VRL
Virtual Real Life
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SourceForge project page
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Introduction
Everyone's read Snow Crash. If you haven't, stop what you're doing and read
it right now. I'll wait.
The Metaverse is not a new concept as such - there are countless 3D systems
around that provide one thing or another; some focusing on gaming, some on
accurate Virtual Reality. VRL will go one step further and integrate all of
these into a slightly different architecture. Like the Metaverse VRL will be
one giant world, with different rooms hosted on computers around the planet,
so by traversing from one room to another in the virtual world you are actually
changing from computer to computer as well. Aside from the more distributed
architecture VRL will also provide scope for defining the world you inhabit
just like you would the real one, by allowing inhabitants to create and
interact with their own objects, sharing them with others, utilising them
(think motorbike) or throwing them at someone else. VRL will also enable
node owners (people running a room) to define the very physics of the areas
they create. Of course there will be defaults probably closesly following
Earth characteristics but it will be possible to define the result of any
conceivable action in the virtual world.
Architecture
VRL borrows a bit from both schools of network architecture: conventional
client-server and peer-to-peer. From the user's perspective he will connect
(using his client program) to a server which will be hosting The Street, or
wherever it is he is authorised to start. As he progresses from room to room
he is transferred between servers automatically. This eliminates
point-of-failure problems since even if The Street goes down or is compromised
the player can join at any location he can enter - usually his house (which
would be hosted locally) or any public area.
The underlying protocol is called OBEX (OBject EXchange) which deals with the
very heart of the system. It takes responsibility for moving objects around
the system so that every participant can render whatever it is that the player
has created. This leaves the servers (or main nodes, or whatever) free to
run the mechanics of the world, the laws of which are contained in the room's
"Definition File". Similarly with objects, they can be created to appear and
operate exactly as the player wishes.
Inspiration
Well, Snow Crash of course. Actually I got the idea for this before I read
the book but I doubt anyone would believe me. The object-definition part
came in fact from Quake with the innovative Quake-C system. For VRL this
is extended so that definitions are owned by the client and not statically
defined on the server.
Well I'm still designing/coding the basics at the moment so this page will
get ignored and out of date most of the time. Hopefully also this project
won't be competing too much with
VRSpace, another 3D world project on SourceForge.
This page is hosted at
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Cybercandy.
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