[SWMP] Kicking things off

Thanks for your interest in standardizing a Simple Wide-area 
Multiuser-3D Protocol.  So far, this list is to gauge both interest and 
consensus in the subject, and could lead to the creation of an IETF 
Working Group that would pursue an Internet standard.  I created this 
list and will moderate it at this stage.

The idea is to create a line protocol that is, in the IETF tradition, a 
simple and practical solution to the problem of synchronizing 3D scenes 
among clients, servers, and peers connected over heterogeneous wide-area 
networks.  This problem has been solved many times over, as shown by the 
panoply of Massively Multiplayer Online Games, and seemingly in similar 
ways, making it a well-understood problem.   However, there has been 
almost no effort to date to foster interoperability among those systems 
and system components.  Standardization of the line protocol should 
enable efficient development and a robust middleware ecology, thereby 
freeing up technical resources to concentrate on more advanced 
multi-user functionality.

I should note that there does exist a related IEEE standard called HLA 
(cf. https://www.dmso.mil/public/transition/hla/), but I think that not 
even its proponents would claim that it is simple and practical in the 
IETF tradition.  Please share your thoughts on this work, as well as any 
other relevant standards-based work.

My interest in this area, and that of my company, started and is still 
primarily focused on a multi-user line protocol that works well with the 
ISO-standard X3D/VRML modeling language and API, but it may be that the 
proper focus for a future working group is broader than that.  Please 
share your thoughts on other content and client technologies.

Most of all, please share what you and your companies are doing in this 
area, interested in doing in this area, and interested in contributing 
to a standardization effort.  Please invite interested colleagues to 
join the discussion as well.  I look forward to hearing from all of you!

jay
--
Jay C. Weber
CTO, Media Machines
www.mediamachines.com

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