1  |   Order by index

Apr 17, 2003, 11:17pm

Hi everyone:

I have an idea which doesn't really need to be on the wishlist and can be
done by the AW Community :-)

As I write this, I am on my way from Hamsterville to Blankaborg to pay
BlankaM and his/her wonderful town a visit (In fact I'm sitting on the
highway out in the middle of nowhere at 4280N 1080E headed SE right now),
but as I was driving down the road, I stumbled across a BRILLIANT IDEA!!!

What if someone kept a directory of Internet Radio stations serving a
particular towmn and/or world complete with primary genre as well as Virtual
TV stations that do the same. then this way, for example, people visiting
Hamsterville could listen to MusicRadio 102X (a Soft Rock/Oldies AC
station), Jeeper One Red & Blue Networks (a pair of Old Time Radio stations)
or either one of the Jeeper One Comedy Network stations (one is a dialup
station and the other is a broadband station). In addition, visitors could
watch the local TV stations (once they're online) too.

And if you're sitting out in the middle of nowhere like I am now, one could
listen to one of the MANY "virtual satellite" stations out there with NO
ties to any particular town (such as WOLF-FM).once you "drive out of range"
of a station serving a particular town or teleport from one world to
another. :-)

Comments anyone?? :-)

Patrick

Apr 18, 2003, 10:30am

What's the point of limiting the range of virtual radio and TV stations?
Just because that's how it works in the real world doesn't mean that's
how it has to work in the virtual world. You should be able to hear/see
radio and TV everywhere.

Now, if you want to "localize" station content, that's fine (i.e.
Hamsterville stations only report Hamsterville area news and events).

As for the directory idea, there was a listing of TV stations that were
in the AW TV Network back when ABN was still around, but I'm not sure
what happened to it. :-/

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Out of range
gooberking at utn.cjb.net

Apr 18, 2003, 1:50pm

AW could have a bot which people could connect to and check if a certain IP
address was in the 20x20 area or whatever... then if they weren't the tv
signal comes through as the usual animated noise.. they move in and no more
noise (this is for the AW World) :-)
[View Quote]

Apr 18, 2003, 3:29pm

That doesn't answer my question. Why would anyone want to limit the
listening/viewing area of their stations? The virtual world should not
be hindered by the same laws of physics as the real world. Why do you
think the real world has satellite radio and cable TV? To overcome the
limitations of the real world, that's why. But since the virtual world
doesn't have these limitations in the first place, why bother creating them?

[View Quote] --
Goober King
Restrictions may not apply
gooberking at utn.cjb.net

Apr 18, 2003, 8:18pm

People might want to limit viewing for several reasons,

if somebody wants a vr tv station for their town only to keep people coming
cos they like the station.

when i was in ow, we had a problem in teenzone... people were listening to
the vr radio without being there... if we'd been able to force them to be
there so they could listen it'd have been better...etc

[View Quote]

Apr 18, 2003, 8:57pm

I'm not sure if you or me have misunderstood Hamster.

I think his idea is to have only ONE station that sends
different contents depending on your location. Similar to
those RDS car radios that always search for the closest
station.


[View Quote]

Apr 18, 2003, 10:02pm

How is that a problem, though? For instance, if someone is listening to
your radio station outside of your town/world and hear of an event going
on inside your town/world, then that will bring them in. But if you
limit the listening area, you'll not only be playing to a much smaller
audience, but you're essentially preaching to the choir.

I would think with a radio or TV station, you'd want to reach as many
people as possible to get the word out about your town/world...

[View Quote] --
Goober King
Preaching to the choir
gooberking at utn.cjb.net

Apr 18, 2003, 10:57pm

Ya.. but we wanted them IN teenzone... and it was just for music... not
really events because TEENZONE is OW's form of AWTEEN.

[View Quote]

Apr 19, 2003, 4:59am

Gee, never woulda guessed, John. Thanks for clearing that up! :P

[View Quote] --
Goober King
Captain Obvious to the rescue!
gooberking at utn.cjb.net

Apr 19, 2003, 6:33am

Sounds neat hamster bot kinda hard to pull off with bots. Areas like SW
City are too big for bot scanning, let alone the rest of the world. I think
you'd need a client program, like winamp. ...get a directory of r/l
internet radio stations of different genres, then code the winamp plug-in to
look at your AW coordinates. The station will change depending on the
coords. Then you just need a website and service to set it up for
registered towns.

- SW Comit

[View Quote]

Apr 19, 2003, 7:29am

grr.. lol!!

It could have been somebody's private world for all you knew :-P

[View Quote]

Apr 19, 2003, 7:38pm

Hi everyone:

[View Quote] It can be simpler than that Comit ( think Goober's just having a bad
day/start to weekend or something :-)), but what I was talking about is
basically localized content (or VIRTUAL signal strength as it were). The
directory can be a simple web page on a freebie service like Tripod which is
updated periodically and would consist of the following....

* Station name (obviously)
* Station Genre(s)
* Station's make-believe Frequency (if applicable)
* Station Website
* Player(s) required to listen to the station
* Distance in all 8 directions (in meters) from town in which the station
can be "heard" (suggested distance being 500 meters from the edge of town,
but can, of course, vary depending on terrain, VIRUAL signal strength and
other factors)

Mind you, none of this is in any particular order, but is merely an example
:-)

Of course, Internet Radio stations have no barriers as far as how far its
signal goes, but the content can be localized. Once you're beyond the
content range of the station, about the only way you're going to partake in
an event is if you either A). Race back to town or B). Teleport or warp
yourself to the event.

TV stations could be listed in a similar fashion as all that would be need
is the following....

* Station Name or Make Believe Call Letters (obviously)
* Station Channel No.
* Station Website or Webpage (if applicable)
* Information on how the station can be viewed
* Distance in all 8 directions (in meters) from town in which the station
can be "viewed" (suggested distance being 500 meters from the edge of town,
but can, of course vary depending on terrain, VIRTUAL signal strength and
other factors)

Again....None of this is in any particular order, but is merely an example
:-)

Of course, Internet or Virtual TV stations have no barriers as far as how
far its signal goes, but the content can be localized. Once you're beyond
the content range of the station, about the only way you're going to partake
in an event is if you either A). Race back to town or B). Teleport or warp
yourself to the event.

Additionally, signs can be posted like billboards throughout town and in the
surrounding coverage area so visitors will know where to tune in for all the
latest happenings in and around town.

Of course, virtual signal strengths can also vary on you imagination as
well. All that's needed is a little CREATIVITY. :-)

Finally, if you don't want your station to have ANY limits whatsoever (like
ABN, XEON, etc.), then your station can be listed as ORIGINATING from a
particular town or world (In other words, if Fox News were to be listed, it
would be listed as being a network or station from New York as that's where
it's headquarters are).

Do ya follow my idea NOW Goober?? :-)

Hope this helps :-)

Cheers for now everyone :-)

Patrick Cook (e.g. PC Hamster)
Mayor - City of Hamsterville
pchamster at arttbi.com
Denver, Colorado (my REAL city :-))

1  |   Order by index