Our goals are sort of idealistic. We think there are all kinds of things on the Internet that would be improved if anyone could have a virtual place of their own. Right now, there aren't enough good games, for example, and they all seem to be about elves in tights or soldiers in battle armor. Metaplace allows more diversity. Right now, there are lots of people who want to use virtual worlds for research, or education, or business, but it's just too darn hard to get one going. Now you can create a world in just a few minutes and start tailoring it to your needs. Basically, we wanted to democratize the process of making online spaces of all sorts. ...

Signups for the alpha close on Monday, but the people over at Metaplace say they will do their best to roll over those who don't make the cut for the alpha into the beta test.

Metaplace [via Terra Nova]

It's free to use and purchasing a "Pro Creator account" allowing 1Gb of storage and bandwidth will be US$19 for 2 years. One can still publish using a free "Basic Creator account" allowing you to try it out, and they were giving away three year Pro accounts if you were among the first 250 people to publish content.

Once you've created your world, you can open portals to worlds other users have created. Content creation tools include basic 3D building functions and texture mappers, as well as scripting tools. There's also a built-in syndication system where content developpers can allow some things to be used in other people's worlds and easily update that content system-wide from one place.

Sounds interesting in theory, we'll see if it pans out. Perhaps the media can find a new darling and the New York Times can start writing out-of-touch articles about VastPark instead?

Vastpark [Wonderland]