--WorldsAway Technology to be used for WebWorlds--
Posted March 1996, WorldsAway Community Forum


Greetings Dreamscape Citizens!

We would like to take this opportunity to clarify for you our 
plans for the Dreamscape and for worlds on the web.

WorldsAway technology was first used to create the Dreamscape, a 
community which thrives because of the people who call it home. 
The WorldsAway technology will next be used for WebWorlds which 
will provide business-based content. 

Cultural Technologies will offer WebWorlds to companies interested 
in either creating a customized WebWorld, or participating in a 
Fujitsu-sponsored WebWorld on the Internet. 

WorldsAway Dreamscape and WebWorlds will not be competing 
products. WebWorlds will be commercial in nature and will be 
populated with advertising, retail products, and the opportunity 
for real world transactions. In essence, they will provide a new 
way for users to navigate through web sites (and the products and 
information within them) as they interact with others in real 
time. We have included the WebWorlds press release for you below.

The Dreamscape staff will continue to dedicate themselves to 
enhancing the Dreamscape by adding new product features, 
enhancements and real estate.

In the Service of Morpheus,
WorldsAway Member Support and WorldsAway Oracles



INTRODUCING WEBWORLD -- ANIMATED VIRTUAL WORLD FOR THE WEB Newest 
addition to Fujitsu's WorldsAway Family

San Jose, Calif., February 27, 1996 -- Fujitsu Cultural 
Technologies today announced plans for a new product called 
WebWorld [TM] -- a customizable animated virtual world for the 
world wide web that enables real-time interactivity among users 
visiting the same web site.  

	WebWorld features add lifelike interactive capabilities to 
existing websites.  Custom WebWorlds will enable companies to 
promote their products and services through the virtual 
environments and communities linked to their web sites. 

	The user gains access to the virtual world by activating 
hyperlinks from the company's current HTML Web pages. Once the 
WebWorld browser is launched, the user enters an animated, 
graphical landscape that is themed and customized to reflect the 
company's business. The user navigates the virtual landscape in 
the form of an online, animated persona called an "avatar." 

	Through his or her avatar, the user can move around, 
communicate, make transactions, handle objects and, most 
importantly, interact in real time with other users who are logged 
on at the same time.

	"Browsing the web no longer needs to be a solitary 
experience. WebWorlds will bring real community to the web," says 
Fujitsu Cultural Technologies executive director, Tony 
Christopher. "With a WebWorld, a company can design a unique, 
online experience for its customers -- the "experience" of these 
worlds will become a new form of promotion for companies' products 
and services."

	WebWorld functionality is based on the same technology used 
to create WorldsAway, the online virtual world developed by 
Fujitsu Cultural Technologies and introduced last quarter on 
CompuServe. Fujitsu Cultural Technologies will provide a complete 
range of services to help companies design, develop and host their 
WebWorld servers.
 
	The WorldsAway avatar can "talk" to other avatars in real 
time through text-based chat, as in traditional chat services, but 
is additionally capable of a wide range of expressions, gestures 
and movements that enhance communication. Users may personalize 
their avatars' looks and colors to create their unique identities. 
Objects in the virtual world also support personal expression and 
enhance in-World experiences--for example, giving flowers and 
candy, sharing a drink at the bar or carrying a cellular phone.  

	"One of the highlights of a WebWorld visit will be the 'cool 
stuff' available in that world -- the promotional novelties -- 
that an avatar can own, win or give to other avatars," says Tony 
Christopher.  

	WorldsAway virtual worlds are "scaleable," meaning they can 
grow to accommodate an ever-increasing number of users.  The 
technology allows new objects and environments to be added at will 
-- for example new art can be temporarily added to the virtual 
world to mark, holidays and special promotions.

	"The WorldsAway technology, as applied in a WebWorld, is a 
powerful new tool for marketing and promotion in an increasingly 
interactive world," says Sophie Kim, head of marketing for Fujitsu 
Cultural Technologies. "We've seen phenomenal growth with 
WorldsAway -- in just 2 months it has become one of the top 
services among CompuServe's over 3,000 service offerings.  
WebWorlds will bring that same powerful element of interaction and 
community to the web."

	WebWorlds is introduced by Fujitsu's Cultural Technologies 
division established in San Jose, August 1994. The division was 
formed to develop and market multimedia technologies that extend, 
enhance and facilitate network computer-based interaction between 
people.

WorldsAway Team