State of the Avatar

It was quiet during the last 2 months. The main reason is, that we started working permanently in a day job. Since this project has no funding, we can not afford any longer to live without income.

I continue to work in this project in the evenings and on weekends. Clearly, work progresses more slowly. We can not hold any previously announced deadline of the roadmap.

There has also been a shuffle in responsibilities in the project. More about that later.

I just want to tell you, that we did not abandon the project. There will be a new virtual presence system with avatars and virtual goods on all web pages. We are continuing to work. Only the mode and the speed changed, because we have to work for a living.

On the other hand I will blog more in the future. I will tell more frequently what we are developing so, that you kan keep track of the project.

My Weblin Post Mortem

You might not know, but I worked for/on/at weblin from 2007 until early 2009. I invested some energy, brains and creative output in that "little chat tool" that attracted about 3 million users.

In my opinion (writing as the former weblin lead ui & game designer) the reasons for it's "failure" are neither its clumsiness, it's far too simple interactive elements, nor it's lack of monetary prosperity. The real reason is a quite simple one: confidence.

We were up & running. We had enough users to experiment with virtual goods and advertising to find the right way and the right balance to make it work for this target group between MMORPG players and socializers. We were working on serious game design. We were working on 3D technology and better interfaces for a layered virtual world that hasn't been explored before. We were learning.
We were on schedule.

But at one point the confidence in our success was gone. Parts of the management lost it and so the investors lost it, too. And if your investors loose confidence in you and you need them, you're out.

So farewell weblin. We will try to pick up the pieces and do what has to be done.

Weblin

Like most of you, we got the news, that weblin is about to go down. This is sad news for us. Weblin is a great system which once had millions of users and it has a very good and strong community.

Actually, we are weblin users and have been for a long time. We like the concept of meeting people on web pages. So, we decided to create an open source version. We are planning to use the same open protocol to make our client compatible with Weblin. All users of different clients should be able to chat and connect. The user should have the choice of clients and competition will make clients better for the benefit of the all users.


Now it appears, that weblin drops the ball.
We will pick it up.

We are sad, that users of our client will not be able to meet weblin users. Anyhow, people will meet and chat and play on web pages. The time will come when there will be other clients in the biggest of all virtual worlds: the Web.

State of the Avatar

We are a bit behind schedule.

Not much, but we want to make things very good and solid. We are an open source project and we create an open architecture where other developers will be able to contribute plug-ins and features. The architecture we create now will be around for a while to come. If issues come up, then we solve them thoroughly even if it is more work, than just what's necessary to continue.

Next week we will hold an open meeting to discuss the schedule. The meeting date and location will be announced here soon. Anyone is invited.

Our shiny new Headquarter

We moved into our new HQ this monday!
From now on the open virtual world project will be developed right from the roof of the "Schanze", a central district of Hamburg, Germany.

The office is on the top floor of an old factory building with lots of space, light and air.

The photo shows the kitchen/conference table and parts of the roof-deck (on the left).

Now the equipment is set up, the keys and passwords had been handed over and we continue work at a gorgeous new office.

we happy.

Hello World

Welcome to the temporary home of the “Open Virtual World” project.
Our goal is to create a virtual world client similar to rocketon or weblin – but under open source licence and for all operating systems.

Until the project has a real name, we will try to establish a straightforward communication channel on this blog. So from now on, you will be able to find and discuss all news and updates regarding the development of our / your software right here.

Detailed information about the “greater vision” of this project, the technological approach, first previews and the repository will follow as soon as possible. But meanwhile feel free to drop us your comments and suggestions or get in touch if you want to join in.

Proposals

Please add your proposals here in the comments section.
(There will be a forum later)