The Virtual Planet: Kymer News, captured Feb 5, 2001

from what i can gather this is about a virtual world called Dreamscape created by the company Avaterra.com, Inc. fascinatingly, Avaterra's work appears to be a direct descendant of LucasArts' pioneering C64 MMORPG Habitat (which The Made museum, here in Oakland, brought back online in 2017). i think / it appears that the still-online Vzones.com is the latest/current manifestation of this massively multiplayer online world lineage. it's... kind of expensive. i fell down this rabbit hole from looking up artist Sheryl Knowles, who worked at Commodore on Amiga art (colleague to the Four-Byte Burger artist) and later on WorldsAway, which seems to be the incarnation of Habitat under Fujitsu before it sold the tech to Avaterra.com. her home page hasn't been updated since 2005, but here's a 2020 interview with her. (Sega nerds: she was artwork lead on Zero Tolerance.) ![](https://i.imgur.com/9FIruMZ.gif)

Avaterra.com, captured Jan 6, 2001

commence infodumping. Avaterra.com company description a July 1999 PR: > Avaterra.com was formed in May 1999, when it acquired core technologies from Fujitsu's WorldsAway Products and Services Group, in order to develop its VirtualZone business model. The company builds VirtualZone communities on the Internet where consumers interact, play, shop, educate and socialize within a graphical environment where they and other visitors are represented as avatars (customized graphical representations of themselves). VirtualZones are built around specific topics to attracted targeted audiences, and they are commercially sponsored by brand advertisers. Avaterra.com's two showcase VirtualZones have been online for more than three years and include members from around the world, meeting 24 hours a day. > > Avaterra.com provides superior community-building technology with features like customizable graphics, high subscriber involvement, a working economy based on tokens, several patent-pending tools for social order and management, and one of the highest "stickiness" factors on the web (with an average session length of 3.5 hours). The company derives revenue from its unique advertising venues, fee-based membership, custom virtual community development and software co-licensing. this page seems to show five attempted trademarks, marked abandoned in 2001, for terms including VIRTUAL ZONES, VZ, and ADOBJECT. --- description of the company from SiliconInvestor.com's Avaterra hub: > Avaterra.com (OTC BB:AVAR), is a provider of virtual worlds technology and services for Internet communities. Avaterra.com builds exciting Internet communities in the form of Virtual zones or "V-Zones". The Company currently has three revenue-generating virtual worlds, and has established licenses and relationships with brand-name partners. > > avaterra.com is the entry point to the three virtual worlds: New Radio World, Club Connect, and Dreamscape. > > Virtual Zones are 3D environments in which users interact through avatars, which are customizable graphic representations of themselves. They surpass chat rooms and other Web-based forums in their ability to provide a form of simulated life interaction. > > Avaterra.com is a spin-off of Fujitsu Systems. Fujitsu has invested more than $25 million over the past four years in core technologies that are the foundation of Avaterra.com's virtual internet zones (V-Zones). Fujitsu Systems will retain a 10% stake in Avaterra.com and maintain a Board position. --- PR: January 08, 1999: Download - in2home to offer 3-D rooms and chat zones. > Users of Scottish Telecom's free ISP in2home will soon be able to walk into virtual reality 3-D rooms, following an agreement by the Scottish Power subsidiary with US company Avaterra. com, a specialist in creating virtual reality worlds. > > The ISP is setting up V-Zones, where users will be able to see representations of other users on-screen - called avatars - walk about, chat and play with virtual objects. > > The partners will also build community-based V-Zones, the first devoted to football, which will host sponsored events and contests. Access to these will be free for in2home customers from this month. > > "We hope to appeal to web newcomers," said project manager Alain Denyer. > > "While those who've been online for years might not take to this, the more mainstream market should appreciate that this 3-D environment makes for a more comprehensible front-end. > > "If users have a question about something, they can ask a passer-by for help, just as you would in the street. It's classic community-based stuff, and will encourage people to go and do their own things together. > > "For us, it's good because these V-Zones are hugely sticky. People will spend a lot more time online just because it is so compelling and invigorating." --- PR: July 22, 1999: AVATERRA.COM LAUNCHES SCI-FI VIRTUAL ZONE > First Element Launches Today in Cooperation with TriWay Promotions > > SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The success of television shows like the X-Files points to our insatiable appetite for information about UFOs. Capitalizing on this interest, Avaterra.com, Inc. (AVAR-OTC/BB), a provider of avatar-based technologies and services for the next generation of Internet communities, launched today its latest VirtualZone called VZscifi -- an online community of UFO experts and enthusiasts at www.avaterra.com/VZscifi. The Zone will kick off with a virtual area called UFOchat, produced in cooperation with TriWay Promotions of Los Angeles, which opens today at 6:00 p.m. PST. > > VZscifi will feature a range of Sci-Fi, UFO and fantasy content, with UFOchat focused on top UFO researchers, renowned authors, military personnel and lecturers coming together to conduct online lectures, workshops, seminars and interactive sharing of research and knowledge in real time. All of these activities are happening within Avaterra.com's graphically rich VirtualZones, where visitors are represented on-screen as avatars -- or customized graphical representations of themselves -- and can see, talk and interact with other visitors. > > "This launch marks another milestone in our strategy to build commercially sponsored, targeted Internet communities based on our VirtualZone concept," said David Andrews, president and CEO of Avaterra.com. "UFOs and the paranormal are popular topics on the Internet, so we expect to generate tremendous traffic to our new VZscifi zone." > > Marcia Pellitteri, CEO of TriWay Promotions, is credited with booking the leading UFO experts who will be conducting daily chats and events. Participants include Jim Hickman of SkyWatch International, Derrel Sims, CM.Ht., R.H.A., former intelligence staff for the C.I.A., popular author Dr. Roger Leir, retired Air Force Major George Filer, John Carpenter, Joyce Murphy and many others. > > "We're providing a place where people from all over the world can access the latest research information about UFOs," explained Pellitteri. "And by hosting this community inside Avaterra.com's avatar-inhabited environment on the Internet, we're able to have people interact in real time with knowledgeable speakers and participate in interactive workshops with leading researchers and celebrities in the UFO field."

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IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN