Full press release : moove online world is the realization of a simple vision: "Empower everyone to freely create and shape her very own virtual (but not abstract) habitat; and then connect them to create a living, evolving community".
This vision subsumes several insights, gained through personal experience and informal interviews with people belonging to disparate social groups and cultures. For example, the abstractness of an environment (e.g. text based) simplifies the technical realization, but may erect a barrier for users who do not come out of a technical/mathematical culture. In the same sense, equating the community with a central "server" may seem to be a natural technical solution. But this kind of centralization inevitably leads to coercive rules, which may severely restrict the inhabitants in their rights to freely determine their own environment.
The technical realization closely follows this blueprint:
- To combat the abstractness barrier, moove online uses full 3D graphics. Every user has a realistic avatar, every place is a real "room" and data files, etc. are real objects.
- To follow the rule of empowerment, the 3D environment is fully editable by non-technical users. Simple drag&drop operations and menu choices allow the customization of places and avatars.
- The freedom principle is fulfilled by giving every user the ownership of her own environment. The users create and operate any number of "rooms" on their own personal computers. In other words, the virtual presence architecture is a peer-to-peer one.
- The connections between the users are handled centrally by a server. This "Community Server" is responsible for all the tasks which are necessary to maintain a vital community: Virtual visits, emails, instant messaging, profile pages, "buddy lists", etc.
Objectives
"Empower everyone to freely create and shape her very own virtual (but not abstract) habitat; and then connect them to create a living, evolving community"
Language and context
International, multicultural
Project History
moove online world is successfully operational since January 1999.
People
The project is realized and operated by moove, a privately owned enterprise
Technological basis
Client: Peer-to-peer-networking, Software and Hardware-based 3D rendering, integrated scripting language, Win32 based.
Server: MS Internet Information Server, ISAPI-based custom application server, MS SQL Server.
Users
moove online world is not restricted to any specific group of users.
Statement of Reasons
moove online world is a very unique environment combining the freedom of peer-to-peer architecture, the connectivity of a community server and realism of a realistic 3D environment. As proven by many years of full deployment, it is a very powerful social tool for every social group or interest. |
