[plt-scheme] Re: How difficult would creating a collaborative multi-user online virtual world application be in PLT Scheme?

On Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:59:17 +0100, Noel Welsh
<noelwelsh at gmail.com> wrote:

>On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 9:30 AM, Benjamin
>L.Russell<DekuDekuplex at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> One question that has been coming up at the back of my mind for the
>> past several weeks has been how difficult would it be to create a
>> collaborative multi-user online virtual world application in a
>> semi-functional programming language, such as PLT Scheme.
>...
>> Does anybody know whether duplicating this project in PLT Scheme would
>> be feasible?
>
>The big problem would, I expect, be serialising data from one machine
>to another. Not every value in PLT Scheme can be serialised.
>Functions, I think, are the prime example.
>
>However, I don't see the world crying out for that kind of
>collaboration. Doing something as simple as distributed collaborative
>editing would be 80% as useful. Integrating with Google Wave
>(http://www.waveprotocol.org/) might be timely.

Well, I'm basically looking for that kind of collaboration.

Distributed collaborative editing might be useful, but it isn't nearly
so fun.  Having fun is part of the point of this project.  I work as a
translator, and collaborating with boring coworkers using distributed
collaborative editing in a crowded office doing boring work with no
scenery might be useful, but it isn't fun; however, collaborating via
surreal avatars in a virtual favorite landscape, even with the same
coworkers doing the same work, can be more fun.

Of course, the definition of "fun" differs from individual to
individual, and is highly subjective, so it can be difficult to
explain if one's focus is purely on the utility value.  Quantifying
"fun" can be difficult....

-- Benjamin L. Russell
-- 
Benjamin L. Russell  /   DekuDekuplex at Yahoo dot com
http://dekudekuplex.wordpress.com/
Translator/Interpreter / Mobile:  +011 81 80-3603-6725
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