Social Networking Experiment Models Entire World

Realtime Worlds’ new project, a social networking city, couldn’t be more of a departure from its just-released cops and robbers online game APB.

Realtime Worlds’ APB: All Points Bulletin, an online shooter that pits gang members against enforcers, was released about a month ago to less than favorable reviews. The company has already revealed what it’s working on next, an experiment called Project: MyWorld, which is a complete shift into the territory of social networking described as “virtual recreation of the real world combined with 3D gaming and social media.”

Project: MyWorld still involves an open world like APB, but one that is way bigger, albeit with less guns. Realtime’s cute little trailer says it “built the world,” and following blog posts say it has stared by rendering the “the entirety of Britain” in 3D. MyWorld appears to be a somewhat realistic replication of the real world that players can inhabit and design, with Realtime asking: “What would it look like if Nintendo built Google Earth?”

Members of MyWorld are able to build and alter structures to make them more personalized. The trailer shows an incorporation of a user’s virtual social networking actions, such as updating a Facebook profile, posting something onto Twitter, or doing a Google search, which appear as thought bubble notifications above buildings. Nothing, it seems, will be private in MyWorld.

The “play” component that makes MyWorld a game sadly looks a little lame right now, involving a car driving around a city, a plane doing loops, or a boat that can fish. Considering how this is the project’s first teaser, I would assume these features will be expanded as it’s developed. Maybe MyWorld friends will eventually be able to pump each other full of lead.

This is definitely a departure from Realtime Worlds’ Crackdown and APB, but the scope of MyWorld makes it intriguing, as the company seems to want to create a basic model of the entire world eventually. The project’s beta can be participated in through its official website.