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FINALLY! NEW AVATARS!
From left to right, Butch, Willy, Harold, Shred, Dredd, Shanubia, Marsha, and Helmut
VERSION .62 INTRODUCES MENU BAR, SELECTABLE AVATARS
January 26, 1996
Version .62 introduces a numbner of changes to the AlphaWorld client software (the client part is the part that runs on your machine.) Some of these changes work in tandem with recent modifications to the server software, to make building and property updates much more reliable.
The one feature that has excited people most in version .62 is new avatars. The picture above shows all of the new avatars we can use, plus one new fellow in the center who is almost ready to roll for a future version. Be aware that some of them may look significantly different on your machine due to a quirk in Renderware 1.4--this quirk will vanish when the AlphaWorld client is moved to Renderware 2.0 in the near future.
In order to implement avatar selection smoothly, the AlphaWorld programming team took some time off from coding the really hard stuff and dressed up the User Interface (no, you're not hallucinating) to the extent of adding a menu bar. Currently the only choices from the menu are AlphaWorld|Exit, Avatar (leads to a graphical picklist with your current avatar checked), and Help.
According to the programmers, more options are planned soon for the menu bar... but these few are definitely a welcome addition. Now when newbies ask for help, we can simply tell them to click on the Help menu!
Custom avatars created by citizens are also evidently on the agenda very soon, but for now your choices are "hardwired" into the program code. Having already tried to make some custom avatars, I can tell you that it's hard to do. Kudos to Kalak for his hard work creating these avatars that render relatively easy and still look good.
Version .62 also introduces a new implementation of the client/server setup for AlphaWorld. Now messages are sent more quickly because the connection between client and server is semi-permanent (timeouts cause a reconnect.) When you create or change an object, the build request goes into a queue in the client software. The information in the queue is fed to the server repeatedly if necessary until the server accepts it.
Even if your internet connection does go down, you will never again get the dreaded message that says "It appears your internet connection has failed!" Instead you will see "Waiting for server" in the titlebar, and the client is very patient. If your internet connection is down, you need only reconnect and leave AlphaWorld running...the software will persistently try to feed the connection to the server. Likewise, if the server crashes or is brought down for some reason, as long as your client software stays active it will keep attempting to send the build request, until it goes through.
CONTENTS
(Note that most of these links won't start working until your
browser loads more of this page.)
- AlphaWorld grows at record rates
- Citizenry and construction continue to explode!
- Ground Zero under construction
- A new look for Ground Zero starts a furor on the Discussion Center.
- Version Control
- What's new and what's on the way.
- Under Construction
- More and more towns are opening up for construction.
- Classifieds
- Ads from our citizens.
- Dataman Speaks
- Some words from the editor.
GROUND ZERO UNDER CONSTRUCTION
CITIZENS SURPRISED
A few days ago some citizens got into a panic when the Ground Zero they knew and loved was replaced by something a little different. This situation was aggravated when someone started a thread on the AW Discussion Center called "Public Outcry" claiming that someone had hacked into the server and was vandalizing the area.
New ampitheater at Ground Zero will be used for scheduled and informal events
Some folks have not been around long enough to see the various stages that Ground Zero has been through, and they assumed that the area was static. Not so! I can attest to the fact that the area has gone through several major changes, and we can expect it to change periodically in the future. It is interesting that this is the first time people have objected to changes at Ground Zero, but this is a positive sign that AlphaWorld is creating a real sense of community at this point.
In any case, don't worry, nobody is hacking into the server, it's just a natural cycle. Nothing stays the same on the Internet for long! Also, as long as that sawhorse is there, the area should continue to change daily.
ALPHAWORLD GROWTH ACCELERATES STEADILY
BUILDING AND CITIZENSHIP CONTINUES TO BREAK RECORDS
Incredible as it may seem, this pre-release software now has over 38,000 users! In a conversation with Protagonist today, the New World Times obtained this and other interesting statistics about AlphaWorld.
Citizen Growth
Protagonist also furnished the chart above, which shows growth of citizenry, and the chart below, which shows total objects built in AlphaWorld. It appears that things have not leveled off at all...in fact, the growth is accelerating fairly continuously. Objects built have reached approximately 1.7 million now (up from 1.25 a few weeks ago!) New citizens are coming in at the rate of over 400 each day. With recent server problems fixed, growth is expected to stay high for some time.
Construction Growth
These charts have been sized down to load faster, but you can click on them (as you can with most pictures in this paper) to get the full pictures.
VERSION CONTROL
WHAT'S NEW AND WHAT'S COMING
Infobots may be near
According to Protagonist, with server problems cleared up to a large degree and custom avatars implemented, robots are now moving toward the top of the priority list.
The server now has CPU to spare, even with a large crowd building in the world. With custom avatars, we can have Information Robots posted at strategic spots in townships and near ground zero.
Web-page-based teleport near top of list
Citizens have evidently been more anxious for web-page-base teleport than any other new feature, and Protagonist is working on it now. There are some issues to resolve, such as how to keep mischief-makers from catapulting others off the ends of the earth or high into the sky...but these should be resolved shortly and teleport will be available to all.
New construction objects imminent
If there is one more item that has been requested repeatedly, it is new construction objects. We have been waiting for some time for a big changeover in all the construction objects, but since it is taking so long, we will probably start getting a few new objects each release now.
Sound fixes for Windows 95
In the next release, we'll also see a large number of sound files which have been optimized to work with Windows 95 as well as with Windows 3.1. Evidently in the translation from Macintosh some MIDI information has been lost in the current batch of sound files...this has been rectified and the corrected sounds will be distributed soon.
CLASSIFIED ADS
Commercial ad space available here. Eventually we may actually charge for this so get it while it's virtual.
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ALPHAWORLD'S FIRST PET STORE
The Pet Gourmet - AlphaWorld's first pet store! We sell puppies, kittens, pet food and supplies. Located at 1S 152W, stop by for a look or to play with our puppies.
Good Scents Company: Under Construction
The Good Scents Company, located at 627N, 2W has completed its construction of a Fragrance Resource Center. Databases on the GSC's WWW pages have been delayed until proper CGI scripts can be obtained. Instead for now we have added data pages on Women and Men fragrances with the name, date of appearance and description (12 pages; 175kb). We have added Essential Oil data pages with Name and description (12 pages; 110kb). Herbs and Spices have been dropped from our listing for now, but by the time this is published the "under construction" sign should be gone and data on Fragrances, Flavors and Aromatherapy will be available. Information is added almost daily. Our goal is to provide the most comprehensive source of information available for the world of perfumery.
Bill Luebke, Perfumer
The Good Scents Company
CALL FOR STANDUPS
Hello, I'm building an outdoor comedy emporium at 59n, 216e in the Loch Ness area. I'm putting in some web humor links, have built a stage and environs; and hope to offer open-mike comedy for a hour or so on a Friday or Saturday night. I'd emcee. To make it work I'll need some volunteers for the first show or two. Hopefully it would generate its own wannabee comics from the audience and word of mouth after a couple of shows. Two or three minutes of any sort of material, original or borrowed, will be all that is required.
No stage fright, just drag your little avatar down there and type out a few gags-- you could even disappear if you had to, call it magic. Kind of a mixture of Karaoke and ventriloquism. No off-color stuff of course, the audience being of indeterminate age and gender. Lots of potential for topical humor and fun: from Prophetess, "Take my avatar . . . please!," and from Toast, "How many avatars does it take to screw in a lightbulb." So if you have the urge, the whim, and the guts--or if you can drink a couple of glasses of wine and still type in your jokes--please e-mail me. These avatars look like they could use a laugh. E-mail Flatline.
TROPIC COMICS: ALPHAWORLD'S FIRST COMIC STORE
Tropic Comics is your online comic superstore! We are in the process of constructing a store in AlphaWorld at 5S, 5W and have just opened a web site. We carry a very large selection of Silver and Golden Age comics, and other collectibles including cards, magazines, models and more!
Stop by our web site or drop us an email us with your wishlist. If anyone can fill it, we can!
Forest H. Stroud
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~neuroses
The Consummate Winsock Apps List
http://www.wlyn.com/stroud/cwsa.html
Email to: Forrest H. Stroud
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
SOME SITES OF INTEREST
As usual, we can't keep up with the frantic rate of construction in AlphaWorld. This issue, we attempt to show you more sites with just a "teaser" photo or two of each...we can only put so much graphic detail in one web page!
More new towns!
More and more towns are heing completed in AlphaWorld, and citizens have an ever-growing choice of places to build.
DATAMAN SPEAKS
ANONYMITY IS OUR BANE
One of the things that first attracted me about AlphaWorld is that you have to
register as a citizen here, and email addresses are kept on record. This means
that there is at least a bit of responsibility attached to becoming a citizen.
These procedures can be subverted for now, but when AlphaWorld becomes a pay-to-
play proposition that will be harder. Personally, I hope that we do have to
pay sometime soon--that will enforce greater reponsibility. (Of course, I'd rather
that the amount was small so we can keep as many citizens as possible.)
Now that it has become impossible to do, I don't mind finally writing about the abuse AlphaWorld has seen from "name-changers." A while back, we had problems with a group of people who changed their names and spouted misinformation and filth...I've never been accused of being straight-laced, but filth is the only way I can describe what I was seeing in AlphaWorld for a while. We still see the same thing in Worlds Chat and other environments where people are totally anonymous. I am thankful that now nobody can change their handle in AlphaWorld and use that trick to malign others, or to avoid responsibility for what they say in AlphaWorld.
We now have a similar situation at the AlphaWorld Discussion Center, which is why I have promised not to leave any messages on the DC until the situation changes. I worry that the DC may have serious problems in the future because of the anonymity issue, and in fact have already had problems with it myself.
This kind of thing is bound to go on as long as people are allowed to be anonymous. One problem with the Discussion Center is that the person running the whole thing, "AWTALK," is anonymous! While I respect the fact that people need their privacy, and I appreciate the general idea and implementation of the Discussion Center, I cannot continue to lend support to this service while I don't even know who is running it, much less who is leaving the messages.
At one point I actually discouraged Ron ("Protagonist") from having the email of the creator show up on every object in the world. At the time I knew someone who was being "stalked" on the internet, and I knew she would not like having her email on every object she built. I believe the long-term plan is to have the AlphaWorld server act as a sort of anonymous mailer, so if you send mail to "Dataman," I get it at my actual email address. This sounds good to me, but I doubt it will happen soon given the amount of tasks the programmers have lined up.
I think anonymity will always be a problem on the Internet. AlphaWorld has taken some first steps toward making people take responsibility for their actions in cyberspace...I hope other services will see the benefit of this approach and follow suit.
AlphaWorld is a trademark of Worlds, Inc. The opinions and other content of this paper do not necessarily reflect those of Worlds, and belong only to Dataman.