Highlights From This Issue:
Active Worlds News, Product Highlights, ContestsAvatars 99 Is Here!This year's 100% pure virtual reality Cyberfest, hosted by the Contact Consortium and sponsored by Activeworlds.com, Inc. will be held in Active Worlds on December 4th, and you're invited to join in the fun and festivities!Here's the details! A V A T A R S 9 9: Colonizing Cyberspace A Global Cyberfest in Active Worlds, December 4th, 1999 Journey into the new Millennium with the original and largest all-virtual Cyberfest: Avatars99 Colonizing Cyberspace. Avatars99 carries on the tradition of four years of innovative conferences from the Contact Consortium. Last year, Avatars98 went all-online and was a big hit and we are back with an even bigger and better Active Worlds event. Fourteen worlds built and hosted by a top team of AW citizenry will push design and user experience to new levels. Your journey starts in the world AV99 in the main AW universe at 10am Pacific Time and runs all day Saturday December 4th. Give The Gift Of Citizenship! 2 Citizenships For $29.95!Trying to think of the perfect gift for a friend? A special something to mark the beginning of the new century? How about making them a citizen in Active Worlds so they can hang out, chat, build and have fun with you?Between now and December 24th, we'll be offering a special price of 2 citizenships for $29.95! This offer is valid only on online purchases made through this web site: http://www.anacom.com/order/cof/special.htm
Have You Registered?Are you a world owner with a community? Have you and your friends built a community in an existing world? Well AWCOM and the AW COMMUNITY REGISTER wanna hear about you! In the coming weeks, we will be adding new teleports to the AWGate, and building up a teleport park based upon the categories that make up our diverse community. Topics like Art, Entertainment, Games, Lifestyles, and more will be some of the categories we will be listing. If you would like to have your community group listed in the directory, get on over to the AW COMMUNITY REGISTER and get registered!http://www.awcommunity.org/awcomreg Welcome The Newest Member Of The AWCOM FamilyEarly in the morning on November 22, 1999 our family grew by one to include Miss Esther Ruth Young. Young Esther is, by all accounts, adorable and healthy! Just ask her proud parents, Young Heather and Young Shamus or her big sister Young Rachel.Bot Of The Month Club!(courtesy of Hamfon and the Hambots)BOTS BOTS BOTS - Everyone is always talking about BOTS - what IS a bot, anyway? In different environments, "bot" means different things. On the Internet, bots are often spider or helper programs that assist you by doing a lot of the labor for you when you search for something. On IRC, bots are often used to moderate chat rooms. In ActiveWorlds (and all other universes that use the ActiveWorlds program), bots are used as tools to perform various tasks. Bots can act as DJs to change music in an area, they can be programmed to chat intelligently (or not ;-), they can be used to build or destroy property quickly - and are often used for making backups of build sites, they can be used to run games - to enforce rules and move game pieces. Bots in AW generally can do anything that a citizen can do (except telegrams and contact lists), but since they are programmed, they can do it much faster, and more accurately. BuildBot, for example, can cover a world with thousands of objects - in seconds. In 1997, a couple of AW citizens had figured out how to talk directly to the world and universe servers - and publicly available bots were born. Early versions of HamBot responded to simple help commands, and moved and changed their avatars. Zach (W) also figured out how to create bots. HamBot evolved to have a full featured scripting language, and allowed users to create tourist and citizen bots. HamBots were used by many citizens - as tour guides, to assist in building, and to handle "public relations" questions and generally assist visitors to these citizens builds, towns, and worlds. With the introduction of the ActiveWorlds SDK , other programmers were able to start creating their own bots. Late 1998 and 1999 brought several "general purpose" bots, as well as a number of bots created for specific tasks. Bots by Faber ( Preston ), HamFon ( HamBot ) and XelaG ( Xelagot ) are general-purpose - these are the bots you should try if you want to have your own bots, but you aren't a programmer. The SDK also provided positioning and monitoring capabilities for bots - which allowed the programmers to create bots that could control games. Check out bingo in AWBingo world, checkers in AWChekrs world, spades in AWSpades, capture-the-flag in AWCtf, trivia questions in AWTrivia, and a nice collection of games (bowling, soccer, pacman (cypac), tictactoe, othello, bingo, trivia, and checkers) in AWGames. The application of Bots in Active Worlds is in its infancy - we have many useful tools and games, but we have just scratched the surface. What can you expect to see in the future?
To get more information about bots, or to join in the bot revolution, start by downloading one or more of the general purpose bots. The urls above also have links to other bots by those progURLsers, many of which are free downloads or shareware. Then join in the discussions in the Bots or SDK newsgroups, and build your own bots! Think AW Rocks? Then Tell A Friend!When we updated the web site last month, we added a new feature where you can send an email to your friends to let them know about AW! Since then hundreds of you have invited your friends to come join our awesome community! If you have a friend you want to tell about Active Worlds, then send them a note!http://www.activeworlds.com/products/share.html AW Support's Tech Tip Of The MonthNew Newsgroups format!!NOTICE: Due to newsreader cache issues some users were having with the moderated newsgroup "AWCommunity" it has been removed and replaced with the group "community". IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please read the following information carefully so that you can gain access and make use of our Newsgroups. Everyone has read only access to the Active Worlds Newsgroups without the need to log on - but you will not be able to post messages to the newsgroup. To POST to the newsgroups you need to set your newsreader to logon to our news server. You must use your Active Worlds Citizen Name and Password. The citizen account must be an ACTIVE one, as expired accounts will not be recognized. Below are basic instructions for configuring your Outlook Express, Free Agent and Netscape Communicator Newsreaders to access the Newsgroups. For ALL newsreaders - for account name enter your CITIZEN NAME, and for password enter you CITIZEN PASSWORD. Outlook Express
IMPORTANT! - Check the box that says "My news server requires me to log on". Failure to check this box will make it impossible for you to log on. Now you will be able to choose which groups in the Active Worlds Newsgroup family that you would like to subscribe to! Free Agent
Now you will be able to choose which groups in the Active Worlds Newsgroup family that you would like to subscribe to! Netscape Communicator
IMPORTANT! - Check the box that says "Always use name and password". Failure to check this box will make it impossible for you to log on. Now you will be able to choose which groups in the Active Worlds Newsgroup family that you would like to subscribe to! If this handy, helpful tip does not do the trick, then send an email to support@activeworlds.com with details of your problem for additional help.
New Featured Column
ARCANIS
America
CASTLES
NsideOut
SciCentr
!nebula!
MOON
SFX
Galcom
NewYork
Colony Alpha, one of the really cool AWCOM public building worlds!
Lara's NorthWest Builders Supply, your one stop shop for all the latest cool ideas for building in AW. (AW 1096n 988w 0.2a)
Community EventsFrom the AWEC Calendarhttp://www.awcommunity.org/awecDecember 1999 EventsDecember 4th, 4:00PM VRT Avatars99 Colonizing Cyberspace (AV99)
December 10th, 3:00PM VRT Raventhorne Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Grand Opening (rvrworld 6.5S 11.4E 0.5a 180)
December 11th, 11:00PM VRT ZGV's New Art/Artist Exhibition (cofmeta 1000N
30E 180)
December 12th, 6:00PM VRT Community Show Off (AWCC 26s 2e 240)
December 18th, 6:00PM VRT Views of the World, Webcam Exhibit (AW 653.9N
4994.9W 90)
December 18th, 7:00PM VRT AWEC's Trivia Contest - Grand Finale (AWCC 14.6n
20.5e)
December 20th, midnight VRT AW MLB Opening Day (AW 25030n 1925e)
December 20th, midnight VRT Grand Opening Of Scrooge World (Scrooge)
December 30th, 7:00PM VRT Classical Christmas Concert '99 (pata_160S_90W)
December 31st, midnight VRT Sanctuary - The New Millennium (Atlantis)
December 31st, 8:00PM VRT Crackerjack Club Millennium Party (COFMETA 112s 200e)
December 31st, 11:00PM VRT Y2K Party (AW 32106.6n 1003w)
December 31st, 11:30PM VRT AWGames New Years Eve Party (AWGames)
To let the community know about your upcoming event, please submit the
registration form on the Active Worlds Event Committee's web page.
Regular EventsActive Worlds University Classes in Building, Graphic Arts, RWX Modeling, and AW Technologieshttp://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?AWUniv Astrology & Relationships discussion, Mondays 1:00AM VRT in A1stLove
Name that Tune, Tuesdays midnight VRT in America
America's Wednesday Night Trivia, Wednesdays midnight VRT in America
Bingo in AWBingo, every Wednesday night
"Tech Talk" with Active Worlds lead developer Roland Vilett,
Fridays at 8PM VRT, in AWUniv
Battle of the Sexes, Saturdays midnight VRT in America
News From The Active Worlds CommunityCy Awards Are Coming Soon!(courtesy of AlphaBit Phalapha)Congratulations to all the Past Recipients and Nominees in the October round of the Cy Awards! A list of all Past Recipients are located at http://www.awcommunity.org/cyawards We had over 170 attending in October:) Thank you AW Community for your great support of the Cy Awards!.....YOUR Cy Awards:) And now the schedule for the first Cy Awards of the millennium!
If you are interested in volunteering to help in any aspect of the Cy Awards...please email cyawards@awcommunity.org §Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones§ ...from The Cy Committee:) See you at The Cys! Party Starts Here!(courtesy of AWEC)For the end of the year, century, millennium, the parties in AW will be nonstop! The Gatekeepers will be hosting the kick-off party starting at 10:00PM VRT, and will be helping AWEC spread the news about where all the hot events in AW are for this big nite! If you are having a party, and aren't already listed on the AWEC EVENTS CALENDAR, then get moving! One of the keys to having a successful event is to make sure you get the word out, and you're listed on the OFFICIAL AW Y2K PARTY LIST! So, make sure to head over to the AWEC site, the official event coordinators for the AW Universe, and let them know what you've got planned! http://www.awcommunity.org/awec/ Get To Know Your NeighboursWe think it would be great if everyone got a chance to get to know some of the volunteers in the community, and to find out why they love AW so much. This month we're highlighting the Gatekeeper of the Month, Lady Ann and Peacekeeper 59, Talian! If there's a volunteer you'd like to see us highlight, let us know! newsletter@activeworlds.comMeet Talian!
The PK Profile for December focuses on Talian, PK59. To do the interview with Talian, I joined him and found myself in a world that I'd never been to before, Chicago. Chicago is Talian's world, both virtually and in real life. He has lived in Chicago all his life. "Best city in the world," he says. He is a marketing and sales manager. He said that his job doesn't give him much spare time and he is usually working even when he is in AW. Talian has been married for 27 years and has two daughters, 11 and 19. For fun, besides AW, he likes to watch movies late at night and he is a model railroad buff. In AW, Talian is a PK Team Leader of the Purple Team. He is also a member of SRT which keeps him busy and doesn't leave much time for anything else. Most of his free time is spent in the Chicago World. He has been working on it since last Spring and received a Cy Award in October. "The most realistic world". Chicago is also a member of WAG. The public is invited to visit the Chicago World but not to build. It is intended for people from Chicago. For the future of AW, Talian says he is looking to Version 3. The new lighting will be a big help in creating scenes. Meet Lady Ann!
I am from Pennsylvania, and a mother of a college student, who is studying to be a computer systems support technician. I have always been fascinated in computers. I have been a gate keeper since April 1999. I love helping. I found aw by accident...my hubby (Sir Draco) had downloaded it and never told me. He deleted it. I had to do a quick recovery to fix a computer problem and it undeleted AW. I was curious so I ran it, I have been here ever since. What I love most about AW is the family like atmosphere!
New Featured Column
I've recently discovered Active Worlds. I'm really quite speechless about it,
it is the best thing I've come across on the net and after mp3 compression,
the most useful.
I run http://www.netBuskers.com.au which is a vehicle for my own music
and for others who care enough to subscribe to my service. I have taken to
AW like a duck to water and have built at 175N 15E on Colony Alpha,
AlphaWorld and Metatropolis. Colony Alpha is my HQ, the other sites are
very undeveloped. I'm online most nights (Aussie time) which is most mornings
VRT. Anyway I'd like to invite ppl to come visit and if they do they can
download my latest song for free (usually a subscription is required).
I'd love to know what ppl think of my 3d forest and multi-story 'floating'
glass building!
If there are any AW musicians out there that would like to be involved,
I want to make AW netBuskers part of the broader AW music community and
invite them to join me in whatever way they like. I'd love to go visit
their sites and see how they do things, cos I'm making it up as I go along!
If you'd like to mention any of this in your newsletter I'd be most
flattered. I feel like a newbie around AW at present and I know there's
a lot to see and learn .....I can't wait, this whole concept is fantastic !
RockOnRegardlesss
Dingo
There will be a grand opening of The Raventhorne Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in RVRWorld (River World- owned by Ewasx and Silver Dragon) The grand
opening is on December 10th,1999 starting at Noon (EST)) with celebrations,
being a tour of the Hall, a Rock Trivia contest at 6PM (EST) (A website is up for
grabs created by Raventhorne Designs at the Trivia contest. )
There will be a party starting at the end of the trivia contest. The celebrations
will last as long as everyone can stay ;-)
The co-ordinates to the Hall of Fame are: rvrworld 6.5S 11.4E 0.5a 180
< http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?rvrworld_6.5S_11.4E_0.5a_180 >
If anyone needs any more info contact PrincessAlexandra!
There will be a Christmas Present Hunt in Storage world starting on
December 18 at 12:01pm VRT and running through December 19 till 12:01pm
VRT... The prizes will be:
Come and join SantaClaus and the Mrs along with some Christmas helpers in a
fun search for goodies that will be scattered around Storage world!!!
Happy Holidays!!! Help/Contact InformationNeed Help With AW?http://www.activeworlds.com/helpsupport@activeworlds.com Wanna Take Building Lessons?Beginners - AWSchoolhttp://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?awschoolIntermediate/Advanced - AWUnivhttp://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?awunivClase de Construcción en Español - Spanishhttp://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?spanishMissing Pieces?If you can't find the object you need to finish your project, then try one of the many building yards other community members have created! Teleports courtesy of The Real Pops (AW 8985S 187W).http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_8985s_187w Community ResourcesWeb SitesThe Official Active Worlds Web Sitehttp://www.activeworlds.com The Active Worlds Web Ring
The Active Worlds Community Pages
The Active Worlds Yellow Pages
Active Search
Ring of Chaos
NewsgroupsAWCommunitynews://news.activeworlds.com/community Bots
SDK
WorldBuilders
The Wishlist
AW Contact InformationActiveworlds.com, Inc.cof@activeworlds.com Billing Questions
Technical Support
Community Coordinator
Newsletter
@mart
Active Worlds Commitment To Education Program
Gate Keepers
Peacekeepers
SMILE : ) AWCOM LOVES YOU!The staff at Activeworlds.com, Inc. http://www.activeworlds.com cof@activeworlds.com |