As far as catchy titles go, it's kind of bland, but it's the concept that will sell Raph Koster's latest project. Metaplace is a platform for developing virtual worlds that are designed to operate with already-available websites, as easily as embedding a widget into MySpace.

This has the potential to be huge. Imagine being able to create a little virtual world for visitors of your website, in which people can engage with each other and talk about your brand. Because it's designed to interoperate with existing Web technology, there's no need for visitors to download a client (as long as their browser can handle the protocols Metaplace worlds use, of course). Koster says that people will be able to take assets from other people's worlds to start their own, customizing it however they like to create their own unique experience. Currently available only in 2D, Metaplace is working towards 3D.

This approach is farther from the '3D Internet' that many believe will come about. It's more of a Balkanized version, where every website is its own little world, competing more or less equally with others. There is no mention of fees on the website, though likely the model will entail ad revenue, RL company sponsorship, and the like. Koster mentions that he expects an open beta to begin next Spring.

(Via mercurynews.com)