Abstract and Acknowledgements

3D MULTI-USER COLLABORATIVE WORLDS FOR THE INTERNET

Bruce Campbell

A Project Submitted to the Graduate

Faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Hartford

in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE

Approved:

___________________________

Principal Advisor

___________________________

Committee Member

___________________________

Committee Member

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Hartford, Connecticut

December 1997

CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .iv

LIST OF FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2. Collaboration Through Technology - A History . . . . . . 5

Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Electronic Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Chat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Video Conferencing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Multi User Dimensions and Object Oriented MUDs. . . .18

Networked Groupware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Networked Video Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Distributed Interactive Simulation. . . . . . . . . .23

Greenspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Avatar based Multi-user Worlds. . . . . . . . . . . .25

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

3. 3D Collaboration on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . .28

The World Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Communications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

The Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

The Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Client/Server Communications. . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Extending the VRML Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Client based APIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

4. Interface Strategies for a 3D Collaborative World. . . .45

2D GUI Interface Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

New Opportunities with 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Today's 3D Multi-user World Interface Solutions . . .50

World Navigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Integrated Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Personal Choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Immersion Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

5. My Collaborative World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Objectives for My World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Design Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Client. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

6. Testing My Collaborative World . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Preparing Marbles World for a Pilot Test. . . . . . .79

My Pilot Test Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

The Post-Participation Questionnaire. . . . . . . . .81

7. Results of My Collaborative World. . . . . . . . . . . .84

Overall Thoughts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Experiment Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

What To Do Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

A. Instructions for Marbles World . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

B. Marbles World Client Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

C. Marbles World Server Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

D. Marbles World VRML 2 Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Trademark List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Reference List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1 Characteristics of Collaboration Enabling Technologies . . 8

Table 5.1 Alphabetical List of Project Major Classes . . . . . . . .71

Table 7.1 Simulation Completion Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 2.1 Collaboration Enabling Technologies Timeline. . . . . . .10

Figure 3.1 The Alias’ 3D Modeling Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Figure 4.1 blaxxun interactive’s Passport Viewer . . . . . . . . . 34

Figure 4.2 OnLive! Technologies Inc.’s Traveler Viewer . . . . . . .35

Figure 4.3 Sony Corporation’s CyberPassage Viewer. . . . . . . . . .35

Figure 4.4 OZ Interactive Inc.’s OZ Virtual Viewer . . . . . . . . .35

Figure 5.1 A Screen Shot of Marbles World. . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

Figure 5.2 My Client/Server Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Figure 7.1 Post-Simulation Questionnaire Results . . . . . . . . . .91

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to acknowledge my advisory council: Dr. Michael Danchak and Don Merusi at Rensselaer-Hartford; Dr. Tom Furness at The University of Washington, who directs the Human Interface Technology (HIT) Laboratory - a place where I was fortunate to access a lot of information, use a wide range of computing resources, and debate with a talented group of staff researchers and students.

More generally, I must acknowledge all the individuals out there in cyberspace who responded to my email inquiries requesting more information on VRML, Java APIs, and philosophical questions. I must also thank Ian and Shirley Campbell for helping with the tedious job of proof-reading into the wee hours of the morning. Lastly, I want to acknowledge specific colleagues at the HIT Lab who helped me refine my project goals and kept me going during my slower periods of progress: Dace Campbell, a virtual architect, helped me realize that I should better leave the design of public cyberspace to others and instead focus on what happens inside the architecture; Susan Tanney, also a virtual architect, kept me excited about the significance of my work; Suzanne Weghorst, a human factors specialist, provided me with other opportunities to practice the tools of the trade in VRML 2 world creation by assigning me meaningful lab projects; Mark Billinghurst, a cyberspace engineer, debated my approach to solving problems; Toni Emerson, a cybrarian, found me relevant magazine articles and books which helped me think through my ideas.

ABSTRACT

3d Multi-User Collaborative Worlds For The Internet is a Masters project looking into the potential of using VRML 2 and Java to create multi-user worlds on the internet to foster collaboration between participants. The author reviews the history of technology-enabled collaboration and then reviews the current technologies available for creating interactive 3D collaborative worlds using the internet to connect participants.

The author then explains his own approach to creating a flexible architecture in which virtual participants can share rules, objects, and actions between themselves while collaborating in a virtual world. The author suggests the importance of rules negotiation and design participation to making collaborative worlds succeed. The author discusses a collaborative multi-user 3D world of his design and then provides results on the success of the world after having subjects spend time together in the world working towards a pre-defined objective.