The Otherland Group is based on the belief, that the future internet will not be limited to an interconnected web of ‘pages’, consisting of text, graphics and some snippets of sound and moving pictures.
This was fine for the last 15 years but isn't sufficient for supporting the role, which the internet will play in our society's future.
The next big evolutionary step of the world wide web will lead – among other innovations – to the Web 3D, a platform where a lot of the information contained in flat pages today is presented as a virtual world, rendered more or less realistically on the screen before our eyes.
We will traverse this web by virtually walking, running, flying or otherwise moving through it in the guise of avatars. These will be highly individualized personas, which might be realistic reproductions of our physical bodies in some cases or completely different alter egos in other cases depending on context and personal preferences.
These avatars have a location in the virtual world, they reside in. There will be (perceived) distance and proximity.
We will experience this web together. We will be aware of other avatars in the same locations or near us and these other people will see and hear us in the form of our avatars. Realizing the presence of others, we will easily connect and interact with one another.
The Otherland Group is among those, who pave the way to this future network of virtual worlds, by providing services for companies and other organizations wishing to enter the realm of virtual worlds and by showing them the real value behind these new communication channels. We do this because we believe in this added value – as well as in the fact, that the creation of the Web 3D will only be possible, if companies and other organizations have a clear incentive to fund its creation.
