Metaplace Part Two: A Meeting at Rancho Bernardo

The last step above everything else is the Google, the Yahoo, and that’s what the portal is. It lets you find stuff. Every world that gets created gets ratings, reviews, a forum, a blog, a wiki—community infrastructure.

We’re not out to replace all of the stuff that’s out there already for that, we’re not going to be making the coolest blog system, or the coolest any of those, it’s just a starter so that with one click you have something to work with. Then, if you want to go set up your own site, and your own forum, and your own blog and your own everything, go for it. We’d be thrilled not to have your hosting bill.

We said, even before we announced Metaplace, when the company was founded, ‘We’re going to make them work the way the web does.’ We meant that totally literally. Everybody thought that we meant it in some kind of metaphorical way, but no, we meant it really, really literally. That’s what it does, from the ground up.”

The demo was thus concluded, and we retired to Areae’s meeting room, where we held our lengthy discussion on some of the finer points of the system.

As we spoke, I had the opportunity to look back and reflect on what I had seen of Metaplace so far.

Taken on their own, the three worlds showcased in the demo were not overtly remarkable. Aside from the built-in multiplayer component, they were along the lines of the type of things that get posted to Newgrounds dozens of times per day.

Even the vision of a unified world-building language designed to “work the way the web does” has been attempted before. Anyone remember VRML?

What was very remarkable, as Raph pointed out, was that they were all being displayed on the same client, running on the same server, and built using the same tools, all the while being organized and hosted from a common portal.

And, the fact that those same worlds would have played just as well, client willing, on a cell phone, a full screen Windows or Mac client, or the middle of your MySpace profile—right in between the jukebox applet filled with horrid music, and the personality test results stating that you are 85% Evil.

Add to this a combination of financial backing, intelligent design choices, and name recognition clout (honestly, how many of you haven’t lapsed into referring to Areae as “Raph Koster’s company,” or to Metaplace as “Raph Koster’s project”? I will admit to both, often having to correct myself out of respect for the rest of the team) and you find a strong potential to succeed where others have faltered.

As the interview drew to a close and I was gathering up my things to embark on the long drive home, I revealed to Raph the second half of the reason for the enthusiasm behind my visit:

“I’ve been saying for years that the gaming industry is terminally diseased, and what it needs is for a new Guttenberg to come along and reinvent the printing press.”

“Oh,” Raph said, with the slightest hint of sarcasm. “No pressure, there.”

I shrugged, “You guys are getting the closest to that as anyone I’ve seen in years, so I’d say you’re definitely on the right track.”

That was true enough.

As I stepped out the door—thanking them for putting up with me for so long as I went—it was with a sense of cautious optimism. I walked into that office with doubts. I walked out with some of those doubts allayed, and entirely new ones founded in their place. But, for now, those are doubts that I will not share here.

It is not for me to tell a company attempting something new how I think they could do it better. My criticisms and scorn are reserved only for those who content themselves to not only do the same old things that have come before, but can’t even be bothered to do them well.

Areae, so far, has most decidedly not fallen into the latter category.

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