New World Notes

Watch: Text-to-Speech App for Voice-Free Communicating in High Fidelity

Recent virtual worlds and social VR platforms tend to give more centrality to VOIP over in-world text chat -- a serious design mistake, in my view*. If you use High Fidelity, however, here's a solution: Text to Speech v1.0, now in the HiFi store.

Created by High Fidelity developer Zach Fox, it was inspired, he tells me, "by our desire to give a communication option to users who can't or prefer not to speak in VR. TTS is also a fun communication option to experiment with when hanging out with friends!"

If you watched (and listened to) Thomas Dolby's recent performance in High Fidelity, you know the world has some impressive audio capabilities; here's how Zach made use of them for this app:

Watch Thomas Dolby Performing in High Fidelity and Decide if Social VR is the Future of Live Online Music

Notwithstanding some technical difficulties here and there, and occasional herky-jerky movement from his avatar, this is pretty impressive and mind-bending: Coming in live from his studio at Johns Hopkins in Maryland to High Fidelity's servers in San Francisco, in front of an audience of 200 or so avatars, here's pop star Thomas Dolby rigged to a full body VR rig, performing live in the virtual world last weekend. While he does his hit "Hyperactive" in this long clip (toward the end), he doesn't do "She Blinded Me With Science". However, High Fidelity's Ryan Downe does get the entire audience to shout "SCIENCE!" at the same time -- which in itself demonstrates how real time and low latency High Fidelity's technical performance is. (You can even hear a lot of audience chatter in the background, just as you would if you saw Dolby at a real world club venue.)

Back in 2006 when Suzanne Vega performed live in Second life in front of some 80 people, many people (i.e. me) were prompted to wonder if virtual world performances were the future of live music online. Clearly it was too early to ask that question back then -- during Vega's show, the system groaned to handle that many audience members -- but now, finally, is a good time to raise that topic again:

Thomas Dolby, Pop Star & VR Enthusiast, To Perform Live in High Fidelity

Dolby singing "She Blinded Me With Science" in VR rig for audience in High Fidelity

Recently a distinguished academic showed up in High Fidelity as an avatar, researching social VR platforms to use in the Music for New Media program at the Peabody Conservatory. "He didn't identify who he was at first but did share that he was a professor looking for a medium to teach VR and music design," High Fidelity's Ryan Downe remembers. "After sharing contact information, he reached out and revealed his identity and my colleague spent some time helping him get familiar with our platform."

The professor, who teaches at Johns Hopkins University, also happens to be pop star Thomas Dolby -- yes, the one who was massively blinded by science -- and is appearing live in High Fidelity next week, singing into an audio stream piped into the virtual world while his VR-controlled avatar performs. (Click here to reserve a slot at November 17's FUTVRE LANDS Virtual Reality Festival.)

Dolby has been working directly with High Fidelity on a number of performances previous to that -- not just appearing as an avatar, but making dynamic use of the social VR platform:

"We collaborated with him on a pair of Halloween-themed events at our 'Zombie Island' domain," as Ryan explains. "From a perch above the island, he musically scored the event in real-time as visitors (most of whom didn't know he was there) ran into jump scares and zombies played by live actors."

So far from being a "special celebrity appearance" event, Dolby's appearance in VR is very much part of his explorations as a musician and performer. (Not unlike how, in VR's last generation, Duran Duran's Simon LeBon was an avid user of Second Life before his band officially created a presence there.)

Sons of Second Life Status: Sansar Attracting More Website Visits, High Fidelity Attracting More Monthly Social VR Users

Interesting dynamic going on with Linden Lab's Sansar in contrast with High Fidelity, founded by Linden Lab founder Philip Rosedale: According to SimilarWeb, Sansar's website is drawing roughly twice as much traffic (285K monthly visits, versus High Fidelity's 148K).  This is notable, because High Fidelity seems to be seeing more actual usage, at least during its monthly stress tests, which attract hundreds of concurrent user over a period of several hours. However, Sansar has announced more high profile partnerships with major eSports brands, the Smithsonian, and so on, which will tend to drive interest via web traffic. However, due to large download requirements and other reasons, few people who hit the Sansar website actually log in:

Latest High Fidelity Concurrency Stress Test: 425+ Avatars in the Same Space -- Up from 350+ in September

September's stress test for local concurrency reached 356 avatars in the same space -- but last weekend's reached as high as 426 avatars, many of whom were there for an (impressively varied) avatar contest.  Last month's concurrency raised a minor controversy as to how impressive it is that so many avatars are able to function in a tight social setting with each other, so watch the live video to see how vivid and enjoyably chaotic it really is -- like being in a massive club, except without the body odor and bad cologne:

High Fidelity Zombies Game Tests Ability to Survive, Avoid Broken Furniture

I'm pretty impressed by High Fidelity physics and scripting which make this social VR survival game possible -- though my first thought while watching the video above is that the real survival challenge is managing to escape virtual zombies without flailing about so much that you destroy furniture or elbow nearby faces.

If you're in the Bay Area, there's an in-person demo of the game at the High Fidelity office this Thursday and Friday night:

Philip Rosedale on High Fidelity: Yes, We're Building a True Metaverse

Above: "High Fidelity System Architecture"  

Last week's post on which company is building a true metaverse was so provocative, Second Life/High Fidelity founder Philip Rosedale stopped by to post a reply:

Agree with others here that world-sized contiguous spaces with many people able to build together in then is the correct end-goal and definition of 'Metaverse' - that is the recursive architecture we are building, captured in this blog.

That's what we are building - 5 years work so far, going as fast as we can!

Remember whether you are talking about Dual Universe or High Fidelity -- tens of millions of SERVERS will be required to support the people in the space. So the big design here isn't just technical it is also economic in nature - there needs to be a motivation for everyone to work together and contribute servers. Roughly speaking, it will require about as many Internet connected PCs as we currently have worldwide to simulate/store/stream such a space. That's why we are also working on the blockchain-based currency systems.

He's talking about the High Fidelity concurrency stress test which started last week's conversation off. As to the need for millions of servers to build a true metaverse, this is why High Fidelity recently introduced its own stable cryptocurrency -- so we can pay each other to use our servers to make it possible:

Can High Fidelity Get 500+ Concurrent Avatars in the Same Crowded Space? UPDATE: 350+ Achieved

Update, 4:38pm: Looks like the concurrency topped off at a reported 356 total -- so still a ways off from 500, but about a 100 more than last month.

Watch and see! Last stress test, High Fidelity got just over 250 concurrent avatars in the same local space, so 500 feels like the next big milestone. Will update with the final results. And remember, this virtual reality event is for real civil liberties!

Tomorrow in High Fidelity: Help Break the Local Concurrency Record & Earn Cash -- or Donate Earnings to the ACLU

Tomorrow starting at 1:30pm PST, High Fidelity is paying people to help break last month's local concurrency record of 256 avatars in the same space -- register here. In a clever bit of marketing, the more people who attend, the more money attendees get (i.e. you have an incentive to bring your friends):

• Up to 100 people // $10

• 100+ people // $15

• 200+ people // $20

• 1000+ people // $25

In a smart bit of marketing, attendees can also choose to donate their cash reward to the American Civil Liberties Union:

Every registered attendee who checks-in at the event will receive at least $10 in Visa or Mastercard prepaid giftcard, or Amazon credit, or you can redeem High Fidelity Coin (HFC) or donate your rewards value to the ACLU.

It may seem strange that an MMO stress test has an option to benefit civil liberties, but that's the America we live in today. I haven't ask him, but I wouldn't be surprised if this ACLU suggestion came right from the top. Shortly after anti-immigration policies were put into effect, High Fidelity founder Philip Rosedale's Twitter banner became this:

High Fidelity Breaks Another Local Concurrency Record With 250+ Users -- Though VRChat Remains the Social VR Concurrency Champion

Last month's peak concurrency test in High Fidelity got 209 users in the same contiguous space. Last week's test passed 250 (256, to be exact)-- in practical terms, about the size of a large nightclub or a small theater, so a pretty ideal concurrency for, say, an intimate music performance, play, or fireside chat.

"Was amazing, the feeling of being in a thick crowd in VR," HiFI user "Judas" tells me. And he says lag overall was minimal:

"I could move about OK. I think the people who struggled were still downloading avatars. Over 200 avatars mostly unique takes a bit of downloading. I think because I went to the last [concurrency test] I had a lot of that stuff cached already." He personally reports getting 60 frames per second from the PC version of High Fidelity, which is pretty ideal for PCs, though not optimal for VR.  Then again, it might not be an ideal time of the year for VR: