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For as long as roleplaying games (RPGs) have existed, a crucial question within the RPG community has been that of "platform" -- of what exact technology is used with that particular game, in order to let players actually conduct their roleplaying sessions. Second Life, for example, creates its own proprietary software to let roleplaying take place; the SL game client, the constantly-updated application that sits on a resident's home computer, and which communicates with the Linden Lab servers to display everything in the grid that one sees. On the extreme opposite end, perhaps, is the seminal RPG "Dungeons & Dragons," which in the mid-1970s when it was invented used no technology at all, but rather such household items as dice, paper and pencils.

Industry veteran Larry Rosenthal (known as Cube Inada in SL) had grown tired of the limitations inherent in RPG platforms by the mid-1990s; and so when he released his own sci-fi-themed Starbase C3 ("C3") in 1996, he decided not to tie it to a specific platform at all, but rather let his players decide what technology they would most like to use while playing. More of a framework for a fictional universe than a traditional game, C3 is fundamentally based around player construction of three-dimensional spaceships, using a licensable building-block system invented by Rosenthal himself. Available over the years in a variety of formats, from AOL's old Asylum Entertainment portal to Shockwave3D to even physical model kits, C3 players choose what technology they themselves most like to use for ship-building, then create stories and adventures on their own through the personal-use license that comes with membership.

And now C3 has added another platform -- the grid itself, where the company has just started selling a selection of its battle-fleet in scripted, flyable form. I got a chance recently to sit down at the C3 headquarters with Inada, to talk about this latest addition to their ever-expanding universe; also joining us was Hiro Pendragon, C3's lead builder within the grid. An edited transcript of our talk is below.

In The Grid: So why don't we start with how C3 came about in the first place? You mentioned that you come from a background of traditional games.

Cube Inada: Actually all content creation; TV, games, advertising, products. I was always being hired to direct Star Trek games and such for companies, but most of the time the games would get cancelled. And I really wanted to make a 3D world for the internet in a sci-fi way; so I created C3 to take advanatge of the web and 3D-MMO [massively multiplayer online] tech. And not be a victim to it having been created for another medium like television, where [many more] rules exist.

ITG: What kinds of software apps were available back then for this kind of stuff? Did you have to 'push' those systems to get them to do what you wanted, or did they work fairly well?

CI: Basic 3D software for modeling is still the same [as it was then]; 3DMax, Lightwave, etc. For real-time [rendering] I [first] used VRML tech on the web; and then others like Wild Tangent, Cult3D, B3D, Viewpoint, Kaon, Shockwave3D, etc.

ITG: Is that where the idea of the Lego-type ship pieces came from? Because of the structure of these drawing apps?

CI: No; they're Lego-like to facilitate creation of many designs. Most people can't create spaceships at the level of the pros, so I made the building blocks for them. They can then make better-looking stuff and play with it.

ITG: Was it a hard sell when C3 first started? Did it take more convincing to get people heavily involved with these sometimes clunky attempts at 3D interfaces that existed back then?

CI: Well, most people had no idea about 3D virtual-reality worlds; most were clueless about this. But I had a champion at AOL, and they made me a deal to bring it out to Los Angeles. I'm the pioneer with the arrows in my back [laughter]. [The AOL people] couldn't understand a thing without main characters, so I made some characters for the Hollywood types. But only enough to open up the universe of C3 for others to play in as characters.

ITG: So what was the deal with AOL? How exactly did that work?

CI: AOL licensed C3 in 1997 and '98, as part of the Asylum Entertainment Network. [It was the] first big thing like it for the web.

ITG: And what exactly comes with a C3 license? Did you, for example, create a history behind this fictional universe, on top of the ship parts?

CI: Yes. A whole backstory exists, a future where Earth has been stuck in a 150-year virtual-reality "sleep." 150 years of Second Life [laughter].

ITG: And we should point out, that this was several years before The Matrix.

CI: Yes. 1996 [was when I] created the backstory. And then the aliens show up to tell us we have to grow up and join the rest of the galaxy, or we'll be blown up as the VOX make their way through the real galaxy.

ITG: VOX?

CI: The VOX are the bad guys; [kind of like Star Trek's 'Borg'], but no black-tube outfits [laughter].

ITG: And then this is what I think is really interesting; that since what you provide is basically a framework, it allows players to actually interact with C3 in whatever software platform they want. Or even not online at all, if they don't want; physical models, physical get-togethers even.

CI: Yes, exactly! It's a really open-ended sci-fi world. [You] get what you want out of it. But it's always been centered around the 3D ship-design mythos.

ITG: Just how does a company like yours hold together such a divergent group of players? That must be a hell of a complicated database you have at your site.

CI: We run five different plug-ins at the site [along with reposting screenshots and text stories]. The model kits [players] buy are standard 3DStudio/Maya-compatible, so any work [ends up being] open-standard web 3D -- VRML, X3D, Viewpoint, etc. We own the intellectual-property (IP) rights; [we then grant] personal-play rights [to those who buy the model kits]. In that way we are more like Star Wars Galaxies than Second Life.

ITG: So then are you just now getting into bringing the universe into SL?

CI: Yes; we just brought an "Invasion" fleet of ships into SL and are setting up outposts, so that SL users can buy, fly and fight [here] in C3 ships. [It's an] alternative to Star Trek or Star Wars stuff.

ITG: Since player-to-player commerce is so easy here, are you afraid of such a thing becoming widespread, and infringing on your IP rights?

Hiro Pendragon: Yes, actually, it's a concern we've discussed from the very beginning. One of the challenges is, for instance, how would we recreate a build-your-own-ship tool in SL without opening up mod rights? Another is [the danger of players illegally] ripping geometry and textures from the ships using a third-party tool. However, we're confident that the scripts we include with the ships are advanced enough that a knock-off, even if it's the same geometry, would pale by comparison to ours. We don't have a build-your-own kit yet in SL. That's a longer-term plan. If people enjoy C3 in SL and it's profitable, then we will do more.

ITG: Okay, that's what I was wondering. So there's nothing stopping a person from just hand-recreating a C3 ship using their own prims, but there's a script bonus to purchasing an "official" non-transferable one.

HP: People could hand-recreate the prims; but they'd have to rip the textures, too, even just to get the look right, scripting aside. If people were just to recreate the geometry, they would find themselves over the 31-prim limit for vehicles. There's some heavy prim-fu involved with our ships to get them down.

ITG: How did you pull that off from a technical standpoint? What's the key for you to prim optimization?

HP: Textures.

ITG: You mean, creating sophisticated ones, so that one prim actually looks like two or three?

HP: You got it.

ITG: And since these were based on simple building blocks anyway, I imagine it wasn't too terribly difficult to get the first set of in-grid ships ready.

HP: Well, although the ships look simple, it was a good chunk of work to get them near-perfectly matching to the [existing C3] models. For example, SL doesn't allow for tapering prims in three directions. The [finished] ships look a lot different from [most] planes and ships in SL now. Most that exist in SL are light on textures, unless they're reproductions of warplanes. They rely on geometry to look good, and the 'Shiny' feature. As much as I adore Shiny, the textures are central to the look of these ships.

ITG: And finally, let's talk a little more about your future plans in the grid itself. You mentioned, for example, that you're setting up a series of C3 outposts here.

CI: Yes. If SL folks like and start to play with C3, we'll bring in more and more stuff. I've spoken to a landowner about an island as well, where we could set up a standalone game-type setup. [So] first a store for buying ships, avatars. gear, guns. aliens, robots, etc. Then if sales make it possible and warranted, the island for a fuller game-like place. For now we let Trekkers. Stargate: SG-1 fans and Star Wars fans use the ships in any way they want, to augment their gaming and roleplaying in SL. They can call the ships into any fleet they want [laughter].

The SL headquarters of Starbase C3 can be found at [Hanbok 219/164/154]. For more about the game itself, please visit the official C3 website.