Multiuser Virtual Environments II: The Palace
Last week I discussed AlphaWorld, the 3-D virtual environment created by World, Inc. I now turn my attention to a 2-D environment that some say has several advantages over 3-D ones.The Palace is the brand name of client/server software that lets users chat in a 2-D virtual "Palace" comprised of many elegant rooms. Visitors to a Palace server appear as disembodied heads and speak to others in the room using cartoon word balloons that appear beside their cartoon faces.
The Palace software--which is rather like Hypercard--was developed by Jim Bumgardner and Mark Jeffrey at what was at the time Time-Warner Interactive (TWI). TWI has since been folded into Inscape, another Time-Warner company; however, the Palace group is still being supported by Time-Warner as a standalone venture.
Bumgardner and Jeffrey created a scripting language dubbed iptscrae that lets Palace server operators customize their servers by creating unique rooms and adding sounds and other features.
Besides chatting, visitors can play games like chess and checkers, as well as dress themselves up with props such as bunny ears, cigarettes, and martinis. Using a variety of paintbox-like tools, visitors can also write or draw on the screen, while everyone else watches. "Pictionary" is a popular game in The Palace. For those using Macs, you can implement the text-speaking feature and hear all the chat--albeit in a single voice.
The rooms include bedrooms and "the beach." The atmosphere and the behavior of visitors is often quite whimsical and flirtatious. It's also possible to imagine practical applications for The Palace, for example, a Palace clinic where people could visit to receive advice about particular problems or share experiences with other patients.
The Palace is defiantly a 2-D environment. Jeffrey and Bumgarder bristle at the question of whether they would ever make it 3-D. Their opinion of 3-D virtual reality chat is evident in their "3-D Chat Theater," in which their hands are up beside their eyes like racehorse blinders. They comically turn left and right to face and speak with other people, illustrating the problem of having a unique point of view in 3-D environments. In 2-D worlds, everyone has the same point of view and shares the same experiences. The Palace creators feel strongly that it would not be good if the sole metaphor for cyberspace was that of a 3-D global world. They remind us that there are advantages to 2-D and even 1-D environments.
(Presumably a 1-D environment is simply text, which is, of course, what online chat, let alone many MUDS and MOOs, have always been. A friend of mine recently said that he prefered text-based MOOs over visual ones because they left more to the imagination--which sounds like a familiar argument in support of literature.)
Courtney Pulitzer of the Web development company Siteline says, "The Palace is great because anyone can download a simple 2-D environment that is easier and faster to use than a 3-D environment like AlphaWorld." She also notes that The Palace is seamlessly integrated into the Web. You can link from a Web site to a Palace, from one Palace to another, and from a Palace back to the Web.
Palace server software can be obtained for only $20, and the basic client is available for free. By contrast, Worlds, Inc.'s servers have only been licensed to major corporations like Visa and IBM. Worlds has not yet set a price for its products and are in the hands of only a small number of users.
Jon Sarno, founding member of the Web Cinema Group, feels that The Palace's 2-D nature facilitates having meetings in cyberspace because everyone can be seen at the same time. He believes that 3-D environments are actually less conducive to social interaction than The Palace. He says that The Palace is more "democratic" because most people can afford a server for $20 and can run it on their PC.
Sarno observed that these technologies are only in their infancy and that since they still do not incorporate voice or video they are inevitably not going to be satisfying. Nonetheless, The Palace and virtual environments tap into a deeper hunger for interaction with others in cyberspace. Imagine what it will be like when all these people can actually see and talk together in a virtual world. These capabilities may not be very far off.
Mark Jeffrey told me that The Palace server was being "fixed" to allow the integration of streaming audio software like RealAudio, as well as video. They considered incorporating some proprietary audio and video components, but opted instead to make it work with anyone's product. This means that people will have the option to talk with, and may be even see, one another using Internet phones.
At the present time about 1,000 Palace servers have been downloaded. Some of the most interesting and popular Web sites include:
- StimUverse, which the creators call "only part of our plan for total world domination through captivating entertainment"
The House that B5 Records Built--a place to meet other mates that provides lots of bedrooms and other intimate settings - Cybertown's Cybertown Palace, a futuristic Web community that features "beautiful spaces and lots of fun games to play."
- THATSCAPE, "the first virtual entertainment network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. The virtual chat space developed to empower and enhance individuality locally, nationally and worldwide."
