My home site is now ranked number 209 in Microsoft’s “Avalon” virtual world. When I launch my browser it takes me to my Avalon site rather than my old 2-dimensional Yahoo Home page. After 3 years, over 100 people now have added my site to their list of Favorite Teleports, and on Saturday’s there’s quite a crowd of both friends and newcomers. It’s intriguing to watch people arrive (sometimes in groups), interact, move around and leave again all day long. From the stats I can see that encouraging Chase and Joost to allow a virtual presence at my site has improved it as an attraction. Anyone can click on the Chase building to enter it, and after signing in can obtain their banking data. Chase is great because they display the information on the walls inside their building, and you just have to turn around to get the information you need. Of course, you can initiate transactions using the avatar teller just like you can on their usual 2D site. There’s a store for Paytrust so I can walk in and pay my bills, Stop and Shop for my everyday groceries for home delivery and even B&H Photo for stuff I really, really want but don’t need. By creating a normalized interface between different online shops and Avalon, Microsoft made it very easy for retailers to establish a fully-functional presence in their virtual world.

Just down the street the Joost cinema is almost full, with a main Joost-chosen feature playing on the huge screen inside, and four smaller rooms available for semi-private screenings of selectable Joost-driven content. I met some folks from the UK in there recently who I hadn’t talked to for ages. They showed me a video of their last party and it was fortunate for everyone that this was away from the main entry lobby.

The news stand next door has copies of most international newspapers, and inside I’ve subscribed to the BBC World News video service and AlJazeera. By walking in there I can see news headlines on the far wall, and watch video clips (driven by my preferences) on the two adjacent walls. The audio follows my line of sight with uncanny accuracy. Alternatively, on the floor, I can read news headlines just like I used to on my 2D Yahoo home page, and by stepping on the headline I can read the story.

The open-source Autotour facility is very popular (from the main bus stop), mainly because it transports you around the site in under 5 minutes and includes a narrated tour of everything that I think people would find interesting. That includes the new park that I built a couple of months ago after purchasing the land next to me. Apart from walking around the lake and boating on it, visitors can play with the giant chess set, or join a game of cards. Playing for small cash stakes is allowed unless you live in a country where you can’t be trusted. Also on the tour are Hallmark for virtual and real birthday cards, iTunes, Amazon and the art gallery which has exhibits from the British Museum, the Tate and New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. I am seriously thinking of staging an open-air concert next year of the Rolling Stones Final Farewell Concert II. If the live rights are less than $750 for my half-region then I think I can break even from tickets and souvenir sales.

Right now I have about 40 buildings on my home site, arranged so that they join at a crossroads, and rather than having straight streets I’ve jumbled them up a little to look less regimented. All the building textures, fittings and architecture are table driven which makes it easy to change with the seasons – Christmas snow is a drop-down selection.

It seems strange though that back in 2007, Sony had launched their “Home” project which I thought at the time would become the leader in the intersection of real and virtual worlds. But it never progressed beyond the limited Playstation platform which they marketed at that time. I wonder if it will be looked back on as the best technical solution at the time but overtaken by better marketed service? Now, didn’t I have a betamax recorder in the attic somewhere?