Areae's Metaplace announced

[Cuppycake]

Alright, call me a shill - but I thought some of you might be interested, and I know I'm throwing myself to the wolves here because the idea of virtual worlds doesn't really appeal to a lot of this crowd here. I do know that there are lots of armchair designers and people here with very insightful ideas on multiplayer games, and also a lot of you are coders or designers yourselves.

Today we announced Metaplace - our virtual worlds and gaming platform. You can read the released information on the site above - but also I posted a little bit more 'gamer specific' news on a couple forums:

Hey guys!

Now that the cat is out of the bag and our Metaplace website has gone up to the public – I wanted to come here and address you all specifically. I know there is going to be some confusion about what we’re making and I hope to answer any questions that you guys have about Metaplace.

First of all, Metaplace is a platform that allows you to build any sort of world or game that you wish. Our tools will enable users of all skill levels to create games that can be played anywhere on the web that reads our open client standard – which includes cell phones, blogs, Facebook widgets, Myspace, etc. We host the servers for you and provide forums so you can interact with your players. You can start your own game from scratch, or you can import a stylesheet (shooter, RPG) to give yourself a base to work off of. It’s all pretty simple – even *I* have made something — and I don’t know anything about programming!

Secondly, Metaplace.com itself will be a virtual worlds portal that allows you to discover and play new games and worlds. Rate your favorite games, earn badges, connect with other gamers and hop from one world to another with ease. We expect all sorts of unique games and worlds – everything from your standard RPGs, to Tetris clones, to Amazon bookstores, and university lecture halls.

I’m sure you all are wondering – “Why should gamers care? What is cool about Metaplace for us?”

Well, we’re making this platform in an effort to improve the pool of repetitive MMO mediocrity that is out there right now. We know that MMO gamers as a whole aren’t really ‘feeling’ the current choices of games that they have. There is a lot of subscribing and unsubscribing and resubscribing. We are out to change all that, and this is the way to do it. Far better tools, faster development time, lower budgets, and openness to new talent. There really isn’t a limitation to what people can make with Metaplace – and there are a lot of creative people out there with limited access to expensive tools and large teams. We’re simplifying things so that even you can make something totally awesome, even without programming skills.

Where have all the modders gone? That’s right, there aren’t any left! Now is your chance to let your brilliant game design ideas flow and come to life in your own world. Everything is open and extendable in whatever direction you want to take it – and we can’t wait to see what direction that is!

You have to admit it; the whole concept of ‘play anywhere’ is pretty neat. How often have you wanted to play a game with your friends, only to find out that their video card can’t support the game? Have you ever been trapped in an airport for longer than expected with just your cell phone or an ancient laptop? We plan to show you just how good a game can look in a browser, and just how much fun it can be to play. Imagine people playing YOUR RPG on their cell phone, or in their Facebook, or in the sidebar of a gaming blog. That is accessibility, and we’re out to show you just how awesome it can be.

And of course, the part you’re all waiting for. We’re making Raph’s new worldy MMO in our platform. Yes, we’re spending all of our time talking about the tech right now and how open ended it all is. But we are gamers too, and a good part of why we’re doing this is to make the cool games that we want to make. We’re still in the early stages on that, but you can expect to hear more about this game in the next few months.

So anyway, I wasn't sure whether to post this in MMORPG Gen Discussion, Other Games, or the Uberworlds Development forum..so Req move if necessary. Feel free to ask any questions or give ideas, and I'll provide answers and relay feedback as appropriate =) (And yes, Raph is approved to post here now, whether he will is another question)

[Pennilenko]

I'm excited.

[Faille]

Good luck with it Cuppy!

[Presarc]

Looks pretty cool.

I'm unsure exactly what the service you are providing is. This is solely a tool for creating simple MMO systems?

edit: very nice site btw

[Mist]

I plan on making an awesome game with graphics no better than FF3. Mark my words.

[Kodylan]

Very cool. I'll have to check this out myself.

[Twobit Whore]

For some reason I get a weird Second Life vibe from this.

[Cuppycake]

Originally Posted by Presarc

I'm unsure exactly what the service you are providing is. This is solely a tool for creating simple MMO systems?

Simple - not necessarily. Whatever you make can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Like my post said - we are making a full MMO using our platform. Details on that will be coming in the future.

[Shots]

Prepare to be bought by Google in 5...4...3...

I'm reading the site now, sounds like a cool concept.

[Presarc]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

For some reason I get a weird Second Life vibe from this.

For some reason I get a weird You Hate Everything Just Because You Like Disagreeing For The Sake Of Disagreeing Because You Are An Anus vibe from your post.

[Mist]

Will people have any ability to make money off of the things they create, ALA Second Life?

And what will the tools be like? It says that you can use them even if you have no programming skills. What if you DO have good programming skills, will you be able to use them within the framework of the tools?

[Twobit Whore]

Originally Posted by Presarc

For some reason I get a weird You Hate Everything Just Because You Like Disagreeing For The Sake Of Disagreeing Because You Are An Anus vibe from your post.

Did I say I hated it? No.. please don't turn this into something it isn't and keep it on topic. Thank you very kindly.

I still get that vibe and the Myspace, Facebook etc. examples really reinforced it.. but maybe it is so flexible that it can do everything. I'm skeptical but we will see. Most intereted in what Koster has planned.

[Ripe]

lol "We have a vision".

[Plorkyeran]

MMORPG 2.0 - You make the content, we make the money.

Seems to be working pretty well on the web, and SL with gameplay and no furries (or at least furries that you can corpse-camp endlessly) sounds good to me.

[Blumpster]

Originally Posted by Ripe

lol "We have a vision".

...for me to poop on!