Unity

A List of Virtual Reality Worlds

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I try to keep up with the latest in 3D virtual worlds, but
new stuff keeps popping up all the time, so no doubt I will miss stuff. I’m
posting a page to keep track of it all.

Just
a definition. A 3D Virtual World contains the following traits: 1. Its a
Massively Multiplayer Online Game. 2. It renders in 3D (ruling out the literally
hundreds of 2D flash virtual worlds like Club Penguin and Gaia Online).
3. It allows for multiple types of activities, primarily non-competitive social
ones. (ruling out the dozens of MMORPG games as well as single activity games
like the golf MMOG Albatross 18).

3D
Virtual Worlds should also feature: Customizable avatars, customizable 3D
residences, user created clothing, user created scriptable objects,
Text/Speech/Gesture communication, Internet integration, multiplayer game
launching capabilities. I covered this in more detail in “What
is a Metaverse?”

Note: Just
because it is listed here does not mean I endorse it. I’m trying to make a list
as complete as possible. There are some old and lame games on the list. There
are also some new ones with potential, but not ready for prime time yet. There
are also some special interest worlds that should have appeal for some. Do a
little research before you actually join any of these games.

The
List:

Active
Worlds

Operated By: Activeworlds Inc

Built By: Activeworlds Inc

Status: Developed 1994 Open since 1997

Customization: Land building is a primary activity. Avatars are too simplistic
to customize.

User Created Content: Yes

Notes: Oldest still in existence. Barely supported anymore.

Website: http://www.activeworlds.com/

Blue
Mars

Operated By: Avatar Reality

Built By: Avatar Reality using the CryEngine2

Status: Open Beta since September 2, 2009

Customization: Avatar and Real Estate customization via purchases

User Created Content: object and clothing submissions via development program
and approval process

Notes: Set in a futuristic world on a terraformed planet Mars. Avatars created
by e-frontier (makers of Poser).

Requires a decent computer with a decent video card.

Website: http://bluemars.com/

My Review: A
Quick Peek at Blue Mars

Club
Cooee

Operated By: Cooee GmbH (Germany)

Built By: Cooee GmbH

Status: Open Beta since January 2009

Customization: Avatar customization

User Created Content: None

Notes: Another 3D Chat Client designed primarily for teens

Website:
http://www.clubcooee.com/

Empire of Sports

Operated By: Infront Sports and Media (Switzerland)

Built By: Empire of Sports Ltd.

Status: Open since December 2008

Customization: Avatar customization

User Created Content: None

Notes: Multiple sports games against real players from around the world. Keep a
common avatar between them.

Website: https://www.empireofsports.com/

Evolver / FriendsHangout

Operated By: Evolver.com (Canada) / Friendshangout.com (US Florida)

Avatars By: Darwin Dimensions Inc.

Worlds By: unity3d.com and arteria3d.com

Status: Open beta since May 2009

Customization: Avatar customization through evolver.com

User Created Content: Limited to friendshangout.com developer program

Notes: Friends hangout is a 3D Chat Virtual World using avatars created with
Evolver.com. Create your avatar in evolver

and one of the “Transport” options will be friendshangout.com which
provides multiple beautifully rendered 3D sites to

explore. Each room also has a vehicle of some sort you can ride.

Website: http://evolver.com/ or http://friendshangout.com

My Review: What
if you built an awesome 3D Virtual World and nobody came?

Football Superstars

Operated By: Cyber Sports Ltd (UK)

Built By: Monumental Games

Status: Open since November 2008

Customization: Avatar customization

User Created Content: None

Notes: Sort of a Football (Soccer) MMORPG but with a social virtual world aspect
outside of playing games.

Website: http://footballsuperstars.com/

Free Realms

Operated By: Sony Online Games

Built By: Sony

Status: Opened April 2009

Customization: Avatar customization, building

User Created Content: None

Notes: 3D fantasy virtual world designed primarily for kids and teens. Multiple
activities including racing, pets, RPG quests, in world games.

Mostly free, though more content opens up with payment.

Website: http://www.freerealms.com/

My Review: A
Quick Peek at Free Realms

Frenzoo

Operated By: Frenzoo.com (Hong Kong)

Built By: Based on the Unity Engine

Status: Early Beta

Customization: Avatar and room customization, animation and others coming soon

User Created Content: Yes, can import 3D models, in game fashion design.

Notes: Built by a few Second Life people. Primarily a 3D chat world at the
moment, looking to expand beyond that.

Website: http://www.frenzoo.com/

HiPiHi

Operated By: HiPiHi (China)

Built By: HiPiHi

Status: Beta

Customization: n/a

User Created Content: n/a

Notes: Open ended platform, often called the Chinese Second Life

Website: http://www.hipihi.com/index_en.html

IMVU

Operated By: IMVU inc.

Created By: Will Harvey (also primary creator of There)

Status: Open Beta since 2004, Officially out of beta June 2008

Customization: Avatar and room customization via purchased items

User Created Content: Room, clothing, and animations via submission

Notes: Designed as a 3D chat client, no free movement or explorable areas.
Animations are triggered by interacting with objects.

Has its own social network system. Now with voice.

Website: http://www.imvu.com/

My
Reviews: A Quick Peek at
IMVU, The Oldest
Noob in IMVU

Just
Leap In

Status: Closed Beta since July 2008

Customization: Room customization

User Created Content: limited to textures and videos, likely to expand to
objects and avatars

Notes: Runs in a browser. You can add animated “people” to your room,
Graphics are great. You Google Lively fans should check this out.

Website: http://www.justleapin.com/

Kaneva

Operated By: Kaneva inc.

Created By: Christopher Klause (founder of ISS)

Status: Open Beta since 2007

Customization: Limited avatar customization. Clothes and furniture can be
purchased at the mall

User Created Content: Limited to wall hanging pictures.

Notes: Has a closely integrated social network system. Free apartment to
decorate.

Website: http://www.kaneva.com/

Meet-Me

Operated By: Co-Core Inc (Japan)

Built By: Co-Core Inc

Status: Beta restricted to Japan

Customization: n/a

User Created Content: n/a

Notes: Home of Toyota Metapolis

Website: http://www.meet-me.jp/
( translated
by Google )

Moove

Operated By: Moove (Germany)

Built By: Moove

Status: 3D version released in 2001

Customization: Limited avatar customization, room fully customizable

User Created Content: Clothes and textures

Notes: Older program hence older graphics engine. Your “room” is stored on your own computer. If you visit someone

else’s room you download their room from their computer. There is no central virtual world to visit.

Website: http://moove.com/

Onverse

Operated By: Onverse (Arizona)

Built By: Onverse using the Torque Game Engine

Status: Open beta in June 2009

Platform: Windows, Mac, and Linux available

Customization: Limited avatar and room customization furnishings obtained via
currency awards and currency purchase

User Created Content: none

Notes: Simple low end, low resource 3D virtual world. Also has social networking
website.

Website: http://onverse.com/

My Review: A
Quick Peek at Onverse

OSGrid (and other OpenSim based grids)

Operated By: OSGrid.org and others

Built By: Open source development with major contributions by IBM, based on
technology by Linden Labs

Status: Project started in 2007

Customization: Completely customizable avatars, Host land at home or on a web
server

User Created Content: Textures, Animations, and Scripts instantly uploadable

Notes: OpenSimulator is a 3D Virtual World platform anyone can use to create a
Second Life like virtual world.

OSGrid is the largest of over 300 public grid that hosts and links thousands of
individual regions to explore.

Website: http://www.osgrid.org/elgg/
and http://opensimulator.org/

Other
Major OpenSimulator based grids (in order of approximate size):

• ScienceSim
• The New World Grid
  (English/French)
• FrancoGrid (French)
• MyOpenGrid
• Metropolis
• ReactionGrid
• Cyberlandia (Italian)
• Open Neuland
  (German)
• Meta7
• WorldSimTerra
  (Portuguese)
• 3rd Rock Grid
• InWorldz
• Role Play Worlds
• Open Life Grid
• SpotOn 3D
• Grid4Us (German/English)
• Avatar Hangout
• Virtyou
  (English/German/Dutch)
• Virtual Reality Grid
• Twisted Sky
• Pseudospace
• Your Alternative
  Life (English/German)
• Wilder Westen (German/English)
• GiantGrid (English/French)
• Eden Realm
• ONGENS
• Tertiary Grid
• German Grid (German)
• New Zealand Virtual World Grid
• Unica Universe(Italian)
• Logicamp
• My 3D World
• Land of the Vikings (German/English)
• V-Business
• DW Grid
• Heritage Key
• Tlön
• Virtual Univ. of Edinburgh
• Jamland (German)
• Jokaydia
• UFS Grid
• Rezzable Alpha
• AnSky
• Open Kansai (Japanese)
• Emerald Network
• Austria Grid (German/English)
• Cybergrid.de (German)
• 2lifeGrid
  (German)
• Segarra Grid
• FunGrid (German)
• GovGrid

My Review: Open
Sim Grids

Playstation 3 Home

Operated By: Sony

Built By: Sony Computer Entertainment

Status: Open beta in December 2008

Platform: Playstation 3 owners only

Customization: Limited avatar and room customization furnishings obtained via
game awards

User Created Content: wall pictures only, possibly more

Notes: Designed to be a central meeting place for Playstation 3 owners. Meet in world then launch other
multiplayer games
to play.

Website: http://www.us.playstation.com/PSN/Home

My
Review: A
First Look at Playstation 3 Home

Protosphere

Operated By: Protonmedia

Status: Demo

Customization: Limited avatar customization

User Created Content: Unknown

Notes: Designed primarily for long distance collaboration in business uses.

Website: http://protonmedia.com/

Prototerra

Operated By: Prototerra

Built By: worlds.com

Status: Open

Customization: Limited avatar customization

User Created Content: Unknown

Notes: Website says it has been around since 2000. Seems to be marketed as a
communications platform.

Website: http://www.prototerra.com/

Red Light Center

Operated By: Global Reach Inc.

Built By: Worlds.com

Status: Out of beta since 2007

Customization: Limited avatar customization

User Created Content: none

Notes: Primary focus is on adult content and online sex. VIP membership allows
access to porn content.

Has its own social network system at Utherverse.com

Website: http://www.redlightcenter.com/

My
Reviews: A
Quick Peek at Red Light Center
How
are the Virtual Worlds Doing?

Associated Worlds:

Rude Virtual

Virtual Vancouver

There New World

Second Life

Operated By: Linden Labs. (California)

Built By: Linden Labs

Status: Open to public since June 2003

Customization: Completely customizable avatars, Land via purchase or rent allows
building space.

User Created Content: Textures, Animations, and Scripts instantly uploadable
with small fee.

Notes: Largest 3DVW in both membership and activity. Over 20 million accounts,
over 700,000 unique visitors monthly, and over 1800 sq. km of land.

Website: http://secondlife.com/

My
Page dedicated to Second Life: Second
Life Tips and Scripts

Twinity

Operated By: Metaversum (Germany)

Built By: Metaversum

Status: Open Beta as of Sept 2008

Customization: Facial avatar customization including skins from photo feature.
Fully customizable rooms via purchasable furniture and textures

User Created Content: Retexture walls, furniture and clothing, more coming soon.

Notes: Strong web integration. You can hang a fully operational webpage on your
wall. Only the third social virtual world to have voice feature.

Has its own social network system

Website: http://twinity.com/en

My
Reviews: A
Quick Peek At Twinity

vSide

Operated By: Exit Reality (Australia)

Built By: Doppelganger Inc. based on the Torque Game Engine

Status: Reopened under new ownership

Customization: Limited avatar customization

User Created Content: None

Notes: This teen oriented world has been shuffled around. Once operated by AOL,
now by an Australian Virtual World company.

The original owners shut down in July 2009, but sold all assets to other
companies. The new owner Exit Reality hopes to have it

up and running again soon.

Website: http://www.vside.com/

Worlds.com

Operated By: worlds.com

Built By: worlds.com

Status: First worlds built in 1994

Customization: Limited avatar customization

User Created Content: Yes

Notes: Although they still maintain some old unpopulated demo worlds which
haven’t changed since 2001, worlds.com is

primarily a 3rd party platform developer company (see Prototerra and Red Light Center above).

They are the oldest 3D internet company still in existence, and are more or less
the ones that started it all.

Interesting interview with the CEO about the company’s future can be found here
Summary: New updated platform

and two new 3D worlds are on the way.

Website: http://www.worlds.com/

3D “Outside the Box” Exploring:

As
a footnote, I want to mention a few sites that are almost 3D Virtual Worlds but
are a little bit outside of the box. These websites are multiplayer and have 3D
elements, but communications and navigation are a bit non-traditional.

3B Rooms

Status:
Open since 2007

Notes: Build 3D rooms with web pages as walls, click on walls to go to website.
It also has chat capabilities. Beyond that it does not do anything else, hence I
cannot call it a true 3D Virtual World.

Website: http://3b.net/

Entropia
Universe

Status: Open since 2003

Notes: For all intents and purposes, this is an MMORPG, but it has enough 3D
Virtual World elements that it is often mistaken as such. Its free to start, but
progress in the game requires real world money.

Website: http://www.entropiauniverse.com/

EveryScape

Status:
Beta

Notes: Uses “street finder” like technology to navigate the real world
via photographs. Includes interiors of buildings as well. You can tag locations
with notes or buy advertising space at popular locations.

Website: http://www.everyscape.com/

Exit
Reality

Status: Open Beta

Notes: Takes a standard 2D social network profile page, and converts it to a 3D
space. Pictures turn into wall hanging pictures, embedded music turns into
jukeboxes, embedded videos turn into TVs, and online friends turn into people
you can chat with.

Website: http://www.exitreality.com/

My
Review: A
Quick Peek at Exit Reality

Forbidden City

Status:
Open 2008

Notes: The Forbidden City: Beyond Space and Time is the world’s first online
virtual world dedicated to a country’s cultural heritage. This is presented as a
three-dimensional replica of the square-kilometer palace grounds called The
Virtual Forbidden City. The project partners’ goal was to create an experience
that is as authentic as possible by being true to important Chinese principles
of balance and harmony.

Website: http://www.beyondspaceandtime.org/

My
Review: China in 3D

Freaky Creatures

Status:
Open 2008

Notes: This online combat duel game (think “Street Fighter”), has
complicated creature design tools and some extra building features that some 3D
Virtual World enthusiasts might enjoy.

Website: http://www.myfreakycreatures.com/

GeoSim Philly

Status: Beta since 2007

Notes: A very detailed “mirror world” of downtown Philadelphia, made
by a company based in Israel. Originally
appeared in the main list, may soon again as avatars are forthcoming.

Website: http://www.geosimphilly.com/

Google Earth

Status:
Open since 2006

Notes: A 3D representation of the world via satellite. People can mark
locations, tag photographs, tag videos, build 3D buildings to place on the
world.

Website: http://earth.google.com

My
Review: Google
Earth 5 is Awesome

Koinup

Status:
Open

Notes: This is a social network designed to showcase art and video made within
3D worlds.

Website: http://www.koinup.com/

My
Review: Social
Networks for Virtual World Avatars

Meez

Status:
Creating 3D avatars since 2006, opened non-3D virtual world Meez Nation in May
2008

Notes: I
first wrote about this site in 2006. They recently opened up a virtual world
based on these characters you create.

Website: http://www.meez.com/

Moondo

Status: Open Beta as of November 2008

Notes: Not a social virtual world, but a group of interconnected MMO games.
Create an identity/avatar and use it in all games.

Website: http://moondo.com/

Near™

Status: Beta since 2009

Notes: A detailed “mirror world” of the main shopping area of London
(the “west end”) as a way to shop online in 3D.

Website: http://www.nearglobal.com/

Photosynth

Status:
Released to public in 2008

Notes: Takes a large number of still photos of the same object and mashes them
together into a 3D representation

Website: http://photosynth.com/

SceneCaster

Status:
Beta

Notes: A social network where you build 3D scenes with your own, or others
objects and textures. Then you can share the scene with others, including
embedding them on your website or facebook page.

Website: http://www.scenecaster.com/

Teleplace

Status: Open in 2007 as Qwak, changed name to Teleplace in 2009

Notes: A program for private 3D interaction, primarily for business use.

Website: http://www.teleplace.com/

Wild
Style City

Status: Open 2009

Notes: Make your own public grafitti on “streetview” maps. Demo
project of Earthmine, Inc.

Website: http://wildstylecity.com/wsc/

Content Creators:

As
a second footnote, I want to list some companies that are independently creating
content for other 3D Virtual worlds. If you follow the 3D webs development, keep
an eye on these companies:

3Di
Japan

3DXplorer

Arteria

Clever
Zebra

Electric
Sheep Company

Eon
Reality

Forterra

Icarus
Studios

Metaversatility

Millions
of Us

Multiverse

New
Media Consortium

Oddcast

RealXtend

Rezzable

Rivers
Run Red

Second
Interest

Second
Places

Trilogy
Studios

Vastpark

In Development:

As
a third footnote, I am listing sites that have stuff in the development chain,
but relatively little information:

http://www.3djays.com/

http://avayalive.com/WaStore/

http://code.google.com/apis/o3d/

http://micazook.com/

http://www.moondus.com/

http://www.mycosm.com/

http://www.n-sided.com/

http://www.nurien.com/

http://www.nuveraonline.com/

http://www.realifeplus.com/

http://www.sunnymmc.com/
(translation
of pertinent page)

In Memorium:

The
Sims Online 2003 – 2007

Virtual Lower East Side
2007 – 2008

Google Lively 2008 -
2008

Virtual MTV 2004 -
2009

Cybertown 1998 – 2006? (Technically
still open, but has gone on unsupported for 3 years)

Novoking 2008 – 2009 Website dead for months, no news

Amazing Worlds 2009 – 2009? Website dead

There
2002 – 2010

Vivaty 2008 – 2010

Blue Mars & The BBC

Listen To This Please:

And you can watch this at the same time: (note the swirling dress)

Shopping?…3D Internet (dot com) We Want You!

Oh We Are Going To Have SOOOO Much Fun. On Its Way La Carissima (dot com)