Number 7, Community Square
Way back in 2002, I was involved in beta-testing Adobe Atmosphere, a now-defunct software package that powered 3D online chatrooms, called worlds. With enough effort, world builders could use then-free tools to create expansive environments, immersive games, interactive physics demonstrations, or simply a nice place to hang out with others. Much of my effort went toward building and maintaining MingerWorld, a “storefront” that showcases some of my artwork from that time. MingerWorld was originally part of my old personal website, MingerWeb, hence the name.
(To view MingerWorld 2.8.1 within this page, you’ll need to first install the free Adobe Atmosphere plugin, which requires Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows. Once the world loads, click on it. You can use the arrow keys or drag the mouse to navigate the world. To jump, hold down the Shift key and drag.)
I built the majority of MingerWorld during my freshman year in high school – specifically, finals week – when Build 67 was the latest release available. After some arm-twisting, MingerWorld found its place in the Atmospherians Community World, easily accessible to new users of the software. A neat little trick allowed MingerWorld’s visitors to chat with Community’s as if they were in the same world.
Later, I updated the world for compatibility with Build 91, adding gimmicks like a working piano and an Easter egg to attract visitors. (Congratulations to “aurynchild” for finding the Easter egg.) Though many of the neighboring storefronts sat vacant or abandoned, the location was good for MingerWorld. At one point, I could visit any time of day and find users holding a lively discussion.
Sadly, I never found the time to maintain the world until long after Atmosphere was discontinued in 2004. In the meantime, some features, like the piano, fell into disrepair as I moved on to other interests. My new hobbies fittingly revolved around open source, which would’ve prevented the downfall of such a devoted software user community.
Today, MingerWorld remains mostly intact. The experience has certainly improved since 2002, when many users still didn’t have fast Internet access. (I didn’t.) Thanks to Joe De Costa’s amazingly long-lived chat server, MingerWorld is one of only a handful of Atmosphere worlds that still support multi-user chat and avatars – that is, if you can still find any operational avatars.
MingerWorld’s ambient music, by the way, was lifted from Aptiva Guide, a program that shipped with my family’s computer to highlight the computer’s features. Other features, such as the piano, are courtesy of other Atmosphere world builders and used with permission. With all the contributions that others have made over the years, MingerWorld is a small tribute to the Atmosphere community, who waited the perpetual “two weeks” for a product that saw only 15 minutes of fame.
Download
MingerWorld is designed to be viewed online, embedded inside a webpage such as this one. However, you may download the individual, 210 kB world file or a 3.5 MB archive that includes most of the resources (images, scripts, etc.) used by the world.
Older versions
- Version 2.7
- Version 2.6.2
- Redirect to version 2.8 (hold down Shift to override)
Original content copyright © 2002–2009 Minh Nguyen. Some rights reserved. All other content copyrighted by the respective owners.