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Twinity
''Twinity'' is a 3D online virtual world. Initially developed by Metaversum GmbH, it is currently held by ExitReality. The game offers its population, called Twinizens, to navigate around virtual (historical) versions of real-world cities, also called a mirror world or a Metaverse. A public beta began in September 2008 with the release of the first virtual city, Berlin, which later was followed by Singapore, London, Miami and New York. ''Twinity'' is built on BigWorld Technology and its economy is based on a free-to-play model. ''Twinity'' is the first 3D online virtual world to incorporate true-to-scale replicas of large cities from all over the world. However, the company has recently begun to shift the focus away from a mirror world towards a more fantasy-oriented environment with locations like the Isle of Palmadora. In this respect, ''Twinity'' seems to be moving towards a Second Life-like world with more innovative features that they set up within the game, since much of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twinity Photogen
''Twinity'' is a 3D online virtual world. Initially developed by Metaversum GmbH, it is currently held by ExitReality. The game offers its population, called Twinizens, to navigate around virtual (historical) versions of real-world cities, also called a mirror world or a Metaverse. A public beta began in September 2008 with the release of the first virtual city, Berlin, which later was followed by Singapore, London, Miami and New York. ''Twinity'' is built on BigWorld Technology and its economy is based on a free-to-play model. ''Twinity'' is the first 3D online virtual world to incorporate true-to-scale replicas of large cities from all over the world. However, the company has recently begun to shift the focus away from a mirror world towards a more fantasy-oriented environment with locations like the Isle of Palmadora. In this respect, ''Twinity'' seems to be moving towards a Second Life-like world with more innovative features that they set up within the game, since much o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metaversum GmbH
Metaversum GmbH was a Berlin-based startup company behind the 3D virtual world Twinity. The company was founded in July 2006 and was led by CEO Jochen Hummel, CMO Mirko Caspar and CTO Christian von Hardenberg. In 2010, the company had offices in Berlin, Kyiv and Singapore and employed around 80 people. In 2012, after problems and declining usage at Twinity, Metaversum was acquired by the internet company ExitReality. Products and vision Metaversum was known for developing and operating the 3D mirror world Twinity as well as the former urban style sharing social network Yumondo. The vision behind the main product Twinity had been to build realistic replicas of cities in 3D. Berlin, Singapore, London, Miami and New York City were launched in Twinity. Twinity members can create personal avatars, explore real cities virtually, move into a 3D home, or chat with a friend. Metaversum was financially provided by international venture capitalists and Balderton Capital, formerly Ben ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BigWorld
BigWorld Technology was an Australian software company. It was the developer of BigWorld, a middleware development tool suite for creating massively multiplayer online games (MMO) and virtual worlds. It was formed in 2002 by John De Margheriti . It was the first company that developed such a middleware platform for the MMO market. In 2007, BigWorld was recognized as the UK's ''Develop'' magazine's industry leader. On 7 August 2012, Wargaming—which had used used BigWorld as part of the infrastructure for games such as ''World of Tanks''—acquired BigWorld for US$45 million. Wargaming stated that it would continue to license and support BigWorld, and foresaw the possibility that it could offer its own technologies with BigWorld for third-party licensors as well. The studio was subsequently operated as Wargaming Sydney. On 17 October 2022, Wargaming sold the studio to Riot Games for an undisclosed amount, renaming it Riot Sydney; the sale excludes the BigWorld technology itsel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Life
''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Francisco-based firm Linden Lab and launched on June 23, 2003, it saw rapid growth for some years and in 2013 it had approximately one million regular users. Growth eventually stabilized, and by the end of 2017 the active user count had declined to "between 800,000 and 900,000". In many ways, ''Second Life'' is similar to massively multiplayer online role-playing games; nevertheless, Linden Lab is emphatic that their creation is not a game: "There is no manufactured conflict, no set objective". The virtual world can be accessed freely via Linden Lab's own client software or via alternative third-party viewers. ''Second Life'' users, also called ' residents', create virtual representations of themselves, called ''avatars'', and are able to int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machinima
Machinima, originally machinema () is the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation. The word "machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''machine'' and ''cinema''. Machinima-based artists, sometimes called machinimists or machinimators, are often fan laborers, by virtue of their re-use of copyrighted materials (see below). Machinima offers to provide an archive of gaming performance and access to the look and feel of software and hardware that may already have become obsolete or even unavailable. For game studies, "Machinima's gestures grant access to gaming's historical conditions of possibility and how machinima offers links to a comparative horizon that informs, changes, and fully participates in videogame culture." The practice of using graphics engines from video games arose from the animated software introductions of the 1980s demoscene, Disney Interactive Studios' 199 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
User-generated Content
User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion forums and wikis. It is a product consumers create to disseminate information about online products or the firms that market them. User-generated content is used for a wide range of applications, including problem processing, news, entertainment, customer engagement, advertising, gossip, research and many more. It is an example of the democratization of content production and the flattening of traditional media hierarchies. The BBC adopted a user-generated content platform for its websites in 2005, and TIME Magazine named "You" as the Person of the Year in 2006, referring to the rise in the production of UGC on Web 2.0 platforms. CNN also developed a similar user-generated content platform, known as iReport. There are other examples of news ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mopay
Mopay is a mobile payment platform represented in the U.S. by Mopay, Inc. Mopay and Mopay, Inc. are registered trademarks of MindMatics Group, a Germany-based mobile marketing company. History The brand mopay was first registered in Germany in 2003 by MindMatics AG. Offering single payments interface between online merchants and their respective end-customers, mopay was designed as international mobile payment platform. In 2009, mopay became the central product of the mobile payment division of MindMatics Group. In early 2010, mopay Inc., was founded as the North American branch of Mopay. Product Mopay addressed vendors of virtual goods and digital goods. It offered a billing option for small online purchases through mobile operators accounts. Mopay sought to reach unbanked and underbanked individuals who do not have access to credit cards or bank accounts. By utilizing mobile devices, Mopay was available worldwide. Mopay connects to mobile operators in over 80 countries ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PayPal
PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods such as checks and money orders. The company operates as a payment processor for online vendors, auction sites and many other commercial users, for which it charges a fee. Established in 1998 as Confinity, PayPal went public through an IPO in 2002. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay later that year, valued at $1.5 billion. In 2015 eBay spun off PayPal to its shareholders, and PayPal became an independent company again. The company was ranked 143rd on the 2022 Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue. History Early history PayPal was originally established by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek in December 1998 as Confinity, a company that developed security software for hand-held de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virtual Economy
A virtual economy (or sometimes synthetic economy) is an emergent economy existing in a virtual world, usually exchanging virtual goods in the context of an online game, particularly in massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). People enter these virtual economies for recreation and entertainment rather than necessity, which means that virtual economies lack the aspects of a real economy that are not considered to be "fun" (for instance, avatars in a virtual economy often do not need to buy food in order to survive, and usually do not have any biological needs at all). However, some people do interact with virtual economies for "real" economic benefit. Despite primarily dealing with in-game currencies, this term also encompasses the selling of virtual currency for real money, in what is sometimes called "open centralised marketplaces". Overview Virtual economies are observed in MUDs and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). The largest virtual economies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MMORPG
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player character, character (often in a fantasy world or science-fiction world) and takes control over many of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from Online game, single-player or small Multiplayer online game, multi-player online RPGs by the number of players able to interact together, and by the game's persistent world (usually hosted by the game's video game publisher, publisher), which continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game. MMORPGs are played throughout the world. Worldwide revenues for MMORPGs exceeded half a billion dollars in 2005, and Western revenues exceeded a billion dollars in 2006. In 2008, the spending on subscription MMORPGs by consumers in North America and Europe grew to $1.4 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alter Ego
An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a different personality. The altered states of the ego may themselves be referred to as ''alterations''. A distinct meaning of ''alter ego'' is found in the literary analysis used when referring to fictional literature and other narrative forms, describing a key character in a story who is perceived to be intentionally representative of the work's author (or creator), by oblique similarities, in terms of psychology, behavior, speech, or thoughts, often used to convey the author's thoughts. The term is also sometimes, but less frequently, used to designate a hypothetical "twin" or "best friend" to a character in a story. Similarly, the term ''alter ego'' may be applied to the role or persona taken on by an actor or by other types of performers. Or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photofit
A facial composite is a graphical representation of one or more eyewitnesses' memories of a face, as recorded by a composite artist. Facial composites are used mainly by police in their investigation of (usually serious) crimes. These images are used to reconstruct the suspect's face in hope of identifying them. Facial reconstruction can also be used in archeological studies to get a visualization of ancient mummies or human remains. Methods Hand-drawing Construction of the composite was originally only performed by a trained artist, through drawing, sketching, or painting, in consultation with a witness or crime victim. FBI claims that hand-drawing is its preferred method for constructing a facial composite. Feature-based selection Feature-based systems essentially rely on the selection of individual features in isolation. Individual facial features (eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, etc.) are selected one at a time from a large database and then electronically 'overlaid' to m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
