Starbright World was an online community for children with chronic illnesses established in 1995. Initially conceived as a 3D

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 ...

for use in hospitals, it was developed by Worlds Inc. for the Starbright Foundation. The 3D world―credited as one of the first applications of

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

in medicine―operated until 1997, when it was shut down due to technical issues. In 1998, it was replaced with a private social network, which is now defunct. Worlds Inc. would later launch lawsuits against several

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, alt ...

companies, claiming that they held the rights to the concept of multiplayer virtual worlds based on patents obtained in relation to Starbright World.

Virtual world

The planning for Starbright World began in 1993. The project was organized by the Starbright Foundation, a charity headed by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

which was a sister organization of the

Starlight Children's Foundation Starlight Children's Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1982. Starlight's programs include providing hospital wear, games, and deliveries to hospitalized children. The programs are provided directly to children through Starlight's ne ...

. Initially, Starbright World was conceived as a 3D

in which children could interact with each other using

avatars 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 appearance ...

Tamiko Thiel Tamiko Thiel (born June 15, 1957) is an American artist, known for her digital art. Her work often explores "the interplay of place, space, the body and cultural identity," and uses augmented reality (AR) as her platform. Thiel is based in Munich ...

, working under Worlds Inc., was the creative director, and companies such as Sprint and

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

partnered with Starbright to provide the necessary equipment and infrastructure. Development costs were estimated to be in the "multimillions". The program was officially launched on November 8, 1995, with four hospitals participating. Players accessed Starbright World through terminals connected to a private DS3 network that linked hospitals to one another. In the 3D world, children could chat with other users, play games and build new structures. The program also supported

videoconferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...

. Spielberg and

Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. (; August 22, 1934 – December 27, 2012) was a United States Army general. While serving as the commander of United States Central Command, he led all coalition forces in the Gulf War. Born in Trenton, New ...

(Starbright's chair of fundraising) made cameos in the game as

E.T. ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dub ...

and a teddy bear, respectively. Starbright World was an early example of a

game and one of the first uses of

in medicine. The technology, though advanced for the time, was not without issues. An editor for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' criticized Starbright World for being "slow and clumsy" and lacking interactive activities. A pilot study found that players encountered serious technical difficulties about a quarter of the time, although performance improved over the course of the study. In 1997, the 3D world was shut down due to concerns about stability and ease of use.

Later history

Starbright World was relaunched in July 1998 as a social network including message boards, chat rooms, videoconferencing and games. It was initially accessible only through a private network installed in hospitals; by 2000, 80 American hospitals were using the program. Later versions could be accessed from home. Several clinical trials evaluated the effect of the social network on patients' symptoms and quality of life. The website is no longer operational. In the 2000s, Worlds Inc. claimed that they held the rights to the concept of multiplayer virtual worlds based on patents relating to Starbright World. This led them to file lawsuits against several MMO companies. A lawsuit against

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. (the publicly traded parent company of Activision Publishing) and Vivendi ...

was dismissed in 2021, when a US district court ruled that "Worlds' patents were abstract ideas that were not sufficiently transformative to be legally patentable."

References

External links

Starbright World: Steven Spielberg Demo and Video Highlights (1995)
on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{Authority control 1995 video games Internet properties established in 1995 Virtual world communities Defunct social networking services Multiplayer online games Medical video games Video games developed in the United States