Scaling Virtual Worlds with a Physical Metaphor

Outlines the Meru Project at Stanford University is designing and implementing an architecture for the virtual worlds of the future. The hope is that we can avoid some of the complexities the Web has encountered by learning how to build applications and services before they are subject to the short-term necessities of commercial development. While Meru cannot compete with the content creation of commercial virtual worlds, it can, like the original World Wide Web at CERN, investigate basic questions about system design. By doing so, the door can be opened to a future where physical sensors in the real world seed their virtual reflections, users can visually browse a sea of information, and virtual avatars convey physical social cues to bring distance interaction to the level of actual presence.