Areae Promises to Change How Virtual Worlds are Made

Posted on January 8, 2007

Areae is a new massively online multiplayer world. The company says Areae will "literally change how virtual worlds are made." It also says they've "got a cool world or two incubating on the back burner." Sounds very interesting. Raph Koster, the creator of Ultimate Online and Star Wars Galazy, is the president of Areae. Koster also wrote A Theory of Fun. Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow who is on Areae's advisory board writes this about the upcoming game world.

Doctorow says, "I actually know all about it, because I'm lucky enough to be on Areae's advisory board. I can't say any more than what's above, but I can note that Raph has hit on a really smart idea that combines fun, community, and user-creativity to make an entirely new kind of online world experience."

Cory Doctorow also notes that Charles River Ventures, one of the investors in Areae, has written this:

"Areae sits at the intersection between Web 2.0 and MMOGs. If you think about it, the Web 2.0 and the Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming communities have largely been pretty siloed - gamer developers go to game industry conferences and Web 2.0 folks go to Web 2.0 conferences, and there has not been enough intermingling between the two communities."

CRV also says, "Areae is developing new technology that will change how virtual worlds are made." It looks like we have to wait for more details before we know what Areae is all about.