Wired News

The time has finally come for There, Inc. After six years in stealth mode and nine months in beta, the company's vast virtual online 3-D world, There, will launch Monday.

The big launch comes at the end of an exhausting period for the company, which has raised $33 million from investors. But longtime CEO Tom Melcher abruptly left three weeks ago.

Now, 27,000 beta users later, the real test comes. Will paying customers flock to There's metaverse? The company thinks people will want to race flying shopping carts, join clubs for dragon owners and even pose as journalists for in-world publications like the Caldera Sun-Times enough to pull out their credit cards for subscriptions.

There says that during the beta testing, members who logged in at least three times referred an average of two friends to the online world. Based on how current beta members talk about the world's schmoozing opportunities and sophisticated economy, the throngs may well come.

"I love walking up to a group and saying, 'Wow! That's a great shirt. Where'd you get it?'" says Erika Gault. "That's a classic female conversation starter.... The tight integration of shopping and auctions into the game design really makes me feel like the designers are standing in front of me with their arms spread wide open saying, 'Come on in.' I love that."

One of There's main objectives is, in fact, to attract women. The theory goes that women will attract men into the world, while the reverse is not true.

For now, more men are playing than women. The company says the beta results showed that 65 percent of members were men. According to There's marketing chief Andy Donkin, the number of women, who are often represented by beautiful 3-D avatars in fashionable clothing, is rising dramatically.

Yet the true measure of the company's success would be to get members to pony up real money for the currency in There's realm, Therebucks. Members can explore the world, make friends, and host or attend free events. Just as in real life, however, certain pleasures -- like a translucent butterfly hoverboard, stylish clothing from the countless user-run auctions, or getting in to hot parties -- require money.

As part of the development of the online world's economy, There has set a conversion rate of 1,787 Therebucks to the U.S. dollar. Some of the world's members have set up competitive banking operations, such as TBUX, that offer friendlier exchange rates.

But There executives seem to think they're sitting on a pot of gold. They say that during the beta period, members spent an average of $7 per month on Therebucks. All told, members spent more than $300,000 on Therebucks during the beta.

Of course, predicting how successful There will be is impossible. Recent history shows that online virtual worlds launched with great expectations can peter out quickly. The best recent example is The Sims Online, or TSO, which by all accounts, never came close to living up to its pre-release hype.

Many of The Sims Online players apparently wanted a world that was more fun. Now, many have turned to There as a refuge. In fact, There has several clubs that cater to TSO refugees. Gault is in one of them.

TSO "became a game where the only people who played sat silently at their computer and watched their Sim stare silently at the computer -- not very social," said Gault. "But (my TSO friend) got in to There and within days, I was getting these e-mails, 'You've got to come in.' I love being able to get really creative with chat and activities. I like hanging out with my friends, and some of the stuff you can do in There just isn't possible otherwise."

For There newbies who don't have many Therebucks, plenty of entertaining activities are available -- like hoverboards that can soar high above Tolkien-esque landscapes. Another diversion to entice new subscribers are the Try-O-Matics. These let members borrow selected items for two hours. Some members half-jokingly refer to these as TOMs, in honor of the departed CEO, Melcher.

Also, members can lend things they own to others. One veteran member, Jessica Frombach, says she loves loaning her hoverboards to newbies.

"It just makes me happy to let them get all excited about There like I did when I first joined," she says. "I had a lot of fun trying out all the vehicles. And it lets them try things out before they go and spend a lot of money on something."

That's important, because few newcomers will want to spend real money on Therebucks if they don't know what they're going to get for their cash.

"I don't think There will have any problem making money from people sharing items with others," Frombach says. "If anything, when you borrow something and try it out, it makes you more likely to go and buy one of your own."

There is launching with the backing from hefty corporate partners. Over the next few months, Hewlett-Packard will begin bundling There's software with many of its new computers, while cable Internet provider Comcast will place There prominently on its entertainment section. And ATI will bundle it with high-end video cards.

Many questions remain. Melcher's departure so close to launch raised red flags throughout the community, as many There members expressed shock at one of the company's visionaries leaving. Interim CEO Steve Victorino's venture capital background sparked concern that his ascendance might augur an acquisition by a larger company like Electronic Arts, the biggest game software publisher.

But Victorino scoffs at that notion. In a series of in-world meetings with There's member advisory board, he said the company would remain independent and that its finances were sound.

He reiterated his commitment to building There, and said the company had begun a search for a CEO.

"We're here to build shareholder value for the shareholders, and not to build it for anybody else," he said. "I'm not concerned at all about having capital to run this business. That's the last thing I'm concerned about."