[MUD-Dev] Libs for 3D Client/Servers

[Timothy Dang]

There's one approach which possibly could pay someone to build such
a system, and possibly even afterward. There's interest in a variety
of academic fields in using virtual worlds for research. If a number
of folks from different universities and disciplines could be
gathered and pitched (perhaps at a MERA event?), it might be
possible to pool funding for such a project. Alternatively, one
could go right to the NSF for grants.

An academic approach would be very friendly to the open-source model
(under some circumstances requiring public domain, under others
allowing different licenses). The NSF does also have a program for
grants which allow proprietary development.

There could likely be later profits in customizing the software to
satisfy individual research programs.

I'm not certain about the scale of world which different folks would
be interested in. My interests in game-world economies tend toward
the larger worlds. Others certainly would be satisfied with smaller
ones. NWN apparently will allow linking of multiple worlds/servers
together, and something like that might provide a satisfactory
bridge.

It is possible that art would be the killer for academic use. I'm
not sure how many researchers would be satisfied with a standard set
of artwork. I suspect that most would be unable to do artwork
in-house, whereas many could do coding. Possibly that could be part
of the after-development business, providing custom art.

------------------------------
Timothy O'Neill Dang / Cretog8
520-884-7261
One monkey don't stop no show.

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