IDORU: FutureOfTheWeb?
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- Mel
If any of you read Idoru by William Gibson, aren't you inspired of how they present the internet? how a website is actually an environment you are in? you meet friends online, in their VR environments.
I think of what this site and other designer portals/forums could be, and wish they could be.
For example, habbohotel.com, they are pushing it. But what if we could create something more realistic, less cartoony. What if we could create environments like Counter Strike, Unreal T but for the purpose of creating communities online. So much would be possible. ie, we could have virtual conferences online!
We are an underground culture that needs to evolve. So what's holding us back? technology? lack of interest? lack of innovation?
Time to start thinking about the next generation of portal/forum sites, and reinvent what a website is.
- dangerboy0
they've all but given up.
that was all the rage in 1996. it was all about creating avatars and virtual spaces. remember Kyoko DK-96 Date? or the shiseido virtual idols?
it's one of those things that sounds like a great idea, but when people started using it, they saw how useless it was.
- ribit0
the idea was great...but it needs serious hardware, immersive stereo displays and network speed to do effectively... it's going to be a few years yet before it's possible to do it properly... but when they do..I don't think you'll call it a 'website'.
- CyBrainX0
I think it could be done now. Just forget about the people with modems. They have to fork over some more money to experience anything we're talking about here. I'm all for it. Flash Communication Server is going to be beautiful thing.
- CAJTBr0
it's not really the 'future of the web'. for the last hundred or so years, the major prevailing trend within technology has been to allow people to be in other places quicker/more easily. eg: radio allowed the voice of a broadcaster to appear in homes miles from where the person actually was; the telephone allowed two people hundreds of miles apart to communicate as if they were in the same place; the internet allows people to publish information worldwide, removing the costs and practicalities of physical media; (you can even argue that transportation is another part of this trend to allow people to 'be there' with less difficulty).
it's just an extension of that, not a specific extension of the web or anything to do with sub-cultures.
as dangerboy pointed out, when you actually use this you see that it has major flaws. in order to do this, you'd have to check out of real life and immerse yourself in something essentially false. you could say that talking to people on the internet/spending your life watching films is something of a false reality, but at least these allow you the opportunity to participate simultaneously in the real world. if the technology were there to simulate these things as if they truly were reality, no doubt some people would move into them full time, but for the next 20 or so years, until they do get the technology, who wants to waste their time in what is essentially a slower, less sensual version of every day life?
i enjoyed the book though. william gibson had dealt with this issue in other books, but i think the central theme of the book (what happens when virtual worlds start to impinge on the real world?) was more interesting than the one you picked up on.
- Mel0
of course the main theme was more interesting. I just said that the way they presented websites was inspiring.
btw, I will not argue on the different opinions presented here. I was more or less curious to see what others thought or envisioned.
- ribit0
i guess theres 2 different approaches I'm interested in:
- hi-reality immersive environments( i.e. a really good flight simulator/wargame... interacting with other network players, but with the emphasis on the visual/spatial simulation
- non-immersive non-realistic but very interactive websites, where you can directly 'see who else is there', where everyone who is 'there' is projecting their own personality in how they are represented etc... i.e. the emphasis is on good interaction and communication and a sense of 'being there with others', bridging distances, and with some real benefits of 'being there', even if the display is not trying to be like real life.
- Mel0
your second point: now that what I'm talking about!!
with all the portals competing, it's all the same over and over, someone is bound to change things, just a question of time.
- CAJTBr0
sorry mel, i didn't mean to imply that you'd missed the point.
- enobrev0
well, i was doing the sims online beta for a bout a week.
Very similar to the idea except for the fact that you have to take care of your hunger stats and such.
Makes a big difference in chatting in general, but it's hard to hold a full out conversation.
Granted, it's more similar to a chat on hyper-crack than an information resource, but I'm sure it would be easy to add the info to the design.
I'd say check it out if you want a seemingly working version of the idea.
- ribit0
I remember playing around with some sort of town simulation a few years ago... it was amazing how even that differed so much from simple chat...
...just the fact that moving your avatar close to some others who were having a conversation, seeing their conversation, their perception of how you are participating (or not) based on a combination of behaviour etc...
there is a lot of subtle interaction and information going back and forth even when you just have text, position relative to others, a chosen appearance, some gestures, and an environment to move within...
- Creon0
anyone see Adobe Atmosphere (is that what it was called??). Kindof a cool idea...didnt work too well. although its was still in beta.
- Biofreak0
very curious Mel.
i may need to check into that book. sounds interesting.
- CL0
you know, i think a lot of folks are missing the boat, train, car, human teleporter, human transporter, coffin, sarcophagus, etc.... when it comes to what the ideas, particularly the ideas set forth in science fiction context, really illustrate. I do not think they are meant to be "invested" in in a totally "material" way. A lot of the things in Neuromancer and other works by Gibson and his peers, are obviously symbolic and sometimes, accurately speculative. The Internet is a "metaphor" as well as being an actual military tool adapted for Profit and Human Interest. This "technology" are just the training wheels for a future that we cannot even speculate about.....
- exador0
a good friend of mine and i used to spend our evenings over a few pints of beer thinking about this sort of thing...
both of us had read 'snowcrash' and had got to thinking, you know, one day, years from now, wouldn't it be cool if there was some place online where we could get together and have a beer and see each other?...
some kind of virtual pub or bar like the black sun?
i know others have tried it...
most notably 'blaxxun' but not to the extent i'm thinking of...
something hyper real..
as good as our regular eyesight...
hi def.
where if i had a sip of beer at home, it'd look to you as if i were sitting across the table from you...
anyhow, it's many years off...
but...
perhaps not as far off as one might think...
- enobrev0
it's all about WiFi shot glasses and beer bottles.
- enobrev0
seriously though...
I don't really feel that whether or not the tehcnology is there is an issue. It's got a lot more to do with what the people feel comfortable using.
For instance SMS, a phenominal and simple technology is as normal and culurally accepted in some countries as waking up in the morning. And then in the US, maybe 10 people use it.
Personally, I would probably have a drink with one of you online and be a happy man. But if I asked my father to do the same (and he's a geek as well), he'd laugh himself to sleep.
The technology merely supports what we deem necessary as we're the ones who fund the R & D.