Socially|Mundane

Mycosm announced themselves at the 2008 Virtual Worlds conference and have been working hard to get things ready to open their doors. I'm on the private beta list, but that's still a bit of a ways off before they are ready to even start that phase. (And you can sign-up, too.)

However, rather than thinking of them as "behind", I think of them as having the advantage. Second Life is the only thing like Second Life, anywhere. It's been around since 2003 and it's growing a bit long in the tooth. Everything else is a far cry from what Second Life offers in terms of control and freedom. But that might be changing in time.

On top of this, the Linden Lab software is pure spaghetti. It's horrible and the stability of the second Life grid suffers for it. Well, the residents aren't the only ones watching. Perhaps they are vocal about things, but there are others. And they are waiting silently in the wings. Also listening to us and our complaints and our wants and needs.

And they will turn all these things into an advantage.

Questions are being asked, and they are answering...

The current newsletter I have received from the folks at Mycosm states in-part:

Introduce my clients to a virtual world solution that works wonders for their brands... - Jeff
With Mycosm, brands can finally “own” their virtual world and create immersive brand experiences without being compromised by aging technology and a lack of control. Everyone has their own website, why should 3D worlds be any different? We believe that good looking, powerful 3D worlds should be easy to create for anyone. This emphasis on user experience and brand control translates directly to a more cost effective and expansive online strategy for brands. Mycosm caters to both commercial and non-commercial use.

I’m interested in the potential of a virtual world where the graphics engine is actually one that can handle “real" looking avatars...
We have always taken the attitude that virtual worlds should look equivalent to current games. Mycosm is backed by a powerful 3D engine that has many of the graphical and physical features that are in current generation games. We believe that a compelling virtual world experience comes from both graphically realistic avatars, and realistic interaction with every element in the world. Users of a virtual world should be able to recognize their friends from their face, and feel physically immersed in a 3D environment.

Interested in multi user 3d that allows for outside built content, along with prebuilt inside content... - Neil
In Mycosm you can use intuitive tools to create land, water, textures, vegetation and sky. There are no tools to create 3D objects, instead we have developed a rock solid importer for .3ds files that come from 3DSMax, SketchUp and other popular CAD packages. The rendering engine supports the existing material configuration of objects directly (including the diffuse, specular strength and color, normal, bump, opacity and reflective strength maps). We’ll be adding other formats to pursue our mission of enabling quality content inside virtual worlds. Of course if you don’t have a 3D package (or don’t know how to use it) then our marketplace is right there for obtaining quality content too.