Dean LeBaron
February, 1996

From CompuServe, I downloaded a huge software program that I came across while looking for graphical interfaces for business training and simulations. "Worlds Away" is a cyberspace community of entertainment, games, and social places . . . a cross between Disneyland and a singles' bar for people, worldwide, to roam, meet, and greet, all with color, backgrounds, and movement. Individuals adopt any persona by selecting whatever sex, body shape, and head they wish. Then they are ready to enter the city . . . and so I did.

I went on St. Valentine's Day to attend a real wedding that was to take place, with humanoids from various earthly places meeting in Worlds Away for the ceremony. Everyone was invited. After a transmutal ocean voyage, during which I received currency and selected a name and persona, I entered the city portals and asked an all-knowing being directions to the wedding. "Go to the temple" was the reply, along with walking directions. I met and briefly greeted others along the way. A few were going to the wedding. Others, more knowledgeable than I about this city, had other plans.

Once at the temple and finding the correct door, I entered and joined the assembled wedding guests, waiting for the doors to be opened. After a few moments, we filed in and took our places on either side of the minister and the wedding couple. Since the crowd exceeded the temple capacity, some guests had to view the proceedings as "ghosts" from a cloud inside the temple - their ability to move and speak was limited. Other guests could do anything they wanted. My mind knew I was there.

The ceremony was otherwise normal, vows were exchanged - not spoken but typed by the Unitarian minister and bride and groom - and appeared in cartoon-like balloons above the figures. Following the ceremony, guests jumped up and down with glee, waved to one another, and congratulated the couple. I did too.

Then we dispersed. Some of the party went to the reception at a nearby restaurant; others, like me, went on our way. There for the first time, I was eager to explore the city. I met other new arrivals in casual social chitchat. A few from German-speaking areas conversed with each other in German but used English with most of the crowd. It seemed they knew each other from earlier visits to the city and had arranged to meet at a particular time and place.

On my walk, I passed a door marked "Earth Room" and went in. A sign indicated that the number of beings in the room was limited to three . . . two were already there. Two lovely women who seemed startled, but not displeased, that my persona of a 30ish male of muscular build had joined them in the room. In my field of view, the furnishings were ornate but limited - three chairs and a table. I was looking at my new companions. We started to talk about the wedding (they had not gone), the city (they were regulars), and what to see (they were surprised I did not know). Then one being walked in front of me and said "how about SEX?" I was startled and typed out a "Hmm....m!" while I thought what to do next, how to extricate my macho self. The lady who was not speaking started to approach me. I quickly typed "I'm not experienced with this." A long pause . . . the lady who was speaking turned to her friend, nodded, and then said "if you don't know, we're leaving." They turned and left the room. (I'm clearly rusty in singles' bar discourse.)

I felt alone and a little naive. There was nothing for me to do but leave Earth Room to continue my explorations. Just as well.

Back to reality. Beyond its obvious attraction as a cyberspace amusement park, I can easily see Worlds Away as a venue for case studies, business training, simulations, and communications in graphics - something between digital/voice and teleconferencing - accommodating an almost unlimited number of people, efficiently and cheaply.

Update - November 1996

Although I have not improved my ability to meet a cyberconversation challenge, virtual worlds are expanding their places in our computer usage. Worlds Away now offers college courses for credit and special programs of the sort that most of us would go to in corpus. AOL has extended its successful buddy chat (simultaneous email exchange if your "buddy(s)" is(are) online). In Virtual Places, personal avatars can interact on any web site they choose. Imagine its uses - a small group of friends all over the globe reading the NY Sunday Times together, sharing sections and content. A business meeting with the web site as a white board. Or a global directors' meeting "visiting" plants, "hearing" management reports, and making decisions.

These developments may not have hit the conference business just yet but they will . . . and the applications for business communication are becoming clearer. In keeping with past innovations on the web, the early intentions were directed to entertainment (if social discourse is only entertainment), directed to a mass global market, inexpensive and open. High value, specialized uses will evolve quickly now that the technology is available.