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From: arc!steve@apple.com (Steve Savitzky)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: We Need A New Name
Message-ID: <15521@milton.u.washington.edu>
Date: 31 Jan 91 01:59:01 GMT
References: <15454@milton.u.washington.edu>
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In article <15454@milton.u.washington.edu> portal!cup.portal.com!thinman@
uunet.UU.NET writes:


   We need a new terminology for this new technology we're building.

   The William Gibson vocabulary of "deck" and "cyberspace" have been
   swiped by Autodesk.  

I wonder whether "cyberspace" would stand up in court--after all,
there's a previous use (though they might have bought it from Gibson).
Somebody may have tried to swipe "matrix", too.

I hereby offer V-Space (Virtual Space).  Alternatively, substitute
"World" or "Universe" for "Space".  Also, the "Soft World" (with the
outside world being the Hard World, of course).

I've never liked "deck" much anyway.  Brings to mind something
rectangular with spinning tape reels.  How about "Set" as a good
generic term.  Parts of it could be further specified: headset,
handset, body-set, and so on.  Maybe V-Set for the whole thing. 

   The words "virtual reality", if not already trademarked, will be.

I hope not.  It's even less likely to stand up than "cyberspace" --
it's in current use all over the industry.  But Virtual Universe or
Soft {Reality, World, Universe} would do.  "SoftWorld" has the
advantage of being closely related to "software", to the extent of
sharing the same abbreviation.

   [5D, pod suggestions omitted]

Pod brings to mind something that encloses you.

There's yet another possibility, which is to use the even older
terminology of _True_Names_ -- "Other World" and "Gate" (or was it
"Portal"?)  Perhaps excessively "new-age".

Of course, we could always do what science-fiction fans do and turn
the terminology around: the "Real World" is the one *inside* the
computer, where you *really* live, and the "Mundane World" is the one
outside.  Some day.


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