Special panel session on multi-user virtual environments (panel session) (abstract only)

ABSTRACT

This paper is a personal reflection on the different communities that are contributing to the design and implementation of multi-user virtual world systems. Given the Web3D Consortium's considered re-labeling from “VRML” to “Web3D” this seems an ideal opportunity to take stock of some of the interests which have historically fallen at the edge of (or outside the scope of) specifically VRML activity. I discuss a number of distinct communities which have been developing characteristic multi-user 3D technologies: Internet virtual worlds (including VRML); distributed simulation; games; visualization; and “pure” multi-user VR research. In each case I will suggest the primary concerns and goals of each, as well as sketching out a little of their respective backgrounds. I then suggest a taxonomy of approaches to multi-user virtual reality, which can inform reflection and future work, and consider the extent to which these communities may be converging. Finally I make some suggestions for next steps in VRML multi-user support. It is my hope that this paper will give the reader an entry point into some of these related communities, and will facilitate the establishment of new synergies within the community at large.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  A. General Literature

Additional Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.6 SIMULATION AND MODELING

General Terms:
Documentation