was an online 3-D

virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...

service developed in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

and ran by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

. Users could speak to one another and join chat lobbies by using a dedicated server browser called the Community Place Browser. Upon selecting a server, users would appear in a 3-D virtual world as an

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

in the form of a human or an animal. The service's name is a shortening of the name Sampo Park Relaxation. From 1997 to 2001, the service came pre-installed on Sony's VAIO series of computers. The official SAPARi service was discontinued on January 31, 2003.Service discontinuation announcement

Gameplay

Worlds

Worlds were 3D virtual spaces written in

Virtual Reality Modeling Language VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced ''vermal'' or by its initials, originally—before 1995—known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-D computer graphics, 3-dimensional (3D) in ...

(VRML) and ran on Sony's dedicated servers. At the time of the service's launch, only one World, named "Park", was available to users. Numerous other Worlds were added as the number of players increased.

Browser

SAPARi used its own dedicated browser for use by clients that could run

VRML VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced ''vermal'' or by its initials, originally—before 1995—known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graphi ...

. Called the Community Place Browser, it was organized into a main window used for displaying 3D graphics, and a second window containing the chat lot titled "Multi-User Window". It also handled another piece of software which came pre-installed on the VAIO series developed and sold by Sony called the "Internet 3D Pack". Even though the servers are no longer in operation, it is still possible to browse the internet in VRML by operating a SAPARi avatar.

Avatars

SAPARi avatars consisted of over 100 human and animal models, and allowed for customizable colors and scaling. By default, players would begin as a pink cat. Certain Worlds would have restrictions on which Avatars could be used on them.

Communication

Multiple users were able to converse with each other within a certain proximity. When a user spoke, their message would appear above their avatar for a short period of time and would be logged in the chat window. Users were able to perform actions with their avatars, such as waving or sleeping.

Development

Tsunetake Noma's PC during development was a DEC, and his monitor was a Mitsubishi Diamond model. For GCO, A VRML output was created using 3DCG software called "LightWave 3D" from NewTek Co.. Polygons were edited using "LightWave3D". The development process is described below: #3D modelling (DXF format) #DXF was converted to VRML (only for models) #Authoring in VRML (adding movement) #Movement was originally programmed in Java (TCL/TK at the very beginning) #Movement testing on the Community Place Browser #For a server-Client environment, testing was done on multiple PCs. #3D contents are published #The official site is updated and moderated by a user group #User Communication and support is opened in the 3D contents Modelling was done by placing an order to the designer. Noma was in charge of the entire process after the DXF file was received from the designer. Noma also overlooked the direction of the project.

Timeline

* February 6, 1997 - Beginning of the SAPARi Service * November 1999 - "SAPARi Millenium" β version release * January 2000 - "SAPARi Millenium" official release * September 1, 2001 - A usage fee is added to the service (300¥ monthly) * January 31, 2003 - End of the SAPARi service Since SAPARi came pre-installed on VAIO systems, it reached hundreds of thousands of users at one point. However, server fees and the lack of a business model relating to the increase in new users stopped the user base from expanding. After this, control of SAPARi was transferred to So-net, which added fees to previously free material. Users actively disliked this, which led to the collapse of the community, causing revenue to sharply decrease and eventually the entire service to shut down at the end of January 2003. However, in 2020, two private servers were made thanks to reverse-engineering and fan efforts, with them being Kogs an
Kitunes
respectively.

References

{{reflist

External links

SAPARi's original site (archived)
* ttps://www.reddit.com/r/sapari/ Unofficial Sapari Subredditbr>SAPARi Cafe (Unofficial community site)
Japanese games Sony Java (programming language) Role-playing video games Virtual world communities