There (PC)
Previewed by Libe Goad

Does your life ever have that not-so-fresh feeling? You’ll soon be able to scrape away the dull flakes of your livelihood by acquiring a new life, courtesy the online, 3D life-simulation game, There.

Much like Second Life, which is still in development, There offers an open space for people to create characters (called "avatars”) and live an extraordinary life, free of limitations found in other online games. Once you create your avatar in the game, you can choose to wander freely across the virtual world, interacting with people, playing games, creating games, flying around with hoverpacks, acquiring cash, building houses and doing most anything to your heart’s content.

The main differences between There and Second Life lie in the technology used to pipe the game into your computer. There will be more readily accessible to the mass market--specifically people who still connect to the internet via 56K modem. That means, of course, the game will have to sacrifice a tad of its graphical prowess (i.e. detailed textures) to allow the game to run smoothly. If online interaction is your main objective, however, you probably won’t miss these extra special effects.

If you have broadband, you won't be penalized. In fact, you'll be able to utlize There's specialized features, such as 3D voice chat, shared music and video files and the ability to upload digital photos.

There, Inc’s Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Robert Gehorsam, recently gave us a tour through There’s brave new world. Probably the most striking element of the game was the numerous ways the avatars can interact with one another. Characters communicate through word bubbles, emoticons and players can even talk to each other online. Along with the actual words and expressions, the avatars have been programmed with human-like body language. If one avatar is talking, those listening will turn their head toward the one that’s speaking.

The user interface of the game seems extremely accessible as well. Anyone who uses the internet should have no problem relating to the interface, which carries a friendly, Mac-style look and functions much like a regular HTML web page. Probably the most ingenious part of the interface is that you can actually connect to the web while you are in the game. So if you want to check the news in the middle of a session, you can simply click a button and read the latest headlines without leaving There.

Though some elements of the game will be preprogrammed, most of the worlds will be created by the users. More skilled computer users will be able to utilize Photoshop, Fireworks, Microsoft Paint and Discreet gmax to make designs for new clothes, hair, furniture or to invent new items to introduce to the game. In a few months, the game will include an open API for C++ developers with which people will be able to use Flash to customize the game’s interface and introduce new scripted events using “Therescript,” a computing language similar to Javascript, and more.

If you’re not a full-sized computer geek, have no fear. You’ll have plenty of activities to occupy your stay in There, with its virtually real economy (“Therebucks” can be exchanged for real-life bucks) and endless social possibilities. The sky’s the limit, baby! We’ll post a more detailed preview in the near future.