ok, I promise not to waste your time - this is a really good idea I got. Well, I saw a post by Your Supreme Coolness And Unquestionably THE RPG Sage (DarkMage
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) about Active Worlds. So I checked it out and got sickered in... met a few people, had fun walking around. And then it hit me - This would make the perfect GameDev.net virtual community.
Think about it. GameDev could buy a world server from AW.com so that they could host a world. What''s in the world? Good question, even better answer. Remeber all the talk about the idea of a team section on GameDev? (still going on btw). Well this could
be the team section! Especially for indie developers and virtual dev teams. Since AW.com allows you to build your own house or building - teams or indie companies could build their own virtual corporate headquarters. In the case of teams that are scattered around the country (or world) the virtual HQ would serve as a place where they can all gather and interact - chat and compare notes and ideas, transfer files. You could even have a "whiteboard" in a conference center. Just scan in the image or diagram and put it up as a texture! Even better would be the first two levels (if it''s multistory) or a few areas of the complex can house exhibits and showcases on games in progress or already out. With AW.com''s built-in browser, you could have a display on a game with various objects linked to various web pages with more information. As more and more towers and buildings of companies and teams start to spring up, people won''t have to travel far to reach other buildings with game info, thus advertising your game would be a cinch! And GameDev could hold contests like Best Designed HQ or Best Layout or Best Showcase. Other odds an ends would be a reception desk in the lobby where people can click on a log book to open the logbook page in the browser so they can log in their stay and comments. And there are so many more possibilities with AW.com''s SDK with their own scripting language that allow bots to take people on automated tours..... I say again the possibilities are endless!!!!
Of course each world has its own rules and regs - so GameDev could impose needed rules to make sure the community doesn''t get off track. I hate to bring up the topic of having moderators there - that seems very unnescessary when bots could do the job of punting unwanted people.
So? Whaddya think? Come on - anyone has to realize how insanley cool thos would be. And it really does solve the Team Section thing real nice. Of course - to become a citizen you''ll have to pay $19.99 per year - but is there really anyone out there so cheap as to say no when they''ll be using it so much to keep development on track? If you haven''t tried ActiveWorlds yet, head over to
www.activeworlds.com and check it out. You can log on as a Tourist without having ot pay anything. Come on Dave - you know you like this... You know it!
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"Need more eeenput..."
- #5, "Short Circuit"
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