Follow the rabbit: how to test drive Wonderland
Wonderland is SUN Microsystem’s open source virtual world platform. It is developed in Java, which is not surprising. The server side utilizes Darkstar, Sun’s Java MMORPG engine.
Lecture hall at Sun Microsystem's Wonderland World
Steps you need to do in order to “follow the rabbit”:
- Download the newest Java SE, at least version 5 is needed (be sure to take the 32-bit version, otherwise you don’t get the webstart technology)
- Open your web~browser to view Wonderland Nodes on the education grid…
- If you get login screen, you can use any username and leave the password field empty
Simplest experience ever – no registration, no hassle… other technology providers should consider similar approach… And the performance? Framerate was set to 30, no hiccups, but the content was really simple as well. The user experience? Hmm, they could use game programmers, UI was quite clumsy – even when compared to SL.
These instructions were extracted from Immersive Education initiative’s workbook about how to get started with Wonderland: http://web3dbooks.com/wonderland/discovering/index.xhtml
You can find the user guide to Wonderland from here: https://lg3d-wonderland.dev.java.net/user-guide-0.4-toc.html
