S.J. Mercury News

START-UP THERE AIMS TO ENTICE PEOPLE WHO CHAT ON NET

Riding on a revival of interest in virtual worlds, a Silicon Valley start-up expects to announce today that it is creating an online world that aims to entice not just gamers but also the millions of people who chat online.

There Inc., based in Menlo Park, has well-known backers who are betting that its "online getaway" will be much more appealing than the artificial worlds that have failed to deliver before.

Company Chief Executive Tom Melcher hopes visitors -- particularly non-gamers, women and girls -- will find There's virtual world more appealing than "The Sims Online," the big-budget online world launched in December by game publisher Electronic Arts in Redwood City.

The There software, which is expected to be released commercially by mid-year, allows users to create a lifelike avatar, or online character, that acts out typed commands; type a smiley face, for instance, and the avatar smiles.

"Online chatting hasn't fundamentally changed since the 1980s," Melcher said. "We want to create a place where consumers can hang out online and talk with friends."

The 82-person company has been secretly creating its immersive 3-D experience for four years and has raised $33 million from investors including CNet CEO Halsey Minor and Sutter Hill Ventures. Sponsors include Nike, Levi Strauss, Hewlett-Packard and graphics-chip maker ATI Technologies.

CES demo

There, which will demo its world at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is just one of many projects that will test whether consumers are willing to pay for online experiences.

Other companies focusing on creating online worlds include Linden Lab in San Francisco, which is working on "A Second Life," in which players can create their own homesteads online; LucasArts, which is working on the "Star Wars Galaxies" online role-playing game; and Spokane, Wash.-based Cyan, which is building "Myst Online", a game that re-creates the world of the Myst game series.

The road to virtual worlds hasn't been easy. There itself has documented 21 companies that have tried and failed in the past.

"The Sims Online" is going a long way toward wiping out the impressions of the failed worlds. Buoyed by a devoted audience that has bought nearly 20 million copies of the single-player, boxed versions of the "Sims" games, the online game has a multimillion-dollar marketing budget and is drawing people into a $10-a-month online space where they can build houses and businesses, live in communities, chat with friends and try to win various kinds of popularity or economic contests.

There still is working out its business model, although it is considering charging $10 a month for membership. Users also would be able to pay real money for ThereBucks, which can be used to buy things such as beachfront homes in the online world.

3-D graphics

While "The Sims Online" has cartoon-like two-dimensional graphics, There and Linden Lab are going for a more realistic feel, with 3-D graphics that rival current computer games.

And in contrast to the ordinary towns and cities of "The Sims Online", There is creating exotic destinations: a tropical resort, the Egyptian pyramids, a cloud city and a realm with dark forests and glowing crystals. Users can explore the world in dune buggies or "hoverboards" that are like surf boards that float a few feet off the ground.

What really sets There apart is its lifelike avatars, or the characters that allow the users to express themselves in the world. Users can tailor these alter egos to look like themselves and wear fancy clothes from Nike or Levi.

The objects and the avatars don't necessarily look real, but they move with realistic physics, so that a walking person has correct movements. Users can type messages to others, and their avatars can act out the emotions related to the words that the user types. Users also can talk in their own voices.

"The Sims is more about making things and making nests," said Esther Dyson, chairman of EdVenture Holdings and author of the Release 1.0 tech newsletter. "There is more about hanging out. The challenge is to make it a place people want to go."