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Jan 6, 2002, 3:57am

Hmm, well I had decided this year to take a somewhat more public stance on
issues about which I care, but this isn't one I expected. Coming home from a
vacation and starting up AW, that ominous greeting line ("For information
about the latest upgrade and the new pricing scheme, please see
http://www.activeworlds.com/letter.html") wasn't a good omen, and it's not
gotten better from there. I don't have answers, and I wouldn't presume to
give them if I did, as I certainly recognize that my perceptions are much
different from those responsible for the functioning of AW as a company and
as a community. All I can offer is my reaction and thoughts as a medium-term
citizen and supporter.

I found Active Worlds in late '97 and although I was intrigued by it, I
spent nearly a year as a tourist since I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to
sustain the effort or interest I thought it would take to build anything
interesting or significant. In late '98 I decided to take the plunge and not
only became a citizen, but a small world owner as well. Since then I've had
one and at times two small worlds active. Shortly after becoming a world
owner I was bitten by the modeling bug and ironically have spent at least
triple the amount on modeling software over the years than I have sent
directly to AW.

I can certainly understand that AW may need to raise its prices. The last
year or two have seen almost all of the "free" or low cost services on the
internet change their business model drastically and/or fold completely.
Comparing the new AW user pricing to that of the MMORPG's, it doesn't seem
unreasonable. Unfortunately, looking at it from the other direction, a hike
from $20 to $115 is quite an eye-opener. Without consulting my records, I
believe I spent more than that on my last payment to AW, but I received two
citizenships and a small world license! Thankfully, for me, at this point,
the cost to me directly isn't much of an issue. If I decide to do so, I can
afford the 575% cost increase. Granted, if the world licenses go up anything
like 575%, my wife will have some choice words on the matter.

The biggest issue to me, personally, is that the pricing changes affect my
motivation and plans for the year as far as involvement with AW. I had
returned home from vacation having thought through my priorities for the
year and one of them was to spend a significant amount of time creating
objects to donate to the Objects d' AW site for world owners to possibly use
those that appeal to them in creating their worlds. New world owners are my
target audience in creating objects, as I expect established world owners to
have a stable of objects and to add to them only slowly.

The pricing changes do two things to that plan. First, to me it appears
there will be far fewer new world owners this year since the cancellation of
the tourist status. Personally, I would never have considered entering AW
under the current pricing as I don't give out credit card info in order to
try out software. Additionally, I will no longer be able to refer friends
and acquaintances to AW, as I don't expect them to do so either. Overall,
this will reduce the number of new citizens to AW and proportionately reduce
the number of new world owners. (Granted, I could be wrong about this as I
don't have any basis but logic for saying it. . . it could be that you at
AWCOM are telling us that you believe the tourist to citizen conversion
ratio is so insignificant that it's not worth the bandwidth, and thus can
effectively cancel the program.)

Second, the notification that upgrade prices for existing citizens will be
released in February effectively puts modeling on hold as I will have no
idea whether it will be worth creating things targeted toward existing world
owners until it becomes apparent whether many will find it worth continuing
after the pricing increases are fully announced.

As I mentioned above, I don't presume to suggest answers, but I will
continue by sharing some of my observations and frustrations in creating in
and for AW. It has been frustrating over the years in trying different
themes and ideas in world creation that AW is almost an excellent tool to
create many different types of environments, except some major needed
feature is not quite there. . .

AW would be an excellent tool to create RPG and adventure games, except the
implementation of an inventory system is at best a monumental task. RPG
combat engines aren't too much trouble with a bot, but I think the precision
required for FPS combat makes that another game category that's effectively
out of reach as well.

AW is almost a great tool to create visual, 3D libraries, reference systems
and hypertext research environments, but the information density within the
3D browser is not high enough and I haven't found an effective way to use
the web linking without degrading the effectiveness of the 3D window even
further.

AW tantalizes one with the possibilities of 3D commercial environments where
purchasers can browse from all angles and select without a trip to the
showroom, but the presentation detail expected for such an environment is
lacking and the current user base is not generally affluent (or perhaps
inclined) enough to support the costs of developing such stores.

I believe there is not much in the way of technical barriers to AW
functioning as a virtual, distributed conference and meeting center for
companies and academics. The current presentation and information detail
level is sufficient to transmit most static materials used in such settings.
The missing thing here is, I suppose, marketing to companies and academics
that this is a viable, effective option.

Believe it or not, I am in the software creation business on the corporate
side of the fence, so I very well understand that the things I mention
above, and I am sure, a whole raft-load more, are things that the AWCOM team
may well already have in mind and want to implement, but time and resources
have not so far allowed their completion. I greatly appreciate the giant
accomplishments that have been made to bring us this software that has
affected my life and the lives of many around the world, particularly the
freedom to create and share our own environments and visions. . .a freedom
that I have yet to find in such measure from any other software (and don't
think I haven't been looking when I get frustrated with the limits of AW!)

In closing, I reiterate that I share this as my personal reaction, for what
it may be worth to further the ideas and perhaps dialogue of the community
and company. I'd be happy to continue either in the newsgroups or by email.

With respect,

Sveren Arenforge

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