Why 'Otherland'?

A few people, who already have heard about "Markus' New Company" have asked me "how on earth did you come up with THAT name?" Which is an obvious question, of course. Why not call it Metaverse this or Second that? And, like always, there is a story behind the name; a rather long story actually. But don't be afraid. I won't tell this story here. It has already been told by someone who is a much better author than me ...

The namesake for our company is a series of novels by Tad Williams: The Otherland Tetralogy, consisting of four volumes telling a many-facetted story set in a near future society. Most of the story takes place inside a number of virtual worlds, The Otherland Network. See? The connection is becoming apparent! ;) Two groups of protagonists are traveling through this network of worlds in their fight against a malevolent and very powerful organization, controlled by one ruthless guy - who has do die in the end. (Yes, I love happy ends.)

Technorati Tags: 3d web, second life, virtual worlds, web 3.d

This set of virtual worlds has a lot of different “themes” or settings. Some of them are very realistic but set in different epochs of history, others reproduce the worlds of famous literary works. Another set of worlds is pure fantasy, in some cases even with different physical laws. Yet, all of these worlds are interconnected and the circle of friends traverses all of them with the same identities – their avatars looking different in different settings, though.

I - and my co-founders with me - firmly believe that this is a plausible model for the future 3D Web, the next evolutionary step of the world wide web. Actually, we consuder this a much more plausible model than the assumption that the 3D Web will be a monolithic platform based on just one standard role model about how a virtual world on the internet should look and feel, the "snowcrash model" so to speak.

There will be standards governing how to interact with these worlds, standards for moving and navigating within and between them (while taking your identity and some of your possessions with you). There will certainly be standards, for transferring (some) content between these environments. But people will have a wide range of options for their virtual environment of choice, ranging from incredibly detailed replicas of the physical world to universes, which are only limited by the boundaries of our imagination.

The keywords are diversity, creativity and freedom (of choice).

This is our vision for the 3D Web. And we want to be among those, who pave the way to this future network of virtual worlds, by providing services to companies and other organizations wishing to enter the realm of virtual worlds and by showing them the real value behind these new communication channels.

Is there a better name than to call this "The Otherland Group"? We don't think so. :)

Comments

[Linda/Znetlady]

Just a congratulations on all the good things happening! Best of luck on the new venture. Saw you on Twitter! All the best!!

[Pierro]

a further blog for my reader . . .
also of me wish the best - fixes on
your business existence.

[Bernd]

I like the name. Wish you all the best.

[Metanymus Koga]

Congratulations and best wishes for your new company!
@Markus: Remember our discussion about information boards in second life. there has to be a better solution!

[Thorus]

Yeah, best wishes from here, too =)

And what is Tad saying about your vision and the chosen name, do you know ?

I guess he is still interested in how his ideas work out, hehe