Wheeee! We're off to AlphaWorld!

Merge into your avatar's form and explore a giant universe of worlds. You'll talk to people, wander down streets, stroll through buildings, climb stairs, admire impossible architecture, fly above and below ground, relax in parks and greenhouses, teleport to other worlds, visit your neighbors' houses and businesses, and build your own dreamland.

Many people are very excited by AlphaWorld -- it's immense, and there are some master builders: creating sky palaces, conference rooms, comedy clubs, skyscrapers, castles, fire temples, parks, greenhouses, even towns and villages... A couple who met in AlphaWorld recently got married -- with a chapel and special avatars for their ceremony.

If this sounds interesting...here's how it works. (Don't worry, the steps listed are up to date as of November.)

6/15/96:
Jef asked us on Antiweb: "Have any of you ever been to AlphaWorld?" I hadn't. But from Jef's description, I decided I wanted to.

6/16/96:
I downloaded the beta software from Worlds, Inc. (I got the Windows 95 version; they also have a Mac version.) If you don't have 16 megs of RAM (32 would be better, although Jef gets by with 8), a fast computer, and a bunch of hard disk space, you'll probably be frustrated. You need either Windows 95 or Windows 3.1 with Win32s -- if you're not using a Mac. (From here on out, I'll talk about the Windows version since that's what I use.)

Here are the steps I went through in order to get into AlphaWorld:

1. Go to the Worlds, Inc. home page for AlphaWorld.

2. Download the software. Save the file on your hard drive.

3. Double-click on the software to unpack it.

4. Run the install program. It installs a program group and a desktop icon.

5. Send e-mail to AlphaWorld to request your immigration number (just double-click on the desktop icon and the AWORLD.EXE program runs and does this for you automatically; scary, huh).

6. Wait for them to write back with your immigration number. (Less than a minute, for me.)

7. Choose a handle and a secret password.

8. Type in all your info (e-mail, immigration number, handle, password) in the opening screen. Click OK.

9. Wait! You're now being parachuted in to AlphaWorld. Wait! A lot of stuff is being loaded...wait for it all to finish. You'll see people flash by; some might say something to you...ignore them for now. Wait until all the objects get drawn on the screen and your hard drive stops whirring. Keep waiting...this part can take five minutes or more, but it's worth the wait. (The newest version takes even longer -- hit the F3 key to monitor your downloads.)

10. Here's how it works: you explore with your mouse or keyboard. Don't try clicking on the menus or anywhere on the screen to start with; just move the mouse (without clicking) and watch how you move. If you want to talk to someone (any of the people you'll see moving on the screen), just type and press Enter. This conveys your words: they'll appear over your head, preceeded by your handle. Other people's words appear over their heads. Watch out! If two people are standing close to each other, their words may overlap and you'll have to move to read what they're saying (in the new version, there's a chat window).

11. Now try the keyboard:
    
    • Up Arrow: moves you forward
    • Down Arrow: moves you backward
    • Left Arrow: rotates you left without moving
    • Right Arrow: rotates you right without moving
    • Gray Plus Key: lifts you up off the ground
    • Gray Minus Key: lowers you towards the ground (or below the ground)

    In addition, the CTRL key moves you quickly when combined with the above, the ALT key moves you even faster, and the CTRL+ALT key combined with a movement key moves you extremely fast. Also, the SHIFT key lets you move through objects (normally you stop when you bump into them).

    The HOME key and END key switch you between first- and third- person views.

12. Now, if you click with your mouse, the mouse cursor appears. Any time you see the mouse cursor (the arrow), then you can't move -- but you CAN use the menus (and you can use the Avatar menu to change which one of the seventeen avatars you appear as). You can also click on an object.

    You've probably noticed the "Message" and "Description" fields that appear at the bottom of the screen. Message is for you to type your messages (and you should only type messages when you're in movement mode; to get back into movement mode after clicking, just click on the gray area at the bottom of the screen, or on the sky or green land). Description is a field that sometimes describes the object that you click on.

13. I recommend you pick a random direction and travel quick to get away from Ground Zero, where it's crowded and things are slow.

14. Explore! Visit a house. Admire the architecture.

15. Now, click to stop walking. Once you right-click on an object, it's highlighted in yellow. You'll see a new window appear. This is building window and you can find out about the objects and how to work with them. Press F1 for more information.

16. For the last two actions, you need to set up Netscape. Don't worry, it's quick. A page describes how to set up Netscape to work with AlphaWorld; it's pretty simple, you just the Options, General Preferences command to add x-application/alphaworld as a valid type, and set the Helper app to be the alphaworld AWORLD.EXE. That's the only setup that remains to be done.

17. The Object field in the building window lists the valid objects. When you start building yourself (and since the only three things you can do is AlphaWorld are chat, explore and build, chances are you'll want to build sooner or later) you'll need to look here to change the object type into the object you want to build. Only objects that already exist can be built; fortunately, they give you a program to view the objects (it's the "RwxLook" program listed in the ActiveWorld program group).

18. Once you've set up Netscape to recognize the AlphaWorld application type, you can click on the following link(s) to be teleported to AlphaWorld:
    • TZARA (Jef), ZUPER (Michael), and ZEIGEN (me) in ALPHAWORLD (Paul Klee stopped by to play.)

    • Strutin's House. (He's a guy who was kind enough to show me his house, which is beautiful; stop by and tell him how much you like it).

    • Castle with stairway to the clouds (by Trip)

19. Now, get out there, find your own open stretch of land (since it's considered rude to build near other people's property) and start building. The on-line help and other pages give you the basics of building.

6/16/96: I build some beginnings, including the world's tallest flag pole. (Find it right behind you, at the first link above).

6/17/96: My heart urges to be back in AlphaWorld.

6/18/96: Jef sees a different world than I do. He doesn't even see the floating trees! Here he is talking about Chaos...

11/28/96: Came back and admired their new version; the software is easier to use now, but it takes longer to download and get started. The basic steps outlined above are still true.

There are seasons, and people have been very busy. You'll like the new look:

Links

• The New World Times: Alphaworld's Newspaper
• A list of places to go and things to see