WEB PAGE TELEPORT!
VERSION .68 INTRODUCES NEW OBJECTS, USER TELEPORT
February 21, 1996
Version .68 has been in testing for weeks now, and finally has been released. The most exciting feature in this version is Web Page Teleport, a feature long awaiting by citizens. See this page for details about version .68 and links to sample teleporter pages.
NEW MATERIALS AT LAST
This version also introduces scads of new building objects! They are listed on the page linked above. Here are more in-depth descriptions of some of the new objects:
- STAIRS in five different styles, each of which comes in three sizes. This will decrease object density and increase thereby hopefully increase rendering speed in some parts of AlphaWorld. Until we get sliding collision reactions, you won't automatically go up the stairs...but they are designed to work that way eventually.
- ARCHES in 15 different stytles, each of which comes in three sizes. These are made in a different way from the older arches (which have been converted to this style as well. Collision detection should work properly with the new models, which it did not with the old ones.
- A 3D STREETLAMP and CHESS PIECES. The old models used for these were "sprites," which means they were really 2D objects that always "turned to face you" like the trees, torches, some other objects still in AlphaWorld. The new models should render correctly from any angle, unlike their older versions.
- MORE NEW AVATARS including a tourist gal (Barbra), a Roman-type guy complete with robes and Laurel headdress (Caldius), and an Egyptian-style avatar (Hotep) that is bound to be popular with Pharoah.
- NEW GLASS PIECES make it possible to complete all those glass roofs! Evidently most or all roof styles will have pieces like this soon.
- OTHER NEW OBJECTS include a patio umprella, a table lamp, large columns, three ten-meter walks and a 10-meter water piece (these match the street sizes.)
CONSTRUCTION IN FAR AREAS FIXED
Have you ever noticed that objects in some areas don't seem to meet up quite right? Version .68 fixes a bug that caused objects built far from Ground Zero to have gaps between them. This also caused some problems with encroachment.
IMMIGRATION PROCESS INTEGRATED
When you sign on to AlphaWorld now, you should an immigration dialog...if all goes well it will disappear rapidly, but if you have trouble logging in, you can re-immigrate this way without using a web-page form. This also makes it much easier for new users to immigrate for the first time.
CONTENTS
(This issue most CONTENTS items lead to separate pages.This should reduce load time considerably.)
- About Our World
- How does this thing work, anyway?
- Under Construction
- Cool stuff is popping up all over.
- Announcements
- Important Announcements (and a blooper.)
- Classifieds
- Ads from our citizens.
- Editorials
- Some words from DatedMan.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Whoops
In our last issue, we said that Kalak had made the new avatars...actually it is LynneAnn Viescas, his wife, who has made all these cool new avatar models.
Conference with the Protagonist
On Sunday, February 25, at 7 PM Pacific Standard Time, Protagonist will moderate a conference for AlphaWorld users. Protagonist (Ron Britvich) is the author of AlphaWorld.
The conference will use Powwow Beta version 2.0's Conference feature. You must have this version of Powwow to attend. You can download it from the page linked just above. Just hook up to a conference using the "Conf" button at address Protagonist@worlds.net.
EDITORIALS
Anonymity Column Creates Hubbub
Last time I talked about how anonymity is not a good thing. Perhaps some of
you took it more to heart than necessary. I'm not saying that people have
to hand out their email addresses to everyone...but I have experienced some
problems in AlphaWorld when people could change their names online. For
instance, some folks pretended to be me, and Protagonist, etc., and solicited
passwords and immigration numbers so that they could then misuse that
information. They also did their best to turn people against me and others by
masquerading as us and saying things we would never say...just to to be
malicious.
I know that some people enjoy their privacy, and that others don't want to link their real personalities with their AlphaWorld personalities. That's part of the fun of Virtual Reality, to decide whom you want to be. But there has to be a limit. I think that limit is passed when people can masquerade as each other. AlphaWorld was designed so that this could never happen, and it was only a loophole in the software that allowed it (that loophole has since been closed.)
It's been requested that I let someone provide feedback to my editorials here in the paper...and in fact I'm not adverse to that, except that it's my paper and I intend to decide what I think is suitable for it. So far as I know, that is SOP for any paper in the "non-virtual" world. In any case, if you do want to respond to this column, feel free to email me.
Besides some folks who left messages on the AlphaWorld Discussion Center (some of which I thought were downright rude,) here is the only feedback I got from the last column. (It was sent by email.) Please excuse the author's lack of expertise with the English language.
-Mr Dataman!
What is your problem with people that like to keep their anonymity. you coming across to me like some kind of control freak. allways wanting to scensor, what people say. its bad enough we have a government that's doing that with all the political correctness they teaching our kids in school. it's downright communistic and brainwashing comes to mind. i know, i came from one of those places, where you don't have freedom of speech. in fact, it was so bad there that if you called a cop an idiot, you went to jail automatically. it's people like you, that are scarry, allways wanting to tell people, what they can say and think. yes sir you are the one, that needs to be watched, for you are dangerous to the health of this country with your scensorship. you should go back to school and learn about the constitution, you were probably too busy, trying to keep somebody else from expressing their opiniion. wether you agree with what people say alphaworld is not the issue here. if you don't like it, you can allways turn the switch off to your computer and don't go back to alphaworld. have a good day , sir.
p.s. i have no problem,if you publish that in your next newsletter
austrian aka the desertfox and almdudler on the irc channels:#austria,#berlin and #desertfox homepage: http://www.intersurf.com/~austrian
My reply to this: People seem to read a lot into what I say here. I am not for censorship (although I do have a problem with obscenities placed in AlphaWorld for no other reason than to offend other citizens.)
I am also by no means a control freak...and I can't imagine what I wrote that prompted all this. All I can say is, be careful what you read into things that people write online. All too often we project our own moods and expectations on others. And don't assume that because someone has what you perceive to be some kind of authority, that they're automatically like other authority figures.
I have a high profile in AlphaWorld, perhaps more so than anyone else here. That doesn't mean that anyone automatically knows who I am! Just so you get a little better idea who I really am, here's a little fact sheet about myself (some of this is slightly tongue in cheek, but IMO smileys look terrible on web pages, so insert your own where appropriate):
About Russell Freeland, the Man Behind the Avatar
- I used to be a musician. I still play a mean trombone, but I had to find another way to support my family once I had kids.
- My kids are 12 (Jane) and 14 (Jared, going on 15 actually). Jared can toast me pretty easily, he works out. My wife Denise is pretty tolerant, or she would have taken out a contract on me years ago.
- I am a computer programmer most of the time. I do some database applications and programmer tools. Right now I am working on several projects, one of which is a tool to inspect and make objects for AlphaWorld.
- I used to write for Data Based Advisor, both technical and opinion columns.
- I'm 44 years old, and the picture below is of someone younger and not quite as heavy as me (I scanned it in for the DBA articles years ago.)
- I work for Worlds, Inc. part-time. Besides doing the newspaper, I do web page documentation, make objects for AlphaWorld builders, and founded Robocop and Atlas Team "group" avatars. I submitted the "grass" bitmap you see as the ground, and the other bitmaps used in grass-type walks. I also made all the glass pieces, the stairs, the sawhorse, table lamp, patio umbrella and some other stuff I can't remember offhand.
To sum it up: musicians are rarely power-hungry individuals. I can't see the use of "real" power, much less power in a virtual world. Life is just too short (or possibly too long) to bother. So an authority figure I'm not. What I am is someone who does a lot of work to help make this place happen. Whether or not I am successful is another thing...but to me it's important to try.
Me with more hair, fewer wrinkles and pounds than now
and wearing a tie for almost the last time
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.