New AlphaWorld Sneak Peek!

Hi Everyone,

Many of you have heard of a new world that will soon be opening up for building.

The name of this new world is "New AlphaWorld".

"New AlphaWorld" obviously gets its name from AlphaWorld. AlphaWorld or AW as it is know to most of us, is the oldest collaborative virtual world on the Internet, and home to millions of people from all over the world. When we first founded AW in 1995 we never thought it would be so popular. It has rapidly grown in size and is roughly as large as the state of California, with over 128 million virtual objects! Many of us have built homes in AW and it will always remain in our hearts the place we first discovered cyberspace. Over the years we have made many friends and have shared experiences with people around the world in AW. AlphaWorld holds a place in our hearts and history forever.

So what is "New AlphaWorld"?

First of all it is not a "new" world created by replacing or improving the original AW or its building set. "New AW" will be a completely different world and will have a new set of building objects and textures. Many of these textures will be high resolution and taken from actual photographs, giving a much more "realistic" look to your virtual world. And, from time to time, new "object expansion sets" will be added to the starter set.

While AW is a vast plain stretching as large as California, New AW is a smaller "island continent". The actual coordinates this new Continent spans are from 500N to 500S, 350E to 200W. New AW is completely terra-formed and has snow-capped mountains, vast plains, valleys, rivers, forests, long stretches of sandy beaches as well as cliffs which drop off into the sea. The texture of the terrain varies from grass to sand, rock and snow along with various paving textures. And, although there is no way to be sure, we feel that there are other "continents" still waiting discovery.

One thing you will need to completely enjoy this new world will be version 3.4 of the AW browser. This version is currently under expanded beta test and will be released shortly. The reason you will want 3.4 is that New AW takes advantage of many features we never had before.

When you first arrive in New AW probably the first thing you will notice is the sky! The clouds move! New AW has a beautiful sky with layers of clouds, which float above your head. The weather pattern can range from clear and blue to dark and stormy. In fact we expect to see some actual rainstorms as well as snow in the winter. After sunset you might look up and see the stars slowly wheeling across the sky until the sun rises.

The next thing you will notice is that the terrain seems to extend much farther than you remember. In fact, terrain will be visible for 1200 meters. This means you will be able to see 6 times as far. Mountains might appear from the mist on the horizon or islands beckon from off the coast. Of course actual buildings will still be limited to the 200 m visibility.

If you travel to the coast you will be surprised to see yet another marvel, the ocean. The ocean, which surrounds New AW, is not a flat blue plain but rather an ocean with tides and waves. Swim out a little and you might be surprised when you start to sink, swim up to the surface where you will actually float, bobbing up and down. You might even see some fish, whales or even a shark out by the reef.

Travel inland and you will find forests of trees, rivers, lakes and desert areas. Climb the mountains and look out as far as the eye can see, New AW truly has something for everyone.

Aside from this brief description, citizenship and building in New AW will be a little different than in the original AW. You won't be able to just start plunking down grass.rwx's willy-nilly until you have covered every available spot anyone might ever want to build. The first thing you will want to do is register as a "colonist" with the Immigration Officer. If you want to immigrate you will need to agree to a few rules much as in any other world. Oh and BTW, be careful how you treat the people you meet. Although this is a friendly place, there is a jail in the courthouse and if you start breaking the rules…

Anyway, immigration does not cost anything but is only available to citizens of the AW universe. Once you have registered you will find that the officials of New AW have opened up a bank account for you and generously wired in some funds. The longer you stay in New AW the bigger your bank account will get, and when you win a game or complete a quest you might find it gets bigger still.

But what will I do with a virtual bank account you ask? Well first of all there a lot of things you might want to buy for your house - like some land to put it on for starters. Go to the Real Estate office and pick from a variety of sites or go out and locate one for yourself. Maybe you always wanted a ranch, a cabin in the mountains or a beach house? Well New AW has sites for 'em all. You might even find that the land you want to build on has some valuable minerals like gold or diamonds! Probably a good idea to get a guard dog and some mining rights!

Now go out pick up your supplies in the Object Yard and start building!

We hope you like "New Alphaworld" and look forward to seeing it expand with your imaginations.

E N Z O