[x3d-public] A sense of place

John Carlson yottzumm at gmail.com
Thu Jul 2 17:06:12 PDT 2020


I'm trying to figure out what I'm missing when sitting at the computer.

I think it may be a sense of place.

Which something that a VR world (not just 3D/4D--I've tried that in games)
might fill.

If anyone has seen psychological studies on this subject, could you point
them in my direction?  What needs do 3D FPS shooter games fulfill, for
example, thinking of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?  Is there a *need* for
entertainment, and how does it fit into the hierarchy?  From a bit of
search i see entertainment is at the top of the pyramid, under
self-actualization.  Entertainment fulfills our needs by providing other
places to visit.  Different places.   It feeds the exploration need.   So
why don't I open up Second Life right now and do some exploring?  Am I
missing a VR suit ala Avatar the Movie?

I remember exploring the file system when I first got on time sharing
systems in college.  Then the web came out, and there was Yahoo and DMOZ
(directory).  But now, our interface is mainly search by symbols.  What if
we could do an internet search for virtual worlds to visit (ala archie FTP
at first)?   What if I could get a curated list of virtual worlds?  How do
we search for virtual world servers inside a virtual world?

How could we improve exploration for virtual worlds on the web?   Do we
need an X3D Resources page for virtual worlds created by our members?  Do
we need a different protocol built into web browsers besides http/https?

How do we build portals (think Stargate) between different vendors' virtual
worlds?  I know Anchor, but it also means HAnim portability and single
sign-on as well.

The only two VRML/X3D worlds I am aware of off the top of my head are
Office Towers and CGE. Trying to think really hard now.  It seems like
everyone is trying to improve their small little world, instead of focusing
on the possibility of a bigger picture.

Who is carrying the banner for the bigger picture?  How do we transform a
network full of pages and video clips into a network full of interactive
movies (plus symbols and shapes) and/or stage plays?

What's the best way to create interactive movies these days?  Unreal and
Unity? How do we hook up Unreal and Unity worlds into a network?   Can we
leverage the current technology of sending video from a game server?   Can
we actually support efforts like Stadia and Microsoft's xcloud video
streaming efforts as a performance enhancement over downloading a bunch of
3D content to a console? Maybe the video guys have the right delivery
model, we just need to improve server-side technology?  Can someone who's
an architect get a feeling for this?

I am sort of thinking that we should separate networking from content
delivery.  That is, we assume that communities are available already as
part of the infrastructure, and we just plug one or more virtual worlds
into existing communities, potentially as just another client. I am
thinking of something like a bot in a chatroom.  How do we have virtual
world hosting for various communities ala phpBB?  That is, extremely easy
to set up virtual world hosting.

In my insanity, I have imagined my wife and daughter controlling the video
on the TV, making the video interactive instead of just canned.  I don't
think technology is there yet, but I could be wrong (who knows?). I think
there's real potential in this kind of idea. Like the TV reads our
emotions, and feeds back video based on the emotions or thoughts.  I guess
that's simulation theory.

Is Netflix and Amazon going to implement this, or are they happy with
existing technology? Is Stadia and xCloud competing with Netflix and
Amazon?  Wither Disney/Pixar/Lucasfilm? What role might video chat vendors
fill?

John
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