A new virtual world has popped up called space. This new virtual playground was developed by Sine Wave Entertainment, which started its business venture by selling virtual goods in worlds such as IMVU and Second Life. These virtual world pioneers have taken ideas from all of the most popular online worlds and they have added in their own special components in order to create a place that ticks off everything on their personal wish lists.
space has a wide range of exciting features such as non-playable characters for the MMO-style quest system, responsive and dynamic physics, and a costume system which allows users to turn their avatars into any creature they can imagine. Consequently, space can put itself in a position to possible rival Second Life. However, many Second Life users have been logging in since its launch in 2003. As a result, they have a lot of time and money invested into SL and it will be very hard for Sine Wave Entertainment to tear them away. Still, if SL users are frustrated with Linden Lab’s decisions or have a higher interest in VR, they may just pack up and move.
Virtual reality gadgets have indeed begun to breathe new life into the virtual world genre. Projects such as Linden Lab’s Sansar or Second Life founder Philip Rosedale’s High Fidelity are being developed specifically for virtual reality users. Similarly, Sine Wave Entertainment has plans to bring VR to space as well, but they are arguably going about it in a much smarter way. space is intended to be a virtual world first and foremost with VR as an extra feature. The VR market is only just getting started and users must have high-end computers in order to get the best experience. In addition, many VR headsets are quite expensive right now, so VR users are still a small percentage in the current pool of gamers. Therefore, developing a game that is specifically aimed for VR headsets without a backup plan is a risky move. And so, in the event that VR fails to become mainstream, Sine Wave Entertainment is putting themselves in a great position to conceivably scoop up users who are interested in Sansar and High Fidelity who do not have VR headsets as well.
The residents of space will be logging into their new virtual home via a web browser, PC/Mac, iOS/Android and more as they are developed. Players can currently sign up for a free basic plan during the beta, but special introductory pricing for the additional packages is also currently available to all New World Notes readers.
