Open Source Platform

for interconnected virtual worlds

realXtend Newsletter 24.1.2008

The residents of the brave new world - creating a global avatar

The main difference between traditional web browsing and the virtual worlds of the future is not flashy 3D graphics or even the new intuitive controls. The most profound difference is the interactivity between the users and the touch of personality channelled through the user's avatars.

The avatars are already becoming a powerful tool for self-expression and in the future their significance will rise to an entirely new level when the same avatars can be used in multiple interconnected virtual worlds as well as games. The users will be able to recognize each other from the way they look and act. More importantly they know that the others will be able to do the same. With great numbers of compatible worlds all over the world the avatar will become one of the most important communication tools of all time.

There are several important questions that need to be answered before the global avatar can reach its full potential. Some are strictly technical, such as creating the infrastructure for transporting the avatar and its inventory between the worlds, others include preventing social engineering and generally ensuring that the virtual experience is as safe and comfortable as it can be. After all, if the users grow attached to their virtual representatives, like we hope they will, they must be guaranteed a certain level of security and it must be efficiently communicated to them, creating an atmosphere of trust necessary for conducting business in the new environment.

The realXtend project aims at developing a standard for avatars enabling the creation of the global avatar.

Coming soon...

Come hail or high water (sleet it is in reality at the moment), tomorrow open source virtual world developers will meet in Oulu. A summary of the meeting will be published in the forthcoming issues of this newsletter.

Some new screenshots from the realXtend : http://www.realxtend.org/pics/