What is There?
Forbes
In There
Open a virtual world to the public and what do you get? Real business ventures.
By Kemp Powers, 09.29.03
Hype and mystery have shrouded There Inc. since its inception six years ago. The company's mammoth project, a virtual three-dimensional universe representing Earth, is six weeks away from a public debut, but glimpses of it strongly suggest one common bond with the real world:People do the darnedest things.
There testers have been engaging this Web realm through their avatars, or digital selves, who can speak, display emotion and wander the environment using such items as dune buggies and jet backpacks. There's size and complexity is designed to spur limitless experimentation. "I've done Ultima Online, Active Worlds and Adobe Atmosphere. They all have these arbitrary limits that don't exist on There," says Dylan Bennett, a 24-year-old who works as a Web master at a private school in Sheridan, Ore.
Using his avatar named MBoffin, Bennett tested his theory of There's limitlessness by coughing up $4.50 to get 8,000 Therebucks, and using the play money to purchase a hoverpack. By taping down the mouse button on his computer overnight, he had his avatar fly to such a height that the entire planet of There could be seen below. Bennett bookmarked the location before leaping out of his pack for a 12-hour free fall, snapping pictures of the slowly growing landscape on the way down. Bennett began offering "skydiving" tours for 500 Therebucks and had himself a fledgling business.
Unfortunately, his venture derailed after only two paying customers, when people began bookmarking the location the same way he did. So he used the money to buy and customize shirts for other avatars. "I sold them at auction and made about 70,000 Therebucks, so it was a good investment," says Bennett.
Four female users taught their avatars to dance by stringing together a series of expressive movements. Twenty spectators attended their invite-only performance atop a There bar. One dance fan made and began selling (for play money) a bootleg video of the routine. Another group of users stacked ramps at the edge of a 1,500-foot-high cliff face, then held an event where spectators rated dismounts as they drove dune buggies into the abyss.
"Members are beginning to create the content," says Thomas Melcher, There's chief executive officer. He says the company is slowly working through the political and regulatory red tape to enable virtual Therebucks to convert back into real dollars, allowing the site's entrepreneurs to make real cash from their ventures. Sponsors such as Levi's and Nike are already planning to allow their products to be sold on the site.
There has raised more than $33 million since 1998, $19 million of which came from its 110 employees and an additional $11 million from their friends. High-profile staffers and investors include Ebay employee number four (and private jet owner) Michael Wilson, former Yahoo executive Karen Edwards and Electronic Arts architect Stewart Bonn.
©2010 Makena Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.