally wring about VR being separate from RL, it's going to merge - your VR phone will be the same as the phone you use the rest of the time for example.

Not much actually happens in VR for me, as I'm usually just looking at a representation on my screen whilst panickedly listening for evidence that my baby is waking up.





I don't know if I think terminals and laptops in SL *should be* real...I'd say it'd be *pretty neat* if they were. I don't think there is any kind of driving ethic that lays a "should" on the conversation.

SL communicating with WoW et al?

There's nothing in-character that anyone would have to say. Any sort of communication could be done on IM or IRC. And it would spoil any remaining element of RP in either world.

SL just isn't a MMORPG. I do not see the benefit of having an interface at all. They're just not the same things.

Is that similar to the Croquet Project?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquet_project

Portal window, through which one may see and hear: Possible, even as two-way (would need Blizzard's cooperation though)

Portal, through which one may travel: IXNAY! (Blizzard mumbling: "Bunch of dopes think they can get into WoW with their SL free accounts?"

Well, this is why people might start thinking about diplomatic relations between Virtual Worlds and have an immigration policy, customs procedures and security.

That would be an interesting Iron Curtain...on WoW's side they would have battle-scarred orcs and level-60 mages crackling with energy and astride ferocious mounts...on our side we'd have clubbers coated in hideous particles and naked noobs with the free default popgun.

EVERYBODY DISCO!!!