Last night, I checked out my old virtual world, There.com . I had to download the whole 86MB deal though, but it was kinda worth it. I saw what became of that weird world, and it was good.

Comparison:

In “old There” (before I left):

• Voice (and not the laggy and buggy type! )
• Hackish 4-seater buggies (needed a hack to make 2-seaters 4-seaters)
• No custom SUVs and TUVs (needed hacks to change the default texture maps, and SUVs didn’t exist)
• Had to pay 5,000T$++ to have your created item reviewed (and if it gets rejected, tough luck. You don’t get your money back >:( )
• Only offline previews of created items (just like creation — but, you couldn’t test a vehicle! How annoying!)
• No water (only ground-ish)
• No weather effects (only hacks could change the current weather)
• Alot of bugs (as there were only 3 terrain servers (that means 3 tiny servers operate the entire world of islands) to handle the load)

In “new There” (last night when I saw it again (after 4-5 months)):

• Enhanced voice (3D surround was fixed, and glitches finally removed [for good])
• 4-seater buggies made official (Woot! )
• TUVs could have custom textures (and the new SUVs have 4 engine types, customizable wheels, paintjobs, “addons” and more)
• New “Construction” zones allow previewing real-time items (by uploading a mesh, a texture, testing it [with friends!], and even testing the collision mesh [so people won’t accidentally “go through” your newly created sofa])
• Ripple water created with NO FPS issues (WOOT!)
• New “fake WindLight” and weather effects like rain, snow, thunderstorms, and light rain showers. (Collision-sensitive — OH YEAH!)
• Almost all bugs fixed.
• Flash map changed to Google Maps-based (Umm, that SLOWS THINGS DOWN >_> )

So, here’s my conclusion: There will soon be a competitor against Second Life! AAH!

P.S.: I got about 90,000T$ of valuables there, now in Auctions to sell. HELLO US$50!.