Solipsis is a

free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, the ability to act or change without constraint or restriction * Emancipate, attaining civil and political rights or equality * Free (''gratis''), free of charge * Gratis versus libre, the difference betw ...

and

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

system for a massively multi-participant shared

virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space or spaces) is a Computer simulation, computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many simultaneous users who can create a personal Avatar (computing), avatar and independently explore th ...

France Télécom Orange S.A. (; formerly , stylised as france telecom) is a French multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications corporation founded in 1988 and headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. ''Orange'' has been the corporation' ...

Research and Development Labs. It aims to provide the infrastructure for a

metaverse The metaverse is a loosely defined term referring to virtual worlds in which users represented by avatars interact, usually in 3D and focused on social and economic connection. The term ''metaverse'' originated in the 1992 science fiction ...

-like public virtual territory. Relying on

peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...

architecture, the virtual world may potentially be inhabited by a theoretically unlimited number of participants.

Motivations

A central objective of Solipsis is to create a virtual world which is as independent as possible from the influence of private interests, such as server ownership. In order to achieve this, it is based around a

model rather than the traditional server-client one. Additionally, it aims to give users more flexibility in designing interfaces and content in their individual segments of the virtual world.

Main principles

A Solipsis entity is a basic element of the virtual world. To exist, an entity should run a ''node'' that may be controlled by a ''navigator''. Nodes are self-organized in a pure peer-to-peer network, in which relationships depend on virtual proximity. A navigator is mainly a

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

, but some communication services may be added to one for interaction between entities. The virtual world is initially empty and is only filled by entities run by end users' computers. All Solipsis nodes are functionally equal, and no preordained infrastructure is required. This eliminates as far as possible any restrictions on the content or functionality of the world.

Current status

Solipsis currently consists of: *A peer-to-peer protocol over UDP. The Solipsis protocol gives a node the ability to broadcast its presence within the virtual world. Moreover, this protocol aims to guarantee the maintenance of some global properties. *A node-navigator interface, which takes the form of an

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

between the node and the navigator. Currently written in

XML-RPC XML-RPC is a remote procedure call (RPC) protocol which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism.Simon St. Laurent, Joe Johnston, Edd Dumbill. (June 2001) ''Programming Web Services with XML-RPC.'' O'Reilly. First Edition. ...

, this interface allows a navigator to control a node and to retrieve information on its virtual surroundings. *A basic implementation of a Solipsis node and a Solipsis navigator licensed under the

LGPL The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a free-software license published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the LGPL into their own ...

. The navigator features a two-dimensional representation of the virtual world. The design of current interface resembles YackPack, an interactive system developed by the company of the same name, by a team of engineers in Santa Rosa, led by Chief Technology Officer David Levine and envisioned by Professor BJ Fogg of

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Interaction between entities consists only of

chat Chat or chats may refer to: Communication * Conversation, particularly casual * Online chat, text message communication over the Internet in real-time * Synchronous conferencing, a formal term for online chat * SMS chat, a form of text messagi ...

. *Some other services, which implement

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

s, some identity fields for

social networking A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...

file sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include ...

, and graphical chat.

References

External links

Solipsis Homepage
* {{cite web , title = Solipsis project Homepage , url = http://solipsis.netofpeers.net , accessdate = 2013-10-26 , archiveurl = http://solipsisarchive.netofpeers.net/ , archivedate = 2012-06-08
Toward a Peer-to-Peer Shared Virtual Reality
paper by Joaquin Keller and Gwendal Simon

CNet
Gamers to rule their own virtual worlds
New Scientist
Gamers Eye Open Virtual Worlds
Wired File sharing Orange S.A. Open-source video games Online chat Video games developed in France Virtual world communities Inactive massively multiplayer online games

Motivations

Main principles

Current status

See also

References

External links