Cole Larson, Ken Locker, and Dave Marvit all used to have careers in well-paying industries (Locker was an executive vice president at Carolco Pictures Inc. and RHI Entertainment Inc., Larson was a manager at Microsoft, and Marvit taught at the California Institute of Technology). But last year, they blew off their day jobs and formed a company called Worlds Inc. Now they're betting the farm - "I'd say it's pretty much our whole net worth," says Locker - on their Internet World's Fair, which they hope will become a Web site-wonder.
How wonderful will it be? Unlike the 2-D environments of Habitat or the Imagination Network, the World's Fair will be presented as a you-are-there, 360-degree world that changes perspective when you move your mouse. The fair's pavilions were designed by Landmark Entertainment Group, the giant developer of theme parks and other entertainment venues. Landmark's expertise came in handy for designing and tracking the millions of artistic software elements required to create the virtual World's Fair.
Millions of artistic software elements? Over a 14.4 modem?
The idea would have users hightailing it back to America Online. No - World's Fair graphics are going to arrive via snail mail, in the form of a CD-ROM. The telephone lines will carry data that describe the user's location in the 3-D space, and the other users' positions and text communications.
Locker and company want to create more than just a cool-looking space, however. "Cyberspace is a parallel universe in which we are all directly connected," explains Locker. "We want to create a unique fantasy world within this new universe, where people can meet one another, and see and do interesting things together." To that end, guests will be able to chat with other netters, listen to music, attend poetry readings, shop, and yuck it up at live comedy.
The project staff is working to overcome some unusual problems. For example, how do you manage communication between guests when you have thousands of people online simultaneously? Or, as Executive Producer Maclen Marvit, Dave's brother, asks, "Who has access to whom? What are the communication levels - whisper, talk, shout, broadcast - and who receives what?"
The World's Fair opens in the last quarter of 1995. In the meantime, you can check out the Web site at www.kaworlds.com.
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The WWWorld's Fair
