Raph has announced his new endeavor, Areae, being entertainingly mystifying about the details. Even the various announcements and interviews give little direct information about what Areae will actually be making.
So, of course, how can I resist speculating? Come on, Scooby, let’s go look for Clues…
What do we have, what do we know… well, we know that it is areae.net, not areae.com. Is this choice a result of all-too-common domain registration blackmail, or is this a Clue? I’m leaning toward the latter….
Consider the graphic on the main page. A definite Clue. A set of platforms, connected by bridges. The central platform is a modern day cityscape, with helicopters, puppies playing with balls, a busy place. We have a medieval castle on one of the outlying platforms, a spaceport with both alien and human spacecraft on another, and iconic (virtualized?) people in conversation on a third…
Hmm, wish Thelma was here…
The name itself, it’s definition as “many places”. That’s a Clue with a capital Cl-uh. Quoting from the Areae front page:
Something anyone can jump into. Something where anyone can find something fun to do or a game to play. Something where anyone can build their own place on the virtual frontier.
In the Gamasutra article, Raph mentions Web 2.0, as well as stating that “Honestly, there are as many differences from Second Life as there are from Everquest.” Clue alert!
No, Shaggy, no ghosts. Not yet, anyway…
The programmer job descriptions… emphasis on scripting languages, SQL, UDP. Not exactly shocking, but still a potential Clue…
Consider the protagonists: Raph Koster and John Donham, plus the advisors…
Hmm, only a minute before the episode ends, better wrap it up… Fred, Daphne, go get Shaggy and Scooby out of the kitchen, would you?
I’m thinking this is will be an attempt to create a “portal”-type operation, but with a focus toward enabling creation of individual realms (platforms?) by the creatively inclined. Far more of a focus on “game” than Second Life, far less of a focus on a single unifying story/mechanic than EverQuest and the like. Maybe even the type of thing that would count as filling the vast chasm between Multiverse and NWN/NWN2, between “define everything” and “everything is defined”.
The creativity potential of Second Life and it’s kith, crossed with the focus on play of EverQuest and it’s kin, and packaged for the “common folk” like us to handle as they wish.
Or is that just my wishful thinking talking?
In any case, pass the Scooby Snacks, this should be good…
Voyages in Eternity 
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December 18, 2006 at 3:54 pm
JuJutsu
I think you’re bang on.
“Lastly, and feel free to call me a stupid idealist on this: I still believe we need to get all kinds of people into one game. That niche products are all well and good, but we already KNOW how to make those, and they aren’t going to teach us anything interesting about ourselves. It’s so easy to fall into ruts and niches in our real lives, and I want online worlds to offer us exotic experiences and interaction with people we wouldn’t interact with otherwise, and a chance to try out lifestyles and worldviews we otherwise wouldn’t have, a chance to try to solve problems that we find difficult to tackle in the real world. Otherwise, why bother making them? I am not that interested in them solely as games–games are all over the place, and there are plenty of narrowly focused communities out there. You can find a support group or hobbyist club for just about anything you want, but you’re mostly going to find other people like you there. And I am not nearly as interested in how people interact with likeminded souls as I am in how to bridge gaps between people.”
The portal type operation you described will allow many niches within one VW.
December 19, 2006 at 4:56 am
damianov
Thanks… I certainly hope so. It sure seems to fit the general direction Raph has been want to explore, and the “supporting cast” of advisors certainly seems to be of similar interests and intent. I guess the question mark is, how far from the “game” tree will the apple fall?
Thanks for stopping in and leaving a note… nice to know someone actually reads the occasional ramble. 🙂
December 19, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Areae, Inc. » Blog Archive » Areae in the blogosphere
[…] Voyages in Eternity […]
December 20, 2006 at 1:17 am
Raph’s Website » Tracking Areae
[…] Naturally, there has been plenty of speculation about what we’re doing. Voyages in Eternity assembles a Scooby Gang to attempt to sleuth it out, but mistakes someone named Thelma for Velma. Note, she does have a cousin named Thelma. Wow, Wikipedia is amazing. The article on Velma is multiple screens long. Anyway. His conclusion? I’m thinking this is will be an attempt to create a “portal”-type operation, but with a focus toward enabling creation of individual realms (platforms?) by the creatively inclined. Far more of a focus on “game” than Second Life, far less of a focus on a single unifying story/mechanic than EverQuest and the like. Maybe even the type of thing that would count as filling the vast chasm between Multiverse and NWN/NWN2, between “define everything” and “everything is defined”. […]
December 21, 2006 at 2:09 am
MMODump.com » Tracking Areae
[…] Naturally, there has been plenty of speculation about what we’re doing. Voyages in Eternity assembles a Scooby Gang to attempt to sleuth it out, but mistakes someone named Thelma for Velma. Note, she does have a cousin named Thelma. Wow, Wikipedia is amazing. The article on Velma is multiple screens long. Anyway. His conclusion? I’m thinking this is will be an attempt to create a ‘portal’-type operation, but with a focus toward enabling creation of individual realms (platforms?) by the creatively inclined. Far more of a focus on ‘game’ than Second Life, far less of a focus on a single unifying story/mechanic than EverQuest and the like. Maybe even the type of thing that would count as filling the vast chasm between Multiverse and NWN/NWN2, between ‘define everything’ and ‘everything is defined’. […]
December 22, 2006 at 5:09 am
Clockwork Rhino » Raph Koster’s Areae
[…] Links Ahoy: So it seems that everyone is going wild over Raph Koster’s announcement of his new venture, Areae. There’s a lot of perceptive commentary out there about what the venture will be, but the general consensus is that it’ll be some sort of portal / platform for multiple virtual worlds, with user content and all that Web 2.0 jazz. I applaud him for actually doing something to introduce something new into the stale Massively Multiplayer genre. Looking forward to where this goes. […]