multiverse 1.0 released

Today, Multiverse released version 1.0 of their development platform for virtual worlds, and I thought I'd check it out. Right now, I am installing the Multiverse client. Downloading was fast, installing too, but now that I'm actually trying to access a world, it needs to download a lot of other stuff. Apparently really a lot; this is taking a loooonnggg time.

One thing that's nice about Multiverse, is the ability to connect to multiple virtual worlds of mmogs, using just one viewer, through the Multiverse network.

Creative licensing
Multiverse is not open source, but their software can be downloade for free. As soon as you start to make money, things change.

The simplest option is to buy an upfront fee. I have no idea how much that is, but I guess it won't be cheap.

The second option is interesting: the revenue sharing license. If you choose this option, your newly developed world will have to be part of the Multiverse network, that's a requirement. Again, as long as you don't charge your end users or have paid-for advertising in your world, it's free. But, as soon as you start to earn money off your world, Metaverse wants 10% of the gross revenues. They do this by handling all your money stuff: consumer billing, credit card processing etcetera. They collect all the fees, keep their 10% plus some handling fees, and pay you the rest.

That's actually a good model for starting entrepreneurs, creative developers with little financial resources and the like. Plus, it could be very rewarding for Metaverse as well. What if one of these Metaverse worlds is the next World of Warcraft, or the next Second Life? Ten percent of "the next big thing" could mean an awful lot of money.

By the way, this is an awkward blog post to write.. these days, my daily job consists mainly of administering a financial application named "Multiversa", so every time I need to type "Multiverse" I am automatically typing .. well, you can guess what happens :-)

So, I am finished writing this blogpost, and updating Multiverse has finished as well. That should tell you something about how long it took..