The 3D Metaverse

February 1st, 2007, By Duncan Gough

From this comment on Le Techcrunch (bold emphasis mine):

Virtualization is going to be the new reality. As to the comments that virtual worlds are not going to be as popular as RPG’s, I suggest you check out the number one web site on the net – Myspace. What is Myspace but a virtual world? It’s just not 3d. When somebody gets the Metaverse right, Myspace is dead, dead, dead. The demands of users growing up with 3dvr will REQUIRE social networking to be more than just a flat page on the screen.

Can someone remind me what 3D has got to do with it?

Why make 3D such an integral part of something so simple? We’re on the cusp of merging games and social software into a compelling new medium of interaction and play, and you want to world to wait whilst we cook up a 3D interface to it! Wow, Second Life and Eve Online are all fantastic MMORPGs with differing strengths and weaknesses, but to suggest that a mainstream one must be 3D is to be led by technology.

Who knows why so many people began signing up at MySpace before it was so well known? I’ve read plenty of theories but none of them really convince me that everything I know about design and interaction can be negated by an ugly, user un-friendly website like MySpace. Especially one created by people with a dubious track record that started out as nothing but a glorified questionnaire. What MySpace does prove is that design isn’t everything. It’s not too hard to draw a line from there to here and realise that the metaverse will work out just fine in 2D. Imagine….

Gauntlet 2D MMO

Donkey Kong 2D MMO

Massively. Casual. Online. Games.

(n.b. for Casual also read Classic)

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