The blaxxun Community Platform 4 is a distributed client-server system comprised of the blaxxun Community Server Modules, the clients blaxxun Contact and blaxxun3D, and the blaxxun Community Platform SDK and Administration Interface.

• Objects

• Agents

• Pesonal Homes

• Avatar Libraries

• Message Boards und Calendar

• Incentive Systems

• Text-to-Speech

• Interest Clubs

• Instant Messaging

• Buddy Lists

• Member Roles

• Access Rights

• 2D / 3D Avatare

• 2D / 3D Navigation

• Text Chat

• Voting

• 2D / 3D Places

• Member Management

• Registration

• Member Directory

• Administration

• blaxxun Community Platform SDK

• General Features of the blaxxun Community Platform

• Technical Specification for blaxxun Community Server

• Technical Specification for blaxxun Contact and blaxxun3D

Objects

Object Manager enables the usage of shared events and shared objects. Objects are simply virtual items (like a coffee mug) that can exist in any location (like a cafe table) and can be owned by users. Objects can be represented as text, pictures, and 3D models. Whiteboards, streaming video clips and discount coupons may also be created as objects. Their attributes can be managed as "shared" within the environment, meaning that any changes are immediately distributed to all other relevant users.

For example, a user picking up a discount coupon off a café table is immediately noted (distributed) by others within the café. Objects can be created, traded, dropped, picked up, and deleted by users, if they have the appropriate rights. Objects may be used for e-commerce purposes like advertising or promotion, and online education in the form of whiteboards and streaming video.

Agents

Agents are pre-programmed chat-participants. They respond to certain keywords posed by users or react to specific trigger events within the scene, like when other users enter or leave the group. Agents respond by making comments, asking questions that lead into dialogue, collecting and distributing information, and can be programmed to perform any communication function. Agents may be created to look like company employees, famous celebrities or animals. Typical applications include sales support, tour guides, resident experts, entertainers, and service personnel.

Personal Homes

This feature allows users to set up homes, clubs, student dormitories, company offices, or other distinct locales on the web. These entities are divided into public and private spaces. For example, a community may have places like plazas, cafes and offices where its members congregate. The community might also have neighborhoods devoted to members sharing special interests, like films, into which they can easily "homestead". Each member's home (complete with its own URL) can act as their personal communication center on the web within which they can invite their friends, family and other groups for scheduled or impromptu meetings and chats. Many present community members also attach this URL to their email messages, which has the effect of promoting both the users' private home as well as the community URL.

Homeowners receive all the tools required to maintain their places and can set up special access privileges to protect their privacy. The homes themselves can easily be built from one-click templates or designed more elaborately with objects like furniture, pets and agent servants. Homes have all of the communication functionality delivered by the Community Manager.

Avatar Libraries

blaxxun Avatar Studio can be used to create libraries of animated 3D avatars that can be provided to community members. blaxxun Community Platform customers can also offer blaxxun Avatar Studio to their community members. Please contact blaxxun for related pricing information.

Message Boards und Calendar

Asynchronous communication is supported by various customizable mechanisms, such as message boards or calendars. Members can read and post entries, privileged members can maintain and archive the information.

Incentive Systems

Incentive programs reward active members, similar to the well-known airline frequent flier programs. These programs can be defined based upon: experience levels which can reward access to defined privileges, such as entry into elite member lounges, experience points which establishes members' reputability and seniority during user interaction, or a token economy which enables members to buy objects, trade objects with other members, or receive salaries for their community management activities. Incentive programs increase membership activity and community spirit within the application.

Text-to-Speech

This allows users to speak to other users in a meeting or chat with pre-selected vocal timbre. It also enables agents to speak to users. The method of vocal delivery is text-to-speech, where dialogue is heard in audio as well as seen within the chat window. Listening to the dialogue as it occurs enhances the 3D chat experience by allowing users to watch their chat partners, like a video phone, instead of constantly checking the chat scroll window.

Interest Clubs

Clubs can be created and maintained by qualified members of a community or by the operator of the application. Each club is a place that includes all the relevant details about the club's charter, activities and communication. Members extend the value of the club through message board contributions, chat, or information uploads. The owner of a club manages the club and receives the appropriate tools for proper maintenance of the venue. All clubs are listed and organized in a club directory. Members can join one or several clubs and participate in all relevant events and activities.

Instant Messaging

Members can send instant messages to other members, without being at the same place. This is comparable to a pager, where friends can be contacted and quick messages can be exchanged.

Buddy Lists

Each member can maintain a list of friends. The list indicates who of the friends is online and whether s/he is prepared to be approached. As other friends join, a notification can be sent.

Member Roles

Operators of an application can define/assign roles to members. The definition and names of the roles is at the discretion of the operator. Members with roles receive all the required tools, privileges, and access rights to accomplish their job. They can also earn virtual money and experience points (see Incentive Systems). As members take over tasks in an application, they reduce the overall cost for the operator and at the same time feel more involved in the application, resulting in increased loyalty to the site.

Access Rights

All places and objects support access rights, which can be assigned to members. For instance, certain places can be restricted to defined members and roles. Access to certain features can be limited, such as maintenance of message boards.

2D / 3D Avatare

To create their online identity, members either select an avatar from a number of avatar galleries provided by blaxxun or other application operators. Or the use blaxxun Avatar Studio to create their own appearance step by step. 3D Avatars have a variety of gestures which the user can "connect" to certain keywords in a conversation (e.g., the avatar nods its head when the user types "Yes" as chat text). The result is impressive body language simulation that adds to a compelling visual experience.

2D / 3D Navigation

Users of 2D / 3D applications can inhabit virtual venues and experience freedom of movement within these venues, analogous to "jumping into" an interactive TV program or video game. The experience is richer than TV; users meet other users represented by their avatars, and have the ability to communicate, interact and influence their environment. 2D/3D itself offers users the added dimension for interacting within historical places, virtual shops, replicas of their own hometown, or familiar venues like Sesame Street or The Tonight Show studio. Adding multiuser interactivity into 2D / 3D design enhances the experience of community so that users are compelled to visit often rather than clicking once "just to look at 2D / 3D design".

Text Chat

At any time, users can engage in real-time text chat conversations, which are supported in various ways. Public chat allows one to speak or listen to everybody within a venue at the same time. The chat logs of large crowds can be reallocated into smaller groups for better manageability. Private chats can also be initiated anytime with other users or agents. Members can also "whisper" quick private messages to other members. Chat is supported in combination with 3D or function in "2D" as simple Java or HTML chat, allowing any user to participate, even those with old hardware or very limited bandwidth.

Members can operate an unlimited number of parallel chat lines, and they can switch between discussions with one single click. A variety of support features help to manage big events and turn them into effective discussions. Chats are automatically archived and can be reviewed later.

Voting

Members can set up elections on topics of interest and voting can be performed either publicly or privately (secretly). Voters are allowed to vote during a certain time period and results can be immediately posted at poll closing. Voting is a simple to implement, useful feature that allows users to express opinions and return feedback almost instantly, and can be applied equally well to community development as well as market research.

2D / 3D Places

An application can consist of any number of locales, or places, within a venue that can be visited by members and guests. Places can have 2D and 3D representations and will be listed within the place list. Members can change places in a variety of ways and access related information, meet other members, and/or participate in place-specific activities and events.

Member Management

Members can provide as much or as little information about themselves as they wish. Public information includes a nickname and a description of their interests, home page URLs, as well as other configurable information. Guests are users who do not (yet) want to register, but are interested in visiting the application. The "guest" feature set is typically restricted.

Registration

New users can register and become members. Members register their unique user-selected nickname and password to protect their identities.

Member Directory

The member directory enables users to find other members. The directory can be sorted according to several criteria and updates itself as soon as new members register. Each member registration entry can have various fields: nickname, name, experience points, token money owned, a member home, or a member role.

Administration

The blaxxun Community Server has an easy to use, HTML based Administration Interface. A system administrator can

• Remotely administer the Community Server.

• Start/stop the server and modify the configuration file on the fly.

• Monitor, remove, and mute users.

• Review usage and network statistics.

• Control properties such as the number of people in the scene.

Firewall Support

For performance and scalability reasons, the blaxxun Community Server uses optimized network technology. As many corporations have firewalls that prevent optimized calls, members can specify usage of a firewall-compatible protocol and access all services.

blaxxun Community Platform SDK

A key feature of the blaxxun Community Platform is its uniquely flexible and extensible architecture. blaxxun's Software Development Kit (SDK) provides the application developer with a rich set of tools for modifying and enhancing the basic capabilities of the Community Platform.

Server SDK

The Server SDK is the core API for all functional enhancements to the blaxxun Community Server. It enables the definition of extended user attributes, the integration with user and authentication databases, the ability to connect to external certification services, and the access to databases.

Client SDK

The Client SDK is the core APIs for all functional enhancements to blaxxun Contact. It includes the integration of Java applets that can implement games, screen updates, modifications of the 3D world, or other functions, like audio and video.

Agent SDK

The Agent SDK offers access to the blaxxun agent scripting language, which enables the application developer to link 30 different pre-defined agent actions to 20 different system events, and to define new events and responses, including the ability to invoke 3rd party functionality (e.g., database commands).

blaxxun Contact and blaxxun3D are the client software that gives end users access to all features of the blaxxun Community Server.

General Features of the blaxxun Community Platform

Standard Support

blaxxun interactive supports all relevant standards: HTML, VRML, Java, ActiveX, OCX, Direct3D, and OpenGL. Other evolving standards will be supported as they emerge.

Multi-Platform Support

The Community Server is available for Windows NT, Linux, and on various commercial Unix flavors, such as Solaris. See the Technical Specification section below. The client runs on Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT. The 2D and communication features, as well as blaxxun3D, are also available on Mac and Unix.

Multi-Browser Support

Operates with all browser versions from Netscape and Microsoft and several 3D engines (Direct3D and OpenGL, and as formats VRML and Superscape). 3D support is available for browser versions 3.x and later.

License Keys

As the community grows or additional modules are required, the Community Server can easily be upgraded by installing a new license key (a 5 minutes process) obtained from blaxxun. No software installation or reconfiguration required.

Scalability

Capable of supporting thousands of users simultaneously, the server can be distributed across multiple machines, and is optimized for large groups. The server is in permanent use since early 1996 and blaxxun has conducted rigorous tests to verify and fine-tune the performance of the server. For more information, refer to the Technical Specifications below and the Scalability White Paper from blaxxun.

Openness, Extensibility & Customizability

Through its SDK (Software Development Kit), the Community Server can be integrated with existing systems, including databases, advertising management systems, billing systems, E-commerce systems, company Intranets, and other backend systems. Additional modules can be hooked up with the existing services. Many features of the client blaxxun Contact can easily be extended, customized, and integrated with other applications. Using state-of-the-art technology, such as Java, HTML, VRML, and OCX, various other applications can be accessed and integrated.

Interoperability through Community Server Integration

All clients are integrated with the same Community Server. This means that users of the different clients can interact with each other. For example, a user of the HTML chat feature with a PC 486 with 8 MB RAM and an old Netscape browser can chat with a user of the 3D interface with a fast Pentium, 3D acceleration, and the latest Internet Explorer from Microsoft. The low-end user doesn't see the 3D place and doesn't have an avatar, but still shows up in the member list of all other participants and sees their names and chat contributions.

Evaluation Version

To get an evaluation version of the blaxxun Community Server, please send an email to support@blaxxun.com.

Technical Specification for blaxxun Community Server

Bandwidth Requirements

Because of the intelligent bandwidth management of the blaxxun Community Server 4, each blaxxun Community Client user connected to the server only uses on average 1,200 bits per second in 2D mode and 2,000 bits per second in 3D mode. The table below shows the estimated community size that can be supported with different network connections.

1 Studies have shown that on average approximately 0.5 % of the community will be on-line at any one time.
2 Please get a copy of "Scalability in the blaxxun Community Server: A White Paper," for more information on bandwidth usage in large communities.

System Requirements

The blaxxun Community Server is available for a wide variety of operating systems and architectures. In addition to the platforms listed below, the blaxxun Community Server 4 can be ported to additional Unix platforms upon request.

Hardware Requirements

For smaller communities, the blaxxun Community Server can be placed on the same physical machine as the web server that is delivering the VRML or HTML content. As the community grows, the administrator should place the community server on a separate physical machine from the web server.

Tests have shown that the average Pentium 500 MHz machine running Linux can support about 2,000 simultaneous users. A Sparc machine will be able to support even larger communities.

Technical Specification for blaxxun Contact and blaxxun3D