Big List of all Worlds for Virtual Reality
(Last updated July 23, 2016 with more VR worlds added.)
VR headsets like the Oculus Rift doesn’t make any sense without immersive virtual content that essentially powers the whole VR experience. Most of the VR content we know are linear – they start off with something and end up with something – similar to how we watch a movie. But did you know that there are “worlds” for virtual reality? These virtual environments, aptly termed “worlds”, speaks something about the future of VR in taking our physical reality into a virtual one. Imagine doing real-time meetings or even playing multiplayer games – all in a virtual environment where anyone with a VR headset can join.
Virtual Reality Times lists down some of the diverse virtual worlds that are created for the Oculus Rift headset.
List of Multiplayer Worlds for VR
AltspaceVR
We can’t be very far from doing everyday things in a virtual world. AltspaceVR is a VR tech company developing a virtual world to enhance the traditional approach to the usual things we do. By taking the presence of the user in a virtual setting, AltspaceVR provides an identity to the user – in the form of an “avatar” – to bring new levels of virtual personification to the user’s virtual experience. It leverages the power of the Oculus Rift’s hardware like the head-tracking technology to provide realistic movement simulations within the virtual user interface. Currently in the development stage, AltspaceVR is poised to introduce new ways of interactions among people in a virtual setting. Some of the futuristic ideas of AltspaceVR include virtual shopping, watching movies and playing games in a virtual room, and holding virtual conferences, among others. The startup offers a public beta where interested parties can sign up and be among the first to experience the technology for themselves.
http://altvr.com
Chathouse 3D
Chathouse 3D is an adult-oriented virtual world – a multiplayer online virtual sex game environment – that makes use of the Oculus Rift’s VR capabilities to simulate real-life erotic experiences. It features uncensored adult-themed chats and a 3D environment that lets its users to experience cybersex within a virtual context. Fancy having multiple partners at the same time? Chathouse 3D supports multiple chat-partner sex, so you can unleash your inner drive. Chathouse 3D supports the Vstroker and the Oculus Rift to deliver unparalleled virtual sex experiences.
HelloVR MetaWorld
San Francisco-based VR tech startup HelloVR is creating an entirely new virtual world that’s expansive like no other: it’s called MetaWorld, and it is laid out on 10,000 square miles of virtual estate. With this amount of virtual space, its early adopters will be treated with a vast expanse of terrain, ranging from mountains to lakes and valleys. The amount of detail in MetaWorld is similar to what our physical world looks like – it’s complete with trees, various kinds of animals, and it also replicates the Earth’s 24-hour day cycle. HelloVR’s “Pioneer Edition” program will give early-bird access to some of the high-end VR hardware such as the HTC Vive later this year.
http://www.metaworldvr.com
High Fidelity
Started from a collaboration of tech startup CEOs, High Fidelity is a startup composed of a team of 15, having the passion of bringing virtual reality into our physical reality. Its virtual environment “metaverse” is made up of various places that are specifically defined based on their characteristics and intended purpose. These places include a music hall, amusement parks, and town centers. One of High Fidelity’s notable members, Philip Rosedale, is also the creator of a longtime-running virtual world called Second Life. High Fidelity supports a broad range of virtual reality hardware, including VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and the Samsung Gear VR; and haptics hardware made by Leap Motion, PrioVR, and Sixense.
https://highfidelity.com
Improbable
Tech startup Improbable is developing a unique concept of how virtual worlds should be: by using an operating environment built from the ground up, a large-scale simulated virtual world can be deployed that opens up many useful applications. The startup hopes at the future of virtual world delegation as one that can operate with over a million entities – these entities could be virtual people and things, as well as their behaviors and the way they interact with one another. As of now, Improbable’s intentions for the virtual world is somewhat unknown, being mum and holding a bit of secrecy. But according to them, their so-called “simulated world” can “solve significant problems in areas as diverse as defense, energy, city efficiency, health, and finance.”
http://improbable.io
OpenSimulator
Hosting over 300 virtual worlds, the OpenSimulator platform is an open-source server for virtual environments. It is cross-compatible with Second Life, a virtual environment developed by Linden Lab. It is a modular platform which offers multiple combinations for various functionalities. Using an interconnecting architecture called Hypergrid, OpenSimulator enables “hyperlinking” of modular environments called “grids” within a virtual map – it effectively teleports the user to another virtual environment without having to be on the same grid. Most virtual worlds on the OpenSimulator platform are user-generated, where virtual content are outsourced from its user base. OpenSimulator can be viewed on the Oculus Rift using a viewer called CtrlAltStudio.
http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page
Project Sansar
Linden Lab is currently involved in the development of another virtual world, codenamed Project Sansar, and is touted to be the “reincarnation” of the original Second Life virtual environment. Project Sansar is a new take on its predecessor because of its modern social features, and is expected to integrate popular social networking platforms within its ecosystem. Project Sansar is expected to have a wide range of support for a variety of VR headsets available today, including of course, the Oculus Rift. Linden Lab founder Ebbe Altberg hopes the version 2.0 of Second Life will be useful for “hundreds of millions” of people – a target figure that closely borders with user figures of the most popular social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Project Sansar is attempting to be “omnipresent” – it is being developed not only for the VR headsets like the Oculus Rift, but for popular mobile devices as well, including smartphones and tablets. It is currently in beta stage, and is expected to be launched in 2016.
http://secondlife.com
Red Light Center
Similar to Chathouse 3D, Red Light Center is a virtual world where users can socialize with real people across the VR user base and engage in virtual sex with them. It offers its users a variety of virtual places such as bars, nightclubs, and hotels, helping to create a suitable environment for virtual erotic experiences. Its name was patterned after the Red Light District of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Within the virtual world, there are various roles that its users can take. These roles include being a sex worker, staffer, and a community leader. Avatars play the role of users’ personification in this virtual world – far from real, but it does a great job in giving a realistic virtual sex experience.
https://rlc-game.com
Scienverse
Scienverse is a virtual world platform that allows people to socialize in a virtual environment. Built on the Unreal Engine 4 framework, it provides a platform for third-party virtual reality applications combined with a next generation social network. It’s also open-source, so VR developers can place their own VR apps into it. It has full support for a wide range of VR hardware, from mobile VR to high-end hardware and even computer-based VR.
http://www.scienverse.com
Second Life
Second Life is a 3D virtual world where its members can contribute in building and enhancing the virtual environment itself. Developed by Linden Lab, it traces its beginnings 15 years ago – the era where virtual reality was still in its true infancy and wasn’t widely recognized for its potential. Until the realization of VR today, Second Life has a strong user base, counting to over 1 million users. Second Life basically replicates what a person does in terms of social interactions with his physical world, in a virtual environment. It features an open world that has various classifications for the type of content it renders. Avatars within Second Life act like real people, and many aspects of the virtual environment is patterned after its real-world counterparts, such as having its own internal economy and monetary unit.
http://secondlife.com
For more information on virtual worlds, please visit the following websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world
http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-games/what-are-virtual-worlds.html
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-are-virtual-worlds-what-are-their-uses-makeuseof-explains/
