It's been a few months since we checked in on the Virtual Worlds Museum™, the largest online info/community resource for virtual worlds, past and present -- so I just had a chat with founder/CEO Julian Reyes, to get the latest updates. Turns out, there's quite a lot! For one, it's now officially trademarked (a milestone in itself), and the project just earned its first contest recognition:
The Museum is a finalist for the prestigious AUREA Award, hosted by Germany's Europa-Park, one of the biggest theme parks in Europe. (Replete with a roller coaster ride integrated with VR headsets.)
"I'm thrilled to be nominated along with some other innovative projects alongside XR community friends," Julian tells me. "I'm looking forward to presenting our project January 22nd at Europa Park in Germany. A big shout-out to our team for helping us create our first exhibit which is one of six." (The one that's nominated is hosted in Arrival.Space, with the next exhibit expected to launch in Meta's Horizon Worlds next month.) Fellow AUREA finalists, by the way, include GroKit Core by 3lbXR, pioneering ways to build in VR, and Blockade Labs, innovating AI prompt-based VR experiences.
The Museum also expanded its Spotlight Videos tour page, with the latest video (above) featuring In Kenzo and AI archivist SEHU teleporting into Spatial, a new-ish web based virtual world:
In-world they interview Jake Steinerman, Spatial's Head of Developer Relations, and world builder Lisbet, who just launched her "My African Dream” build. (Go here to visit it in Spatial, and like/subscribe to the Museum's YouTube channel here.)
Finally, the Museum is launching a crowdfunder next month, offering a number of experiences and other benefits to backers:
"Our Kickstarter will offer VR guided group tours, World Hops, and invitations to our immersive event launches. Our partners at TRIPP VR have also made available to us subscriptions to their award winning VR meditation app and there will be multiple tiers where you can support our efforts." (TRIPP is another AUREA Award nominee.)
So look for that and more coming soon. Follow the Virtual Worlds Museum on various social channels -- all links at the bottom of the site's homepage here.
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