We’ve gotten lots of emails asking if There.com is going to reopen on May 17th. We believe that these are the result of some fake videos being spread on YouTube and other forums.
I’m sorry to say that no, its not, and there are no plans to reopen There in the foreseeable future.
Not a day goes by that I, and those of us at Makena don’t think about ways that we could re-open There, but we haven’t come up with a way to do it. As I’ve told many folks, even if we did charge every active member a monthly fee, we still wouldn’t be able to cover the costs to run There.
If we could change the platform to not run distributed physics except where it’s needed (in places where people do things like hoverboard, race, etc), we might be able to run There for a lot less.
But, we don’t know how to do that yet, and our engineers know more about the platform than anyone.
Anyway, I’m sorry say There’s not re-opening.
I am so There 
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#2 by Taker on 2011.07.02 - 4:58 pm
So the official response to why There.com closed is it lacked money….As this maybe true it also lacked reasons to stay. Example Customer Service. That is huge because I owned a neighborhood with my partner and we also owned other things adding up to around 400 monthly. When we needed help to fix things and or other issues such as greifers we were disrespected by Greeters and 2 times i was banned for telling them it is bogus that we pay the amount we do to get disrespected. This was just a part of the issues i wont go into details on all the Customer Service related issues. Another area very important in a virtual world is allowing creativity of the client. Submission were limited to 2 time weekly and were held to the descretion of few staff members. Who seemed at about a C level on knowledge of copyright laws as well as what is considered to be not PG13. Example a shirt saying I farted is not vulgar maybe lack of taste for some people but not vulgar. There also had many hidden issues that dont seem to be brought up much. Example not long before the closing of there the news report more than one incident of Child predetors using There to meet with Children. This can be verified by public records and news article in case anyone asks. This is a very big problem opening a company up for lawsuits. I do not know if any lawsuits were made against There but i would have if it were my child. My point I am trying to say is I do not mean to cut down There they had a few good things with there many faults. Perhaps the vocus on running a business got lost though. To make money you must make the people spending it happy. There are other virtual worlds that have done so one for example has celebrated its 4th years in June. They have less limits on creativitiy for designers and frankly the closing of There made me see the light more clear. Freedom to have fun in the virtual world your in makes a huge difference. I psend money now with a smile on my face and no worries if I get my money worth. Bottom line hire new staff and train them better with a focus on customer service. The Customer pays your bills in the end.And Happy Customers means profits even in a bad economy a decent business with good ethics prevails I know this for fact and have lived it. So enough crying as to or this wont pay the bills or that wont pay the bills bottom line is money pays bills and happy customers pay money. Redo your product in a manner people will enjoy it and basic college here customer service i can not stress this enough. If this is offensive to anyone my appologies but the truth has to be said and only you can fix yourself.
#3 by JasonMK on 2011.06.09 - 5:43 am
Got the same emaiil and hoping beyond hope that something comes of it.
#4 by beta member on 2011.04.30 - 5:59 am
just recived this in my mail
from There Survey
to
date Sat, Apr 30, 2011 at 7:04 AM
subject There.com Survey
mailed-by thereinc.com
hide details 7:04 AM (8 hours ago)
Dear Former Member of There.com,
We have never believed in spamming our members, however, in this case, we
hope you’ll agree we have good reason to send you this unsolicited email.
Since There.com was closed a year ago, we have been exploring cost-effective
ways to re-open There, as a sustainable business. With changes we’ve made to
our business model and new advances in technology, we MIGHT be able to
re-open There.com.
If you are interested in the possibility of re-opening There.com, you are
invited to to give us feedback in a simple survey. It’s only 4 questions, so it
will only take a moment. You can read more about the survey on Michael
Wilson’s blog https://theremichaelwilson.wordpress.com/ .
You can find the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/thereagain
Thanks very much for your time,
Everyone at Makena Technologies
(the home of There.com)
after thinking i went to look at the old there.com website and found that it doe’s indeed have a link to the survey
so everyone tell your friends and take the survey yourself
#5 by A sad person on 2011.04.17 - 5:01 am
Wjy is everybody saying this blog is fake?
#6 by A sad person on 2011.04.14 - 3:48 pm
ive already tooken it a million times
#7 by SweetandSassy on 2011.04.14 - 3:57 am
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/thereagain Take the survey so Michael Wilson can see how eager you people really are to have There re-opened, so come on peeps, put your money where your mouths are 🙂
#8 by A sad person on 2011.04.08 - 4:15 pm
haha katleyn it takes a while
#9 by Katelyn on 2011.04.04 - 8:55 am
Can u reply please, I need to hear wha you Got to say,
#10 by Katelyn on 2011.04.02 - 5:18 pm
aaaaaaaanytime now 🙂
#11 by Katelyn on 2011.04.02 - 4:23 pm
I made a comment wit m other Email, But I deeffenently think selling it would be pretty good idea , As long as they dont change the funn in it lol, And a person up there ^ said that if u reopen it , it shouold be a 18+ …. No….Noo ANND NOPE!, Not much ppl will go on it, And paying every month for premium, Is kinda stupid… Unless you change it around and ys make it pay once a month BUT…BUT…you still ge all your clothing that you already have, and like something else, And 1 idea is keep the trade when ur not prem, But to buystuff from Auction has to be prem, Or just None premiums Cant trade, But yes id love for you to do something with there.com I litterly dying over here lol. Ummm And another idea is, Open it , But to get your ACC back with all you stuff should be like 30$ or 20$ or whatever floats your boat, And just thing … That money from each person who rejoins would be like 250.000 Bcuz think of all the ppl who wants to go bck on there.com and plus more people to come. AND if you keep the plan with the Life time premium ship. Atleast lift it, When i joineim like ” LIFETIME PREMIUM SHIP IS ONLY 10$??? HOLY COW CHEAP” Soo mayb change it to like 25$ or something . but yea, PLEASE doo not keep it closed , And maybe Google hsnt offered to buy it, But atleeast trrry to actually talk to them And make a deal with them? Like cmon Your disapointing millions of therians, Soo many ppl made like blogs and youtube videos about what an A.S.S hole you are, but i kinda thought it wasnt ur fault so there kinda stupid makikng them but yeah, Byee 🙂 ( Reply back please )
#12 by A sad person on 2011.03.27 - 6:22 am
that was me. and yes, MAYBE microsoft could buy it, and there could be a mobile app on the windows 7 phone for it, so the hope is still alive but if you wanted to sell it, are you serious about selling it. maybe get an app for there.com on all phones
#13 by Chris on 2011.03.21 - 7:01 am
Hey Michael, something a person said in a previous topic was, why not sell it to someone who can afford it? I’m not insulting your capabilities or ability to run it, just saying if you can’t afford it, sell it to Google or Microsoft. You gain profit, they gain something that will give them to put their advertisements. We will be happy, plus you can see the community you started being reborn again.
Just saying, doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me?
#14 by Michael Wilson on 2011.03.21 - 7:06 am
That would be a great idea.
IF Google, or Microsoft, wanted to buy it.
As I’ve said, there have been no legitimate offers for There.com. There have been “offers” from people who don’t want to pay for it, or don’t have the money to buy it for a sensible price, but no legitimate offers. Again, if there was a way to help recover a % of the money invested in There, we’d jump at the chance.
Sorry.
#15 by EdMan on 2011.03.20 - 2:56 pm
Hey #136. I think you are right. I will not blame any designer as for many in tough times it was a source of income and they had every right until the rules changed, but I think the rules changed ultimately because direct tbux purchasing went into mass decline.
However….I do find it funny not too long before There confirmed a closing date, a mysterious gold farmer for tbux was offering STUPID amounts of money for a dollar and for most transactions, it actually working. Then chargebacks happening only to bigger named people in the game, and then for “safety” the resale of tbux no longer condoned (though still practiced). Doesn’t that sound like an inside job? I did transactions through them, and guess what? Some of the avatars were actually noobs who gave me money. While they could have purchased an account, and simply not have logged back in to go Bronze…I have my doubts. I think this was a setup to support (understandably) the official vendor of tbux in a very tough recession without offending its userbase.
There were undoubtedly a lot of other decisions or lack of that led to There’s demise. It wasn’t cheap to run, after all. But this is just business, and I wish Makena and MW all the best with future ventures, hoping there have been lessons learned. I would like to see There.com open again in some shape or form but deep down those of us not addicted to the point of needing counselling know it unfortunately won’t happen. I always vowed if I won the lotto I would buy this business for a reasonable cost but I haven’t won yet, and hope any Therian that does considers the idea! 🙂
Wherever some of you Therians have gone I wish you the best. I myself now use PlayStation Home. Considering the thousands some of you spend every year you might want to try out buying a $300 PS3 and just giving it a whirl cos it is incredibly cheap to buy things and in most cases you don’t have to.
Take care.
#16 by Michael Wilson on 2011.03.20 - 4:15 pm
The “mysterious gold farmer” was actually based in China, and was using the transactions to capture unwitting member’s payment information. We had quite a bit of fun finally shutting them down.
The only “official” BuyBack done by There was the Therebucks BuyBack implemented just before and after There closed.
#17 by SweetandSassy on 2011.03.18 - 12:32 pm
I have to say after reading everyones comments. Would There.com have survived if designers had not become so greedy by selling all the tbux they made, thus taking money from There tbux sales? I think and I am sorry if this offends anyone, if the designers just enjoyed the game, enjoyed seeing their designs in game and were not only in it for the money they could make, maybe it would have saved There.com or helped a great deal….there were so many people that bought their tbux off designers using paypal etc so it must have had an adverse effect on There’s own tbux sales ?? Also I think the young kids ruined the game as far as I am concerned, the abuse, the profanity, the lack of respect they showed towards us older members.. those who were as young as 5yrs old and those who were banned and came back in new avatars, they were always begging off people.. I never agreed with the There “Family” that to me was an invite to all the sick perverts and paedofiles to attract young kids into their “on-line life” Look at that one guy Bradford Mitchell, he is actually serving a prison sentence for meeting a teen girl he met in game. SICK MAN!!!! I was unfortunate to have met him in game.
Making it a 18+ game if it were to re-open would be the best idea as you have already mentioned Mr Wilson. Charge a monthly fee like SL does, stop designers from selling their tbux 😉 and maybe, just maybe, There.com can be the profitable game you had hoped it would be Mr Wilson 🙂 I would gladly pay a monthly fee, I didn’t spend a lot of time in There as I had a life as well but I enjoyed the few hrs a week I did spend in there. I am sorry it has closed because it did fill a gap when I had a few spare hrs. Anyway there seems to be a little hope seeing you have mentioned working on the avatars 😉 Hope so. You did a great job and you are obviously a very smart guy. You will be doing your best to re-open There, I am sure.
Anyway take care and maybe one day I shall be able to drive my buggy in There once again he he x
#18 by There was Awesome on 2011.03.13 - 7:13 pm
Michael, this may be the most unintelligent idea I’ve ever had, but I’m going to throw it out there for you.
It costs about $70 to run a website for a year on “Hostmonster.com”, and I know you have $70 to spare. I do, and I work part time / am a full time student.
Obviously there is STILL, after a year of closure a huge thriving passion to play There.com again. Something needs to be done.
Please, make a website, make it all about the ways to open There. Post what you need, ideas, and costs that would be needed to open There again and I’m sure us Thereians will try and back you up 100%. At least do it so we’ll stop bugging your WordPress :P.
#19 by lEmoxRach on 2011.03.10 - 6:17 am
Well… I didn’t really ever expect There to ever actually close down for good. I mean, There.com literally saved my life. No, I’m not just saying that. When I was super depressed as a kid, I knew I could always turn to my friends on There. They were everything to me. Without There, I would probably be dead by now. Again, I’m not kidding. There.com showed me that I can be who I am no matter what I like, look like or how I act. Everyone of There took you for whom you were, which was the best thing about it. Everyone on There, I’d like to thank you ever so much for trying your best with the game… I’m sorry, Michael. We all know you tried your best… We hope that you DO your best now to re-open There… I’d pay weekly if it get the game to re-open! *laughs*
We can only wish for it to re-open.Wait.. No. We want it to re-open… But.. As people say; you can’t always get what you want. That’s why we say we NEED There. Us, Therians, miss There will all our broken hearts.. So, thankyou Michael. For everything you have achieved. I hope you do your best for us… (‘:#20 by lEmoxRach on 2011.03.10 - 6:19 am
**We can only wish for it to re-open. Wait.. No. We want it to re-open… But.. As people say; you can’t always get what you want. That’s why we say we NEED There. Us, Therians, miss There will all our broken hearts.. So, thankyou Michael. For everything you have achieved. I hope you do your best for us… (‘:
#21 by katelyn! on 2011.03.07 - 4:14 pm
Wait so if there is a possible way to re open it youd make it for 18+ Because they pay more ? Thats not true, People my age Always Pay, People my age LOOOVE virtual worlds, there on from when it opens till when it closes, Every month half of my friends put 50 $ on . im njust saying if u re open it dont change to many things, it will be horrible, Like Second life, is the stupidest gayest, uglyest, Game i have ever seen, Same with imvu, U half to move to spots and theres rooms, but there.com is a whole world, THAT WHAT I LIKe And i wasnt even on there.com for the last 4 months, And it makes me super sad. I just want you to try the best you can to re open, and not change much.. ( And when u reply , dont use the big smart words lol i have no idea what half them words mean. ) Ty . And The petition… went all over youtube, And thereians to go to it, But i dont think they went on it yet. But just… Try , Because its actually easier then it looks, And if u cant afford it or Whatever, cant u just sell it to some one ?
#22 by katelyn! on 2011.03.07 - 3:16 pm
I would like to contact you and have an actual conversation …. LOL is it possible? Maybe on email. I NEEED TO TALK TO..YOU, no one else.. you. Comment back… Dont take me annoying lol,
#23 by katelyn! on 2011.03.07 - 1:18 pm
You read it…. And u ignored it ? PLEASE reply,
#24 by EdMan on 2011.03.20 - 3:00 pm
Just want to say one thing, I’m glad to see there are CEO’s with ethics these days. Good man!
#25 by katelyn! on 2011.03.07 - 10:34 am
Hello im a thereian, And i have ALOT of things to say, please read dont skip me ?…. K Well yes it might be a little hard, but its poissible, nothings impossible, you can do anything you set your mind to, unless your not trying hard enough ;/ I would really love for there.com to reopen, Because i dont have any friends in real life, and ive always wanted to find this thing where i can have adventures, and since there has closed ive just bin a boring little teenager sitting on my couch watching there videos on youtube, Id rather actually PLAY . And i have a few i deas, but first i wanna say sometthing : person said above that if you open it make it look more realistic? Realistic would be Terrible, i like it how it is, And it repersents there.com. making it look more realistic would make it look like….second life, or cardboard and goofy! Please, if you reopen it DONT change a thing. Well maybe some rules, but dont change the features, Or age. cuz making it 18+ is stupid, Virtual computer games are ment for teens, and adults , not just adults. And people would just put a fake age anyways so its pointless, and more people would come on if its any age, Well 13+ And when 13 year olds get addicted… they get addicted they will buy so much! I know because when i was 13 , i bought premium, TBs SOOO many stuff . And ill do anything for people to raise money or anything, just reopen PLEASE!, And people are making a petition and raising money on this one site for you, SO PLEASE! im bagging you, Try harder ? And like i said if you re open it, PLEASE dont change a thing, -sigh- i Cry everytime a look at videos or read the info on the site… its bin a year, And its not on ! Im Going to get serious PMSing problems! im kidding , but seriously, PLEASE try your best, dont try once every 2 weeks, or something, Try everyday straight if you care about 500,000 And maybe more of us therians, And trust me , most of us, are addicted, So Dont stop… Please ? ;'( Please email me what you think (email address removed) User – (used name removed) And please email me back.
#26 by Michael Wilson on 2011.03.07 - 3:34 pm
Hi,
Please read the posts in this blog about why There was closed, in particular this one. In particular, you might want to see the comments about “You never even tried to keep There open.”
I’m afraid that if There did re-open it would be for people who were 18+, and could present a form of recurring payment (credit card, etc) when they registered or re-registered. I know this is disappointing, but supporting and keeping underage members safe in an open virtual world like There was one of the major expenses behind running There.
On top of that, I think all in the end we all had an issue with running a site which was addictive – from both a financial and time standpoint – to young people. Hearing anecdotal evidence that young people were spending time on There at the expense of their studies, socializing (in person) with other people, and other things like being outside was very disappointing to us, and not what There was for (we completely recognized that There was important for some people with various disabilities, and support that).
(Had There ever made a profit, or even broken even, we might take a different view, since you “get what you pay for”, but when There was in affect subsiding this activity, it was a little different).
Sorry to disappoint you. As I’ve said before, we’re always trying to think about ways to open There again, but don’t have a workable answer yet.
#27 by There_forever on 2011.03.07 - 11:15 pm
You are absolutely right MW in this post. 18+ and montly payment… essential for all the reasons you stated and many more!!!
#28 by Aces14 on 2011.01.23 - 9:14 am
Hello Michael Wilson,
I know there is a very hard choice on There.com even the idea or thought on how to bring it back. However May I just pitch a few ideas and see if something could work out?
For an example:
What if the There.com Community members Donate to there.com in order to bring it back up?
What if you put there.com on Seperate Servers in order for less lag for diffrent lands you go to, and rent out other servers for people who wish to help run there.com and will pay a sertant amount a month to Hold a server open for a mainland to be hosted on, where users can go on that server and still do their regular stuff, like hosting events or buying peices of that main land for their own use on that server. ( this would make the game far lesser lag and will make it cheap on you seeing you will be making a profit for renting out the server files for someone else to host THAT part of it, You would get money and not have to pay a outrageous bill to keep it up.
What if you charge advertisements for other games or communities or big products to be on there.com so you can make money off them advertising in the game, while they are getting publicity off your game by their product being shown on it.
What if you run the server on people who will dedicate their PC or Server rack to let you host for free? idk ask some friends or highly loyal thereians.
What if you team up with people from other virtual worlds like Second-life and others to see if you can somehow affiliate with them to where you can both help each other out. (even though i dont think this will work seeing competition IS competition.)
There must be SOME way possible to make it easy and affordable and somehow get it up and running for us all to be There again. Cause to tell you the truth and excuse my language, but I fucking hate dealing with Second-life as an alternative to this game, There.com will always be the best game i ever played in my entire life and there will be no substitute for there.com EXCEPT for there.com re-opening if it ever will. I hope one day just ONE day @ least have it opened even if it is for only one day or a week.
That would be another idea too.
Open it here and there just for members to get on and say hi once in a while or just to try it Untill you can afford to keep it going Full time.
Idk, I really hate not being able to play this game. It’s like a part of me that will never be back until the day There.com re-opens.
#29 by Aces14 on 2011.01.24 - 9:02 am
another basic idea is if it comes to a loss… anyway to make a single player version of the game just to log in by yourself and Browse around and do stuff so that way you can view what you once had and once played with others.
#30 by A sad person on 2011.01.16 - 7:22 am
it think mr wilson is being a smart buisnessman
#31 by A sad person on 2011.01.16 - 7:21 am
hey, i dont know anything, and our suggestions wont make a difference but we just want to connect and brainstorm. everybody has pride, but i dont think mr wilson cares for our opinion and i wouldnt either in this world its the money and he wouldnt become broke for us to play our videogames. i loved there, but i think it may be time to let go…
#32 by ant123789 on 2011.01.14 - 1:24 pm
Sad person, There was the best virtual site by far, if crap sites like second life & utherverse are still up & running then its down to poor business management on Michael’s part, like i said, he wont give it up or sell it becouse he will look a fool if the site worked in someones hands with a business brain, also Michael did you know utherverse set up a link calling it There new world, fooling people that there was back, when downloaded you would find your self in utherverse or red, although i think your a twat i dont think they had the right to do that.
#33 by Michael Wilson on 2011.01.14 - 2:56 pm
Hmm.
Well, read this before you say too much about Second Life, and draw your own connections.
I’m not sure where you get your facts, but if you read some of the other posts on this blog, you’ll find that we’ve gotten no legitimate offers for There, or it’s technology, and I think it’s silly to believe I’d hold pride up before getting at least some return on my investment.
P.S. Even though this comment is no more well thought out that the last five you’ve left here, I’m glad you enjoying reading this site.
#34 by Meiling Zhao on 2011.01.14 - 10:21 am
Michael – – Having suffered a traumatic incident in my life, I found my “self” again in There. There.com helped me to re-learn how to socialize, and, before it was “frozen”, I found much healing there. They say that the cost of computer power (speed and memory) halves every three years. So …. maybe in 2017 or so, it will be economical to “thaw” There.com. What do you think?
– meiling
#35 by A sad person on 2011.01.11 - 9:43 am
have u even thought about selling it
#36 by jaye on 2011.01.08 - 11:39 pm
dear michael,
i’m just keeping the hope alive that something even like there.com will open again. it’s been almost a year now and i still haven’t found a suitable replacement. hoping that eventually the money will come through, as i know hundreds of other people are.
#37 by A sad person on 2011.01.05 - 6:13 pm
the web is filled with too many lies, i should have learned this already. i was told yownow was with makena, there is open ing today, tommorow, ill talk to mr wilson, because apparently everybody knows him personally.
#38 by A sad person on 2011.01.05 - 6:10 pm
everybody, do u see the way mr wilson is standing up for there.com? he was the man who created it, i think…. but i respect your decisions.
#39 by A sad person on 2011.01.05 - 6:07 pm
its not mr wilsonns fault just so all of u know. he is wealthy, but he wouldnt just get bored of there and close it down, knowing that people who didnt have lives were alive in there, the ones with no life, they depended on there to keep them from losing it, but closing there would be a spit in the face for them. i know micheal wilson has a heart, nobody is that greedy, and so i respect his decision, even if we all disagree, what do we know? nothing, we are just the virtual mob who are lost and confused, well some of us…
#40 by A sad person on 2011.01.05 - 6:02 pm
have u ever thought about selling the website, and the world, to somebody else, or giving it to, if u just didnt want it? i know its more complicated but… could it be a possibility
#41 by ant123789 on 2011.01.04 - 11:44 am
Yea ok Michael & if they ever remake Social Network you could play Cameron Winklevoss hahahahahahahaha…..Hay, i just realised, is that why you wont let anyone else run There??????? the thought of some one taking your idea & making it work must scare you pmsl.
#42 by A sad person on 2011.01.03 - 6:02 pm
are u associated with yownow, ot thereneworld, and vorona?? they are together but they never will surpass there.
#43 by Michael Wilson on 2011.01.03 - 8:08 pm
There.com, Makena, and, of course, I, have nothing to do with “Yownow” or “Vonira”. Any speculation that “Yownow” will be anything like There is nothing more than speculation on anyone’s part and extremely difficult for me to believe. If you’ve read this post about what was invested in There.com (not just money: technology, expertise, etc, etc) you’ll probably find it hard to believe, too.
#44 by A sad person on 2011.01.03 - 6:01 pm
heres an idea, you cant afford there, mr wilson, so sell or give it to somebody that can, like microsoft or google or japan! u should realize that if u are too preoccupied to do something then hand it to someone who can handle it>>>>
#45 by Michael Wilson on 2011.01.03 - 8:03 pm
Please read this post.
#46 by A sad person on 2011.01.03 - 5:45 pm
oh so now theres this crap yownow, we want there.
#47 by surferr on 2010.12.27 - 11:50 am
i would just like to say i loved the desgin of there the tiki huts and the therehouses, weather, porta homes and pazes i was wondering u say u love there and its a passion well its just an idea could u strip down there to a smaller version to a webrowser for like a room like in a therehouse and there’s just can have 5 people inside or sell.The platform back to vmtv i know u wouldn’t make a hudge profit but u would bring the there.com platform back to the people u could also make a buniness deal so u get 20% of the profits ext anyway just an idea i would love to be able to play with the platform agin i was starting to get in to painting furniture and texture after there.com close i whent to sl like and laernt so much more i don’t really like it tho compared to there.com i just wish another verison of it was able to play agin and be able to decorater my there house and the sounds 😦
#48 by ant123789 on 2010.12.18 - 12:52 pm
Well i agree with mr orange juice, i thought you was an ass hole last may & i still do Michael, like i said, you couldn’t run a bath let alone a virtual reality website.
#49 by Michael Wilson on 2010.12.18 - 12:59 pm
You’re entitled to your opinion, and I’m sure everyone who reads this comment will think more of you for posting it. You Have a Good Day Now.
P.S. “Couldn’t run a bath”. Heh. Heh. You know, if they remake Back to the Future Part II you could play the part of Biff. Good luck with that!
#50 by there_forever on 2010.12.15 - 7:25 am
Hey Mike
Its me again! I read this today, its part of an article from an ex Thereian. It was posted on a website on March 5th this year. I would like your opinion on it.
“From a technical standpoint, There was above everybody. The biggest wants of Second Life players today is copy protection, smooth transition from region to region, better ways to market products, and better vehicles. There had these things from day 1. Avatars in There have capabilities still not seen in any other game. Planet There was the largest avatar navigable 3D object, just slightly smaller than planet Earth. Actual land mass is about 650 sq km, about 1/3 the size of Second Life.
If I were to design a new “ultimate” 3D Virtual World, I would start with There, radically improve the graphics, the avatars, and steal IMVU’s awesome interface, steal Second Life’s system of building, add scripting capabilities, and animation import. At the heart of it though, it would still be There.”
Personally I wouldn’t change the user interface. It is the best I have seen but the rest sounds reasonable as an idea.
Is this something that can be done?
#51 by KottonmouthKlown on 2010.12.13 - 9:32 pm
I agree with MrOrangeJuice. How can you not be able to afford to run there.com with all that money coming in from the users. Secondlife is much bigger. Better physics and graphics, and they manage to be doin perfectly fine on the $10 a month fee. How is that?
#52 by Michael Wilson on 2010.12.13 - 10:17 pm
The problem here is that you couldn’t have seen MrOrangeJuice’s comment until I approved it, so how could you agree with it?
Also, BOTH of you are coming from the same IP address, within minutes of each other (probably just long enough to create another account).
So you’re both the same … person. Anyway, not sure how to respond to you, you should read some of the other posts and comments before posting.
Have a nice day.
#53 by EdMan on 2011.03.20 - 3:08 pm
1) You want them 2 wackos to own and police there? God help us!
2) You find it wrong for a business not to want to go bankrupt and have a lifelong impact on its employees and chairman? You think it’s ok to diss someone who ran a successful business from the back of your computer? Do you hang out with Charlie Sheen by chance?
#54 by MrOrangeJuice on 2010.12.13 - 9:25 pm
I think that there.com closing is bullshit. I think that its bullshit that you cant afford to keep there open even if you made it $10. How the hell else would you be able to keep it open for almost 10 years? I think you got greedy and cheap and didnt want to keep there going because it would take money out of your pocket. I think your a cheap greedy selfish person. And you should give there.com to Opra or Dr Phil so they can pay because if enough people asked, they would. So many people are lost now because of there.com closing. I know because im one of them.
#55 by Andrew Fang on 2010.12.09 - 8:52 am
Dear Mr. Wilson,
Is it possible that There.com will open again?? Or is it going to be shut down forever? Can’t you just share your technology with other people that CAN run it? I know you said before that you didn’t want to, but please! Every Thereian is very upset about the closing of there.com….
Isn’t there something you can do?
Sincerely,
Andrew
#56 by Jerry Angel on 2010.11.29 - 9:19 pm
I am not chatting in SL on the There.com Survivors group chat. Come in and join everybody!!
#57 by Jerry Angel on 2010.11.24 - 4:53 pm
Oh I think I found you on that page just now. Ctrl F didn’t. I see Mike Wilson. Aka Michael Wilson I am sure. You were lost in the woodwork!
#58 by Jerry Angel on 2010.11.24 - 4:50 pm
I can’t make heads or tails of this now. I have to do more Googling of There.com. Now there is There inc. Forterra Systems, Makena. And other partnerships. Also someone names Steve Victorino and you Michael Wilson. I have to put this all together. I knew it was called Makena but I saw a video today with SV talking calling him the CEO of There.com. I have to get all the timelines down and figure this all out. Plus I found this page about the creators of There http://www.celtic-life.net/creators_of_there.htm but I didn’t see your name.anywhere on it. Maybe you came in later. Okay I am off for more research. Why do I care? Well it interests me to know about the history of this place. Maybe it was one corporation that turned into 3 after a while. I can’t believe the millions of dollars from investors virtual worlds cost. wow that rules me out of ever getting one started on my own lol.
#59 by Jerry Angel on 2010.11.19 - 8:41 pm
PS I just said invest about 10,000 in it. lol. I know that is like 10 cents in your book. I am sure you can do something on a shoestring though to add a place for us to upload screenshots and do something. I don’t know what you can do for next to nothing to keep some of your companies avatar users happy and interested in what you do. Why let them go to Zynga? I like Zynga for a stock investment someday that is for sure. But they are a little greedy. I am annoyed at how many times there games annoy me with popups trying to have me buy there coins and bucks for their worthless items. I won’t fall for their limited time offer items either. Creating a false sens of rarity. I won’t be sucked into that. Though maybe they are a different animal since I like true virtual environments. We will see what CityVille with the socalled 3d engine will be like. Right now I am heading back into SL to check out my new lounge I built. It is more entertaining now for my virtual girlfriend and I to enjoy since we have an inworld media browser. We can now watch YouTube together. It makes it interesting.
#60 by Jerry Angel on 2010.11.19 - 8:27 pm
I was just visiting There.com. It doesn’t have much on it. Why don’t you invest 10,000 in some chat situation there with a huge gallery of pictures. We would all go and just talk. Talk about old times from our years in There.com. No profit or anything. Well I guess there could be some ads and you might make a few dollars here and there from google or some company. Possible monetization in some way. But mostly for us to enjoy. A place where we all can submit our screenshots that we took. Here I am as a newbie or with my first avatar lover. Wow those were good times. Why let There go to waste? A very good domain. I am in SL and there are a few good groups. I just joined There Survivors. Many of us create special avatar names with There in mind. We talk about there in the chat box. We give SL a flavor of There. At any rate I know something can be done with Just keep working on something. Makena is a good company. Even if you rebuild it as a completely different chat client. Lighter and easier to manage. Cost effective. Think like Zynga that is a smart company. I am waiting for their new game CityVille. That game will have a 3d Engine. I wonder what it will be like. I know it will make them big money. So even if you build something completely new that will be fine. Just as long as we know your company did it. Myself I want a more realistic avatar anyway. Different from There.com’s cartoony look. Just a little fine tuning will do it for Makena. I see these places on the net now with their avatar looking real cute and cartoony. I don’t like that myself. It seems childish to me or for woman. Realistic facial structure and looks. Attractive bodies. Nice clothes. Make it simple at first. I like beautiful scenic places. Maybe focus on that. Nice trees, park benches to talk and sit. Fountains, waterfalls. Sure we want our own homes also. Just rattling. Thanks a lot, Jerry
#61 by Halen Sample on 2010.10.27 - 3:38 pm
I see how cutting down on physics would cut costs, but the world wouldn’t be the same without them. I say you guys should start on a new product from the ground up. Preferably one that’s free-to-play, if at all possible.
#62 by Jerry Angel on 2010.10.15 - 12:01 pm
I wonder if you could give us stand-alone small avatar environments for us to put on our websites. Just for a few people to chat. Up to 10 or something
for a few good friends. I would buy an environment like that. I think Makena could accomplish this. I have a great domain for a virtual environment someday. I know I will buy a turn-key virtual world. I know somebody will sell one. It might be 5 years from now but somebody will finally realize that will big seller. I could have a small virtual cafe to talk to a few friend online. I will do all the branding. Maybe all the Cafe creations from even plates of food and everything I need for the scene. I will build it. I hope to have in-world building tools with it like SL has. That is one thing There didn’t have that I would have liked it to. The ability to let us build inside the environment. But I know technically it wasn’t possible. I don’t know exactly why SL can do it but I was told briefly once but I can’t recall what it was. Let me know if you can. Please elaborate on small turn-key virtual environments if you ever get time. I want to know about the viability in the market for such a product and if it interests you at all. Thanks a lot, Jerry Angel
#63 by there_forever on 2010.10.19 - 1:17 pm
This is a very nice and original idea Jerry Angel. Small enviroments for just chit chat with them good old bubbles, a few emotions and a few sets of clothes and hair to choose from would be great!
Perhaps a puppy or two just for the fun of it!
#64 by Joeydantonio on 2010.10.15 - 12:40 am
hey MW,
how about trying mtv again at buying there?
maybe another virtual world interested in expanding? (i know games like vside and sl are constantly doing updates to accommodate to the there.com fan base.)
i saw you stated above in one of the previous comments that you offered raising the prices on funzones/neighborhoods and people were against it. i wouldn’t be against it.. i owned a handful of property in there.com and shops in other peroples’ neighborhoods – and would pay the extra charge, i would just focus on 1 neighborhood instead of 3 and others would do the same.. it could work. people wouldn’t own so much property just to own it, they would pay the extra charges and stick with a lower amount of property.
on a side note, thanks for what you have done for there.com.. it has been a big part of my life and has helped me make connections with some of my closest friends that i would have never met any other way. i know your a good guy and not this evil guy everyone says you are. we have talked in game a handfull of times, your actually one of the coolest ceo’s i have ever talked to lol. you telling me to pb you off of my space-hood equinox and you coming back over and over letting me pb you off was one of my funniest memories of playing there.
-Joeydantonio
#65 by Christina on 2010.10.09 - 3:15 am
Dear Michael,
I still live in hope that the best (and still the best) virtual world will open again one day. It was marvellous to have “lived ” there for two years and I have billboards of there pics up in kaneva.
If you can at all find a way, I know that there are many who would be over the moon. Once again, thankyou for giving us the special treasure that was There. Well done , Michael!
Love,
Amzel
#66 by Philip Key on 2010.10.09 - 12:59 am
Michael,
Could you please comment on these rumors going all over Facebook that a member of you company has leaked an early beta version of the There.com client and that is is going to be released in December as the new There.com
I know the copyright infringement alone would put anyone that stupid in jail, but it is spreading so fast that people really think that it is true. Could you please enlighten the masses.
Thank you,
-Phil aka Dad_a_Monk (Avie would have been 7 years old 22Sep)
#67 by Michael Wilson on 2010.10.09 - 11:53 pm
There was a copy of an old standalone “BlocksKit” beta from 2004 floating around, and some people decided to put it up on servers for distribution. Several things happened:
. Their ISPs – whether they were in the U.S.A. or not – took the file down instantly when we asked them. This included ISPs outside the United States.
. People who uploaded the files and some who downloaded them got letters from our attorneys explaining the law to them. People in foreign countries got letters from the respective branch offices explaining that no, they weren’t immune to the law, and in some cases the local penalties were just as harsh as the U.S. penalties, if not more so.
. That file was absolutely useless as a server, or even as a client to a server. It was built with a technology called “Quicklink” which was used to prototype things, and was missing huge parts of client technology, much less the ability to run as a server. Samsyn and I both looked at it to make sure of this.
What these people did was illegal – in both the US and foreign countries – and we found law enforcement eager to work with us once we explained what was going on. If we find people distributing it illegally or reverse-engineering it, we, unfortunately, will take action.
I know that this is disappointing to some people, but that technology is the property of Makena Technologies, and it’s investors. Just because There.com is closed doesn’t mean it’s now free for anyone that wants it.
And, I’m sorry, it can’t be used as a server.
As I’ve said many times, I’m as sorry as everyone else that There had to close (not to mention hoping I’d make any of the millions I’d invested in it over the years), but the answer is not to break the law (which is what this was). It doesn’t accomplish anything, it wastes the company’s money, and distracts us from thinking about “How could we open There again some day?” (I’m serious about the last bit – spending days talking to attorneys and law enforcement does not leave time for constructive thought).
I hope this clears this up.
#68 by heixindood on 2010.10.07 - 1:50 pm
Dear Mr. Wilson…
I am a big fan of There.com. If you has told us that this was going to happen earlier, i could have donated 10,000-20,000 dollars a month and i think i would help a bit. Even with every person helping with 100 bucks a month, wouldn’t that help!? And i was reading through some comments, and i saw an idea that caught my eye…why don’t you make a smaller there world? I bet you can run that without that much money! Well, what has been done is what has been done…can’t do nothing now can we?
Sincerely,
Heixindood
#69 by Michael Wilson on 2010.10.08 - 9:49 am
While I appreciate the donation of $10,000.00 to $20,000.00 a month, it wouldn’t have covered the costs and allowed us to stay open. It would have covered ~ 30% of our ISP bills (Plug, Power, Light, and Space), and that would have left a whole other pile of bills to pay.
#70 by Jerry Angel on 2010.10.06 - 12:10 pm
I was just thinking Michael. Is there anyway you can make the client so we can load it on our computer and just run around with alone or with a few friends? I doubt it. Maybe it wouldn’t be easy I don’t know. But just to walk around the place on our own pc even if nobody is around might be fun. If I could just have a room. A small amount of space to put up online would be nice. See if you can develop small environments that we could put up on our own blogs or .com so our chat friends can come visit. My turn-key avatar environment. I don’t care if it is just a studio apartment type of thing. Just to kick back and talk a little.
#71 by Jerry Angel on 2010.10.06 - 11:57 am
I am still waiting for the avatar environment of my dreams. I am considering going premium again with SL. But now I have some login technical difficulty that I had to write them about. That makes me not want to go premium. Things like that. I know SL can be a decent place espeically when you own some property and really get the drama back. I did enjoy There a lot more times than not. I remember when I first started back in 2003. It was December in fact. When I played hours went by in a flash. It was 6 hours that went by when I suddenly looked at the clock. It was so strange because it seemed like a few minutes. It was this time warp. It kept happening over and over this odd time loss. Then finally that stopped. So I guess at first I was so involved. So intense with my inworld play that many hours could go by and it wouldn’t seem like anywhere close to that time going by. At any rate I did normalize my brain after a while. Came down to a non-addictive state. About owning our things in There. Yes I owned a lot. But I always knew that if There went out of business all my things would be gone. I knew it. Luckily I sold out many things a couple years before so I didn’t lose my shirt. I earned about 400 dollars on that and over the months selling 8 dollars here 10 dollars there in tbucks I think I could have earned 700 or 800 bucks total. I don’t think I lost. But who knows maybe I broke even in some way when it was all said and done. All I have left is pictures. Screenshots. I wish I would have taken even more screenshots of me and my girlfriend. Anyway please try and market There to somebody. Tell them how much time has went into the development of this client. Give it to them for a song and a dance to get it back up and running again. Maybe you don’t want to sell it since you are already selling this same code in different deals now. It would seem that There is worth salvaging. The card games you invested your code writers in is worth it alone. Maybe you can do something with it all. Work on the code that makes it easier to manage as I read about here. Or start all new then. If you do start an environment please go for realistic avatars for the most part. Not as cartoony. Use the same characteristics as There but make there faces even more real. Use your new 5 finger hands and all that. There has got to be a way to monetize it all. Maybe using a small ad at the bottom of the page. Though I wouldn’t want to see pharmaceutical drug companies garbage though. And maybe others would be disturbing. So I am not sure. All I know is I want an environment to call my own. For life. I was really hoping Google would do some brainstorming. With all of the rumors out then they came out with Lively which was not even close to what the rumors talked about. By a long shot. I am still routing for Makena to do something someday. It was almost a great success I think. I hope you hold onto There.com the domain. Don’t give it up you will have another environment up on it someday I think.
#72 by Aradriel on 2010.10.05 - 10:31 pm
Dear Mr. Wilson,
All these months later, I find myself feeling the loss harder then ever. There truly is nothing right now in the virtual communities like There; I’ve been trying to find a substitute ever since and haven’t been able to. It gave us a sense of freedom, fun, and connection that I’ve not found since. It was such enjoyable, silly play that freed us from the seriousness of real life: drinks that made monkeys shoot out of my head, the amazing dance moves, driving vehicles, crazy fashion, exploring, the possibilities were endless. I, along with many others, created my dream home in There, something that isn’t possible for me in real life.
I’m still hoping there’s some way There could come back. I really wish Makena could make that happen for all of us.
~Aradriel
#73 by Smirking FatCat on 2010.09.22 - 2:00 am
I bet you won’t post this will you you fucking low lifes
#74 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.22 - 5:18 am
See Below.
#75 by Smirking FatCat on 2010.09.22 - 1:57 am
I’m so happy and full of laughter to see that there.com failed miserably. I am gloating in bliss to watch you losers go down.
I hope many many other people got ripped off by you scamming bastards as I did when you closed my account and robbed me of my investments.
THERE. COM FAILED AND WENT DOWN THE SHIT HOLE AND TOOK ALL THE SUCKERS WITH IT
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA
We’re gloating with huge grins and laughing at you, you scamming bullshit losers 😀
#76 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.22 - 5:18 am
Dear FatCat,
As you can see, we “low lifes” did post your comment. Thanks you for proving that, once again, “evolution does not favor intelligence”.
One tiny, tiny little detail, however. If you read the There Terms Of Service (TOS), you’ll see that you actually didn’t own anything in There. Yes, it had your avatar’s name on it, but in real life, it was just a bunch of bits written to a disk. There couldn’t grant you ownership of those bits any more than it could cut a teeny, teeny, teeny piece of the out of the disk and send it to you.
And, by the way, those bits were backed up every night, and sent offsite. And, everyone who saw “your property” (as you call it) also got a copy of those bits.
So if you really wanted “your” virtual property back, you’d need a big bit bucket to hold it in. And you’d have to contact every There member and demand your bits back.
No, unfortunately, the only thing anyone owned in There was their personal information (which we never sold, not gave away, and of course any designs you might have submitted to There. Everything else was rented.
This isn’t unique to There – it’s true for every game or world you play where “content” is stored in the company’s servers. Anyone who claims you “own” your virtual content better review their legal documents carefully, because they’ve signed up to a bunch of legal obligations they can’t deliver on.
#77 by dakotaman on 2010.09.21 - 9:56 pm
Hi Michael,
Glad to hear that you are keeping busy and continuing to work on improving elements (the avatars) of There even though it is not open. The ‘Avie-Centric’ approach that There’s original designers took is still ‘leaps and bounds’ above anything out there (and you know many of us have searched for virtual worlds that are even ‘close’, without success). The movements, reactions, expressions and interactions facilitate the interaction of members in a way that (even in it’s early forms) blows away any competition to date. It is the fact that There ‘got it right’ when designing not only it’s avies, but other elements of the world as well, that gives me hope.
That being said, it astounds me how much ‘Thereians’ are still invested in their world, even months now since it closed. If you look you will see a thriving There community on FB and represented on various other virtual worlds — all with the purpose of keeping the ‘hope’ of There alive and maintaining the very REAL relationships that thrived in There. Much has been said about why There closed and even I can understand much of it. But what gives me (and the thousands of homeless Thereians hope is that technology keeps evolving. The use of Blade servers or even some near future technology even more advanced, could make what seemed impossible last March, feasible and profitable in the near future.
As one of those Thereians that is STILL enamored with my experience in There, I am glad that you didn’t compromise your values by selling off There to ‘just anybody’. I’m convinced that the combination of technological advances, combined with the efforts of those people still working on the platform will eventually reach a point where it becomes feasible to reopen what remains the most engaging, interactive, virtual world in existence.
Unlike, some of the comments above, I know that There was a ‘labor of love’ to you and staff members. There was a business and as such, it needs to sustain itself and grow when the conditions are right. But to members and staff, it was also ‘family’ — something I consider high praise when describing it’s effect on There’s residents. And as the ‘Father Figure’ of There’s family, we all trust in your ‘care’ of There and live with the hope that perhaps, eventually we can come home.
My thanks to you and all who still care for There.
dakotaman
#78 by supdoggy123 on 2010.09.19 - 11:15 pm
Why did you do this Michael Wilson Therians need there all those memories I had of there all ripped Why can you just rip other peoples memories
Please Reopen it we need it…
#79 by there_forever on 2010.09.13 - 9:44 am
Hi MW. First I would like to thank you for having this blog open and after all these months, still keeping in contact with ex thereians and answering some of their questions.
From my point of you this shows that you do care about There.com, otherwise you probably wouldn’t be bothered to even reply to anybody in this blog topic.
I would like to ask you a couple of questions concerning various posts I see in some forums and I would really appreciate it if you give an honest answer, since you are the only person I know that can tell us what is really going on.
Firstly, I would like to ask you if it is true that “the true story about OLIVE, which supposedly came straight from the owners of OLIVE, (Forterra, now SAIC), is that the US gov. bought out OLIVE or the use of OLIVE and the end result is that noone, aside from the military, can ever use OLIVE again, because noone could afford to. Supposedly it would now cost anyone who leased OLIVE exactly $550.00 US per signed-up member to use the platform or any virtual world spawned thereof. Forterra, now SAIC, is supposedly not happy about this, either.”. I read this in 2 forums. If this is not true, then would it be possible to tell us what is really going on? If of course you are permitted to say something like that in public. This was posted in 3 forums.
Second, I don’t know if you have heard about a company named “Vonira” and if you are keeping track of what is happening in their forum. If so, do you have an opinion about the company and the so called CEO of Vonira, John Reid Iford. One thing I can say for certainty is that he hasn’t been saying the nicest things about you.
Thank you for reading this, since I am sure you will read it and I hope you are able to give us a few answers. They will be really appreciated.
#80 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.13 - 10:09 am
Well, I of course have the same information anyone else in the public has (no matter what they might say), but it seems highly unlikely that the U.S. Government could “buy” OLIVE from SAIC without some sort of regulatory filing. I’ve seen no such filing. I’m also quite sure that SAIC, who owns OLIVE and Forterra, doesn’t appreciate the fact that such “information” is being spread around by former prospects.
I know for a fact that OLIVE is being used for lots of non-military purposes, since we talk to Olive users all the time who are exploring using the Makena / There platform.
I was a major stockholder in Forterra, and sat on it’s Board of Directors from the time the company was formed until it was acquired by SAIC. I can say that almost all of the information I’ve seen posted about Forterra, Olive, and it’s relationship to There.com is either misunderstandings, deliberate artifice, on out-and-out fabrications. As always, you should look to the actual vendors of these products for the facts, not third or fourth hand sources, or people “claiming” to know the facts.
Olive is an excellent product for simulations, corporate communications, and education settings, to name a few. The Makena/There platform is an excellent product for social virtual worlds. Each product has components the other doesn’t but they both share a heritage and vision of providing an outstanding platform for communication between individuals on the internet. If you want to compare them, you should talk to the people that make them and have used them in production environment.
I’m well aware of Vonira.com. All I can say is that whatever my feelings might be about someone else in the industry, I’d certainly have the class and professionalism to share them privately with them as opposed to, well, other methods. I’m not the first person to have commented on this, and the reaction has been to moderate those those posts and opinons “into the cornfield”, so to speak. I think those actions alone say whatever needs to be said on this topic.
#81 by there_forever on 2010.09.13 - 10:47 am
Thanks for your very quick reply. A pleasant surprise. What you have written confirms my point of view for both topics, that’s for sure! I wish you the best of luck with anything that you and your company have planned. Hopefully we will see a new social virtual world opening in the near future that will be built on the There platform.
I also hope you won’t mind if i “annoy” you with a few questions once in a while!!!!!!!
#82 by Jerry Angel on 2010.09.09 - 4:12 pm
I wish I was a multimillionaire. I think I would make an offer on There and I bet I could get it for a bargain at this point. Some company should realize how much money went into the development of it so far then make an offer. What is a legitimate offer for There at this point? 2 million? A million or less? I have no clue what it’s value it is or what the person or company would have to maintain. It would seem it could be put up on the internet for next to nothing. But I don’t know what it all entails. All I know is the client still exists and it has a lot to offer. All the card games and all. Maybe it could be sized down just for card game players or paint ball parks. If you guys could open back up and earn 100% of the money selling many of the existing products maybe that would be a lot of revenue. Designers were making hundreds of dollars. I say buy out all of the Intellectual Property of many flying machines and things then sell them as part of the game. Well at any rate I am happy to know that you are still trying to advance your avatar technology by working on the fingers and all. What a coincidence I mentioned it and it is a project of yours. Not sure what it means for you to be advancing this technology but I guess you have many avenues and applications for this technology. Please let us know any other projects you have that we can visit to feel the technology you have to offer. We will see and feel the hints of There in it. If you can tell us where to go to see that army environment that I heard about. Not sure if you sold something to the military. Or other projects.
#83 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.09 - 4:20 pm
I’m certainly not going to conduct a price negotiation on WordPress.
It’s actually not possible to put it up on the internet for “next to nothing”. Well, it could be if you decided to skip things like spares, firewalls (as in a real firewall configuration), billing, support, content distribution, backup machines, and data warehouse machines, to name a few. We actually have a few clusters running, an the minimal “acceptable” production cluster is about 1 rack’s worth of equipment. And that’s using our hard-won expertise in putting them together.
Of course, this price could go down if you used one of the new blade technologies, but every time we investigated them and spoke to real users, there was a “Yes, but…’ in their “glowing endorsements”. Sad, because that could lead to huge cost savings. Maybe in 6 months or so it will get better.
I don’t know what all this talk of “selling to the military” is about. Forterra (now part of SAIC) has sold to the military, but the stories that the army bought it out are, well, incorrect.
#84 by Jerry Angel on 2010.09.09 - 6:58 am
I was waiting for months for Google to open there socalled environment. All these rumors about something wonderful and exciting. Then they opened up Lively. It wasn’t a great place at all. So I am not sure that was the place they spoke of for months. If Google starts developing a world that is like There but makes some changes I think they may have something. In fact why don’t you try to sell There.com to Google? If Google was smart they would buy you out. They could fix everything up in 6 months I bet. Redesign a few things and BOOM we are back in business.
#85 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.09 - 7:01 am
Yes, Lively was it, and it was closed when the recession hit and Google decided to trim “non-core” projects.
Google was not interested in buying There, nor was anyone else (except for a P0rn site who wanted it for Free). There’s were lots of RUMORS about people making offers for There, but they were sadly all just rumors.
#86 by Johnny Bird on 2010.09.09 - 12:11 pm
So does that mean that You actually were considering selling, if the right price came up?
#87 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.09 - 3:25 pm
That has always been true. There have been no legitimate offers.
#88 by 50cent on 2010.09.08 - 5:09 pm
there.com well hahahah muhahah atlast therians are dead wohoooooo kickback u sick mofo hahah all the developers got slapped on face u mofos
#89 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.08 - 5:16 pm
Very nice. See my other post on “Evolution does not select for intelligence”.
#90 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.08 - 7:05 pm
P.S. In reply to 50cent, are you the person who wrote to David Thorne in this post? You sure sound like him! You’re famous!
#91 by oldthereian on 2010.09.08 - 7:26 am
Any comment on this post MW???
“This was posted on a forum dedicated to There.com
“reopening There.com and making it work isn’t as impossible as it sounds. By shutting down There.com Makena has a few advantages. They can change things and reopen a better version of it.
I can think of 3 changes that need to be done in order to make There.com a healthy Virtual World that won’t be in danger of shutting down again in the future.
First of all, There.com needs to become 18+.
Second, the avatars need to be upgraded to look more realistic and the with hundreds of skin options so every avatar can have its own unique look. Designers should be allowed to make skins and hair.
Third and most important, the whole Virtual Economy of There.com needs to be redesigned from scratch. The whole idea is to get the big money spenders on the game. By selling clothes or a house or renting a paz,There.com had no chance of having enough income to keep the world alive.
What they need to do is to make a brand new economy model. They should take a look at the SL economy model. People buy their own sim at a very high price. I think a sim is sold for $1000 and after that the owner pays $250/month to keep it up. Someone correct me if i am wrong here.
The sim owners then do whatever they want in that sim. They design it any way they like and they manage it any way they want. The whole idea for them sim owners is to make profit. I know a few people on SL that make a couple of thousand dollars on SL every month from the profit they get from their sims.
If you can get all those people into There.com, there will be a way higher income for the company which will keep it open and running and when all they are here and create their own mini worlds and give the basic users a lot more things to do, then the basic users will be spending more money. The more Tbux they buy, the better for There.com.
I aint saying to copy the SL model as it is but they can dwell a lot of good ideas from it and make a more improved and better version of it that will save There.com from a lot of flaws that SL has.
Put all three ideas together and think of what the result might be!
Of course, some people will say that There.com won’t be the same and that it might lose some of its magic. It might happen, i won’t disagree but face it guys, the way it was didn’t work out. Some things need to change. The world needed to evolve to meet the 2010 standards and it didn’t. Virtual worlds are a lot more demanding now than they were 7 years ago. There is much more competition and its a pity that such a great world made on the best platform ever has shut down.
I have a lot of ideas on how to manage a virtual world, but right now i cant really write too much cuz i had a late night last night and my head hurts!!!!
This is just my personal opinion, the way i see things. Some people might agree, some not. Its prefectly ok with me”
What do you think MW? I think you should give it some thought!”
#92 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.08 - 5:15 pm
There’s members objected STRONGLY to us raising FunZone prices to cover the cost of running the servers the FunZones were on (I think the exact words were “we could put the price increases where the sun doesn’t shine”) (and note I said “cover”, not “make a profit on”). Given that, it’s very hard to believe they’d pay Second-Life style prices for larger zones or neighborhoods.
#93 by oldthereian on 2010.09.09 - 2:55 am
But if you change the whole business model and make it simular to the SL model where most land owners can actually make real life profit, give them all the options and freedom they have in SL and more and I’m sure with the right marketing strategy you would be able get them to move to your world or even get new members that would be interested in being there. You will need to change a lot of things of course.
Higher prices for whoever wants more land to develop on in. Lower prices for whoever just wants a small paz to build a house on it. You can even have different kinds of memberships depending on what each member whats to do in the virtual world.
Remember, There.com has shut down. You can reopen it and make all the changes you need.
#94 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.09 - 6:20 am
I think there’s a big assumption here that SL makes money. They’ve said they were “profitable”, “close to profitable”, and all kinds of flavors in between for some time now. I do know they got a huge investment a couple of years ago, which gives them lots of runway to burn a lot of cash.
So, unless you want There to abandon PG, PG13, or even R, and assume that SL’s model works (which it’s not clear it does), I’m not sure that’s a workable model.
#95 by oldthereian on 2010.09.09 - 10:29 am
No no, I am not assuming that SL is making profit.
My ideas are just based on the fact that SL is still open and There has unforunately shut down. Since I have been in both worlds i have been able to compare then and understand the plus and minus of both virtual worlds.
The SL economy model simply has worked better than the There.com model.
Abandoning PG or R might be essential, but it also can be avoided. Since There was a seamless world you would travel anywhere. What you can do is seperate the adult world from the PG world with an invisible barrier which only the adult verified avatars can pass through and have access to both sides of the world.
There would be a high amount of freedom in the adult side, whether it comes to building or activities or the way the members will socialize.
On the other had, the PG section can be monitored and whoever breaks the rules will have to be punished for it like in “There”. There will be minors there and they must be respected!
That is basically how I see it. Of course it isnt as simple as that but it is a plan that can be taken into consideration if you plan to reopen There.com or make a completely new world.
#96 by Kristin on 2010.09.07 - 2:14 pm
Mr.Wilson i understand that you really didnt want to close There.com down and i have ideas ok you charge membership fees every month maybe like for one month maybe it could be 5.00$ and maybe 6 months 28.95 and maybe FOREVER can be like 50.00$ and maybe you can create a there.com website and you can ask for donations and maybe you can mae there a little smaller but not too small just be crreative AND PLZ DONT STOP TRYING MAYBE YOU CAN SELL THERE.COM TO SOME ONE WHO CAN ACTUALLY TAKE CARE OF IT!!!
#97 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.07 - 4:32 pm
A monthly charge would not have covered the cost to run There.
#98 by JimmYPT on 2011.01.07 - 8:05 pm
Maybe not, but combined whit a smaller world and using better graphics to get ppl attention it may work…
try adding dx11 improve the UI like yu were doing make more styles (cloths) there was very limited in tht btw!
VERY Importante PPL want STYLES fancy things reallystc cloths and stuff like tht!
also try to a way to pay by phone! tht works great( many ppl dont have visa ) tht would get yu way more money if im right…
AND dont forget ppl these days want graphics and perfomace NOT alot of avatares log in! ( if they want it buy a better computer )
#99 by Jerry Angel on 2010.09.07 - 10:35 am
Dear Michael, the other day I wrote Kaneva to tell them that they need to change the way their avatars walk and to try to make them walk like There.com’s avatar’s did. The walk was great, the run also. Their characteristics. The avatar’s of There were the best. Over all it was a great experience. So at any rate I won’t even consider Kaneva being my avatar home until they make them more like There did. Then I asked Kaneva to consider buying The There client. I had no reply. I don’t know why another company doesn’t try and snap up There and do something with it. Mtv had a duplicate copy of the client. With some changes to the environment it had something different to ad to it. Please try and contact other companies about purchasing There so at least it will be back again. My best hope is you guys reopen it and then I can get all my things back that I lost. Luckily a couple years back I sold out all my old signs and other things like Levis and Nikes. So I earned about 400 dollars. But I still lost all of the things I owned. Just think about all of the cool driving machines There has. I am not sure with legalities with selling the intelectual property of all or our creations though but it would be nice for all of the old items to come back. Maybe There could some of the old designers and for a few dollars purchase the rights to them. So when you package the deal it will show all the various flying machines you get with this virtual world. Or try and work on the client to run it cheaper as disgussed. Maybe closing There will make there have an internet cult following. And maybe in a year or two when you have the capital to restructure the client some then BOOM There is a success once again!! THERE WILL BE BACK!!
#100 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.07 - 4:32 pm
Some of There’s avatar behaviors are actually covered by patents that were granted around of before 2005. Not the actual movements, but the way the avatar behaviors are implemented and realized.
#101 by Jerry Angel on 2010.09.09 - 1:57 am
That is very interesting. That must have been a big break-through when your team or individual came up with There’s avatar movements. I couldn’t believe Kaneva’s avatar movements the other day. It was like you are always running even in your own home they give you. I wouldn’t make Kaneva my avatar environment because of it. So your company knew the importance of this. You brought them to life. I had just a couple small complaints about There’s avatars though. I did want the avatars to have better hands with all fingers. And I didn’t like them looking strange with very cartoony faces while dancing. I like it more realistic. I think if you ever started this back up you could revamp it with more realistic avatars. But one thing I really want is a chance to buy my own turn-key avatar environment. I have always bought dotcoms for virtual environments and was hoping for the knowledge to someday have my own place. So I guess I will wait for my turn-key environment meaning I could buy everything to start making it my own. Maybe creating all of the environments objects with Second Life type in-world tools. I would create my worlds name and just enjoy something of my own. Even if it would only allow 10 people to log in at once. I would love my own night club type setting. Or a cafe. There had some nice lounges. The abience was very good. All I know is I do wish There was open again. I was there in December 2003 to the end. Think about selling the There client to more companies. Mtv made it nice I am sure some others would like it. Maybe some how you can allow us to purchase turn-key avatar environments from you. Thanks, Jerry
#102 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.09 - 6:17 am
We actually have already done work (as in, since March) on more realistic avatars, and have just started on five-finger hands. We’re fortunate enough to have the original designer of There’s Avatars available to us, so the same things that went into the original avatars is going into the new ones.
The problem with “more realistic” or “more customizable” avatars is that it significantly increases your vert budget (which leads to lag if you have a lot of avatars in a scene) and/or significantly ups your texture budget (again, same result). That’s why Virtual World newbies who claim their world “will have much more customization than X” are in for a big surprise when they get 50 avatars in a scene, each one with lots of verts and/or different textures.
P.S. I’m not sure “patent” is the same as “big break-through”. I have lots of patents filed in my name, most of which are silly (IMHO), but were filed by my employer as a defensive measure. But I do agree There’s avatars are pretty unique 🙂
#103 by oldthereian on 2010.09.09 - 10:14 am
Does this mean that you might be working on a new and improved social virtual world? One that is made on the same or an improved platform as There was? If that is the case then there is no need to talk about reopening ‘There’ again.
Btw, your seven year old avies are still centuries ahead of any other avatars, even in the newer virtual worlds. We all sure miss them!
#104 by livesinhope on 2010.09.05 - 11:24 pm
Would be nice if Michael would actually reply to some of these comments as after all this is his thing as you havent said anything since may
#105 by livesinhope on 2010.09.05 - 11:20 pm
Would be nice if Mr Wilson actually wrote something in response to anything said as he hasnt responded since may
#106 by Alex on 2010.09.04 - 7:06 am
Michael why not sell there.com to coca cola or something. A lot of people are sad that there.com closed down. I have tried to find other games to play but none of them are as good as There.com.
#107 by DeoN on 2010.09.03 - 7:19 pm
I played There.com for a year and loved it, unfortuantly, it closed before i had a chance to get on it… Thanks for having it up for awhile at least
#108 by Mmmm22222222 on 2010.09.02 - 2:31 pm
Hello Mr Wilson, recently I have began to wonder why There was not released as an open source, and if you can’t allow it to be open source can’t makena technologies work on a basic source using the same engine etc and allow us to use more amateur C coding or any other coding to design our own version? Is there no possible way to give us somthing in return for everything we did in the past for There? Maybe even sell a source created by makena technologies using the same engine as There, trust me people would buy it, I know I would.
#109 by oldthereian on 2010.08.29 - 11:32 am
This was posted on a forum dedicated to There.com
“reopening There.com and making it work isn’t as impossible as it sounds. By shutting down There.com Makena has a few advantages. They can change things and reopen a better version of it.
I can think of 3 changes that need to be done in order to make There.com a healthy Virtual World that won’t be in danger of shutting down again in the future.
First of all, There.com needs to become 18+.
Second, the avatars need to be upgraded to look more realistic and the with hundreds of skin options so every avatar can have its own unique look. Designers should be allowed to make skins and hair.
Third and most important, the whole Virtual Economy of There.com needs to be redesigned from scratch. The whole idea is to get the big money spenders on the game. By selling clothes or a house or renting a paz,There.com had no chance of having enough income to keep the world alive.
What they need to do is to make a brand new economy model. They should take a look at the SL economy model. People buy their own sim at a very high price. I think a sim is sold for $1000 and after that the owner pays $250/month to keep it up. Someone correct me if i am wrong here.
The sim owners then do whatever they want in that sim. They design it any way they like and they manage it any way they want. The whole idea for them sim owners is to make profit. I know a few people on SL that make a couple of thousand dollars on SL every month from the profit they get from their sims.
If you can get all those people into There.com, there will be a way higher income for the company which will keep it open and running and when all they are here and create their own mini worlds and give the basic users a lot more things to do, then the basic users will be spending more money. The more Tbux they buy, the better for There.com.
I aint saying to copy the SL model as it is but they can dwell a lot of good ideas from it and make a more improved and better version of it that will save There.com from a lot of flaws that SL has.
Put all three ideas together and think of what the result might be!
Of course, some people will say that There.com won’t be the same and that it might lose some of its magic. It might happen, i won’t disagree but face it guys, the way it was didn’t work out. Some things need to change. The world needed to evolve to meet the 2010 standards and it didn’t. Virtual worlds are a lot more demanding now than they were 7 years ago. There is much more competition and its a pity that such a great world made on the best platform ever has shut down.
I have a lot of ideas on how to manage a virtual world, but right now i cant really write too much cuz i had a late night last night and my head hurts!!!!
This is just my personal opinion, the way i see things. Some people might agree, some not. Its prefectly ok with me”
What do you think MW? I think you should give it some thought!
#110 by jeffrey on 2010.08.25 - 8:09 pm
i hope there will reopen i had lots of cars planes hoverboards and more it was so fun I remember all my friends we use to trade cars and more but i found out about a website called second life and its just like there but not as good as there i miss there the day i heard there left i stop playing on the computer for a week 😦 😦 😦 :(:( 😦 😦
#111 by funkybucks on 2010.08.21 - 10:09 am
I have just come back to this website only to discover many souls from there.com lost and in need of it back! I’m wondering……. how is it that other VR programs and websites still manage to continue even with the economy MW states. Everything is possible, if the team of there.com and Sir MW really wanted to reopen the world i know and so does everyone that it is infact possible. The next question i have asked my self since the close is…. how much would the world, software and hardware, be worth? Maybe a certain person would be interested in re opening the world from another location and management structure. Certainly gets me going! If i could do it….. i would! So get in contact Michael. 🙂
#112 by crossy524 on 2010.08.20 - 3:35 am
Mr Wilson may i ask why you have kept there.com webpage up?
Thanks crossy524
———————————————————————–
I have created a game its a 500 credit starup bonus and anytherians will get free credits whenever to startup there rooms .
you can swim dive make rooms party go on a bus go to the theatre go to the cinema take a strole in the park and much much more.
#113 by zak on 2010.08.17 - 1:50 pm
i miss there i had lots of freinds an i prolly spent over 2 000 bucks on it in my 3 or 4 years of playing i miss all my freinds allot of them where from the uk an i dont get to tlk to em anny more you should jus make a site like myspace or somthin an try to get ppl to donate untill you can re open there. pllllzzzzzzz
#114 by oldthereian on 2010.08.14 - 12:30 am
There.com was huge, maybe too big for the population it had. Maybe if you could open a smaller world consisting of one main island -Caldera for example- and Zona, Paiz and Fisher you could make a new beginning. It is large enough for a new beginning. On Caldera there are quite a few hot spots and fun zones that nobody ever went to which was a waste of servers and money.
By having a small world you would save A LOT of money on servers and everything needed to run the world.
Maybe if the population starts expanding then you can add other places on the map.
I am very sure that nobody would mind a small world. Think about it. There are thousands of Thereians that are still hoping that a miracle will happen and it will open and I am sure that once word is out that There has re-opened they will all be back in an instant!
#115 by A little Late on 2010.08.13 - 11:11 pm
There.com was a good wholesome place , unlike most VR games. IT was also very unique in that the platform allowed u to feel as if you were in a real world ( ability to fly,drive, around it )
But most importantly , it had a way of making everything however distant close…
I have tried many VR games since and before there.com closed. NONE had the sense of community and safeness that there.com had achieved.
There.com from a true long time VR gamer to me is a DIAMOND.
It is really a tragedy that it was unable to compete with the rest.
I do not know If i will ever truly find another VR home like I had in there.com
I do pray that one day it will find a way to come back and this is not forever..
Even god grants us eternity 😀 .. perhaps makena could Find a THERE.COM heaven we can play in before we die!!
(I did have a small thought.. a downloadable version.. that we can play on our pcs.. just a thought :D.. also perhaps we could have our stuff.. I would just love to pounce around my old stomping grounds to visit.. even if my friends werent there it would be nice to remince in VR 😦 )
God bless Michael and please keep all of us in your thoughts!!
#116 by dogyday725 on 2010.08.11 - 8:04 pm
I’m So Lost Without There.com . .. .. . . . . I Have Nothing To Do These Days Michael, Please Try To Re-Open There.com 🙂
#117 by Nicole on 2010.08.05 - 8:48 pm
I’ve been reading the announcement, I as soon as I started rading it, I started crying…
I know that this may sound a bit overboard, but I was addicted to There…When my friend told me There was closing, I just wanted to kill my self…
I do have a real, normal life, and I will have it, but There was like my other life…
Some other friends from There (which I have connected with through FaceBook) said that There is re-opening, and I was really excited, but now I know….my second life is TOTALLY OVER.
I found my heart in There.
I left my heart in There.
Really, ”thanks” Michael Wilson. :((
</3
#118 by Damon on 2010.08.02 - 9:18 pm
AND I DID ALOT.. I DONATED OVER 600$
#119 by Damon on 2010.08.02 - 9:16 pm
Thats a shame … This ruined alot of peoples friendship.. i had alot of friends going on in there… i bet there is a way to get there.com back.. just keep the 3 best populated places.. and 1 buggy track to host at.. that would be ok.. but yeah.. I know its not yalls fault.. but you dont know what it did.. theres some people crying.
#120 by ant123789 on 2010.08.01 - 12:18 pm
I just think you couldn’t be bothered to try & save there.com, if you dont have the brains to run a business give it to someone that can instead of sulking & sucking your thumb, I’m sure someone like Richard Branson who owns virgin would be more than happy to take it off your hands.
PS your a looser
#121 by FELL4U on 2010.07.31 - 4:38 pm
Micheal pleasefind a way so us and our friends can reunite..I met some good people..and it means so much to us that the world to had to go i mean no other virtuall world can compare up to that..Some people had close relationships..and help people find love and get married. and now some people will neva meet again cause of the closing of there…Well hopefullyyy i regain wat i shared on there and move on to the next Virtually world and make new friends and relations..–Farwell THERE and the people of it I miss it but seems to me No one will try and see some of you guys Ideas will work. Peace (FELL4U/cutiecake1on1).
#122 by D on 2010.07.30 - 4:06 am
Perhaps some aspect of There can be ressurected as open source much like the Newworld grid (Opensim platform) in relation to Second Life. Perhaps a There Foundation could be established and funds can be generated from organizations similar to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
#123 by AKAUK on 2010.07.13 - 5:29 pm
I myself was a beta tester in there till the end reading some of the comments above brings questions to my mind
1/ why did you not ask for your members help in forums instead of just a weeks notice after all without us there wouldnt have been a there at all
2/ there threatened to close a few years ago and there was a hasty exit to secondlife that was due to lack of communication again on your behalf
3/over the years you have had lots of sponsership deals from such like cococola levi and others there was no reason another sponser could not have been found
4/ why not cut there in half take away half of it and do what there did in the old days and run there between certain times i rember there being of every tuesday rom monday afternoon to late tuesday and it closed for 4 to 8 hours a day so if it closed for 8 hours a day that would in itself save a 1/3 of up time for the year thus cutting some of your costs
i seriously belive that you never gave us memebrs a chace to help or sugest prehaps you should reopen your forum on there.com and see what sugestions come lets face it you wont know unless you try
#124 by AKAUK on 2010.07.13 - 5:34 pm
correction i ment Nike not cocacola please amend my original post thank you
#125 by Mr_Perry on 2010.06.12 - 5:17 pm
I am very confused.
how are second life, onverse, utherverse, & vside able to stay in business?
you dont hear them saying anything about costs…
maybe you should take look at thier business plans….
There.com was the best VR world on the net period.
and I should know, I have tried them all.
I had finally made myself content with the 3d chat beta, until the plug was pulled.
I will continue to pray that God will give you the wisdom, resources, and ability to bring it back.
I have not uninstalled the client. I keep the faith.
prayerfully yours
Mr_Perry
now and always a proud Thereian.
#126 by Al on 2010.06.10 - 9:21 am
Hello,
I was wondering why you didn’t sell There.com. Maybe a big company like Coca Cola whould have bought it.
Al
#127 by butter(nickname) on 2010.06.07 - 7:59 am
:((
#128 by SunnyMusic on 2010.06.07 - 7:41 am
Even when we know what is right, too often we fail to act. More often we grab greedily for the day, letting tomorrow bring what it will, putting off the unpleasant and unpopular. ~Bernard M. Baruch
“I must do something” always solves more problems than “Something must be done.” ~Author Unknown
You win, Michael Wilson. You win because of your courage, your integrity, and your leadership.
My dad, a tough businessman in his day, used to quote this when his decisions were not always popular and much squawking ensued: “Don’t let the Turkeys get you down!”
‘tu
Sunny
#129 by A sad person on 2010.05.25 - 5:11 pm
i hav about 12 friends who i know all would buy there merchandise so u could just not open it up now, but save up on the merchandise from things like other methods of chatrooms and VW’s all of us really devoted there fans hav tooken it quite hard and understand the problemsof why it shut down but i beleive there is always a solution in the brighter future…
#130 by Karter on 2010.05.23 - 6:48 am
Ok so There is NOT reopening but what if you charge a monthly fee for memberships and if you cut your land like umm there are like 8-15 islands somthing like that and you cut a few off would that cost less and maybe if the reopened you could host partyies and ask people to donate to There.com I know i would and maybe you could make pb refills a little higher!
#131 by mimi06 on 2010.05.22 - 4:12 am
The fact that THERE closed has stirred up a ton of mixed emotions, I had alot of inventory as well, BUT I also lost many, many friends, being “guide” was more special to me then the actual “play” time I spent for over 4 years.. everyone has since scattered, but we stay in touch, and DeMimi for the record there was a place to buy such items you asked about , its called “cafe press”, I have the flaming banana stein and some tshirts..
So Onward everyone goes..other VW worlds ect..I will never find anything like THERE!
#132 by DeMimi [[Therian]] on 2010.05.19 - 8:30 pm
Dear Michael Wilson, I do not completely understand why There.com closed in the first place. Is it because the company was not making enough money? IF you opened there.com again and told the greeters/Island Guides/ Helpers or whatever to push the subject on buying premium a little more to the new members, then MAYBE you would have more people buying premium accounts. New members do not understand how crappy it is to be a basic member, so they go to the Island Guides and beg them for clothes/money/drinks/etc. But if the Island Guides and Greeters/Helpers pushed the subject of buying premium a little more, maybe things wouldn’t go downhill…Especially if you made the payment monthly. I do NOT like the idea of monthly, but maybe it would be the only way? And I also have another idea. If you made products, like t-shirts, cups, hats, etc..like in real life, and sold them, people would buy them. I would DEFINITELY put out fliers and stuff all over the internet just to keep There.com up. I have many many more ideas, so if you would like to get in touch with me, please e-mail me at kittiemimi18@yahoo.com . Please consider some of these ideas (:
#133 by Karter on 2010.05.23 - 6:53 am
OmMG Demimi those are GREAT IDEAS!and if he did sell items in real life i would go aroung my school or nieghborhood trying to sell them!And maybe we all could donate a little to There.com once in a while.
#134 by samsw28 on 2010.05.17 - 11:43 pm
Hi
I think alot of people are more upset, that of the loss of there inventorys, when you spend a few years in a vurtual world you make up an impressive inventory lol, costing the person alot of real life money, I am hopeing that if there.com does open in the future we will have our own avitars, still with all the inventorys, I know you mentioned the avitars would be stored in a vault, so maybe, we will see it all again ?.
samsw28
paul
#135 by Bo on 2010.05.17 - 3:13 pm
I, like most people that played the game, am very sad that it has closed. However, I’m an adult and realize the economy is not suitable for lots of folks to spend money on a virtual world. Heck folks we have people unemployed that wonder where their next meal is coming from. In my opinion it was a choice that Michael had to make however unpopular it may be. If I had been in the same situation, I know I would have done the same as Michael.
Personally, I believe we should be voting out the leadership of this great nation. After all, that is where the responsibility lies for our economic downturn. When our government can give billions to Wall Street (our money by the way) it is time for true CHANGE. Not just another political lie. Is it 2012 yet?
#136 by Michael Wilson on 2010.05.17 - 3:17 pm
The opinons expressed in the commentas are solely those of the commentors, and not endorsed by this blog.
#137 by Bo on 2010.05.17 - 3:28 pm
‘hmmmm Michael are you saying we should hate you? lol Yes I am very opinionated when I see this great country going to hell in a hatbasket due to politicians being greedy. Is it a government of the people, for the people, by the people?
#138 by amydarcy on 2010.09.16 - 12:45 pm
is there any other new world that u r working that is a bit like there.com ??
#139 by amydarcy on 2010.09.16 - 12:47 pm
michael will u be working on another new world that is a bit like there.com ?
#140 by CHEZZABELLE IS MAD on 2010.05.17 - 6:36 am
I’m stilll shocked Like Josh said we hate u , I’m So sorry but myself and alot off people hate you .
If u give money back to us you can keep there.com reopen , And also u didn’t give us all money bck so u pretty much made a site got money closed it and ran off with the money O_O
#141 by Unsuccessful on 2010.05.17 - 1:38 am
Well i hope there.com re-opens i know it wont be any soon but really do and i believe if there.com didnt bann as much people last year it would had stayd up
#142 by Matthew on 2010.05.13 - 9:23 am
It wouldn’t lessen the costs to cut back on the amount of islands? What about just the Tiki islands for now. Oh, and could cut back on the amount of zones too? Just have a handful of them, one for buggy racing, one for hoverboard, hoverbike, and paintball or something. Even to have a really small island with just a few trees would probably satisfy me. We don’t need all of them funzones and neighborhoods!
If There.com was only about socializing, I’d still love it just the same. The racing and stuff just added that extra fun to it, and surely a true Therian would be back in a heartbeat even if it didn’t have those activities anymore and would find it to be sufficient enough with just the social portion.
As for the physics distribution….. If you want, I will move to Cali, which I plan on doing in the near future, and come work for Makena for free and I will fix it!! I seriously would do that if you could figure out a way to get me to Cali.. How can you turn down a free programmer/engineer? 😮
The only catch actually to that is I’ll live in the office building if that’s cool.. I don’t mind sleeping in the closet or something.
#143 by samsw28 on 2010.05.12 - 11:57 pm
Hi
There.com ment alot to me and my better half, we met alot of really nice people, it got us through really hard times, my partner whent through a really bad patch of deppression and if it was not for there i think i would of lost her, I would like to thank you MW for the 4 years i had with there.com and I would not hesitate to do it again, I miss there like everyone else but if its running at a loss there was no option to close, I really hope to see there.com back online again eventually.
samsw28
paul
#144 by Explorer_One on 2010.05.11 - 8:25 am
Just realized I shoulod have said “resigned” and not “relegated” in my original comment.
*Sheesh*
#145 by CHEZZABELLE IS MAD on 2010.05.11 - 7:09 am
Some people don’t understand what there.com means to me . If there.com re opens i have $750 , I am willing to give to help this site . Therians need there.com . I carn’t back down to this . Please If u carnt open there . Please make a new site just paintball paiz island just paintball . Please .
Luv a therian
Chezz
#146 by joshuaray on 2010.05.11 - 7:07 am
OMGGGGG i thought its reopening on 17may make pb cost 500tb per reaload THERE.com U MAKE SO MANY PEOPLES FRIEND CLOSE FRIENDS N Some of them r married n cuz of u everything is gone WE HATE U MW
#147 by Evan on 2010.05.10 - 9:50 am
Michael, you gave us many extra years with There we may not have had if Makena had not of taken it over. Myself and many thousands of other people will always be grateful to you for that. Most of us know you did what you had to do, and if I were in your place and I saw no other options, I would have done the same thing. So one anyone else.
Good luck on whatever is next, and if There is able to come back someday, awesome. If not, it was great while it lasted.
Peace, dOOd!
#148 by Evan on 2010.05.10 - 9:53 am
“I would have done the same thing. So one anyone else.”
uh, make that so WOULD anyone else. sheesh, I can’t spell.
#149 by Thereian Fan on 2010.05.10 - 8:43 am
I am sorry to hear about false rumors of There reopening. Myself understand how hard it is with today’s economy. My Father is having trouble keeping the bills going and loosing customers. We are trying to keep things going, but we all know it will be hard to keep the bills due to the economy issues. I hope maybe when the economy comes back and jobs are forming and more money is being flowed in the economy we would be able to see There and be able to see our friends. Thank you for this statement, and thank you for your hard work you have done. 🙂
#150 by pardon on 2010.05.10 - 8:31 am
hi
what are the chances of a app for ipod or ipad which would be like a funzone in these funzones could be buggy bike or hover pack and instead of racing other ppl you would race for top times or something like that
wouldnt have to include chat or loads of avies
could help ppl with there memorys of there.com
r.s.v.p
pardon
#151 by Michael Wilson on 2010.05.10 - 6:40 am
I understand your concerns, but I’m just trying to be truthful here about why There closed, the fact that we didn’t want it to close, and if we could find a way to re-open it, we would.
Can’t win for losing I guess (or however it goes).
#152 by RK_Falagar on 2010.06.28 - 10:02 pm
Mr Wilson, It would have been nice if you asked us users for help before closing the doors on us. Im sure alot of us would have donated or did whatever we could to keep There open. You didnt give us a chance! I think it was a rash decision on your part to close There so abruptly. Mr Wilson, Why dont you ask the people for help. Why dont you try?
#153 by CrystalLyn1 on 2010.05.10 - 6:24 am
Mr Wilson: I know once our economy bottoms out and we begin a new cycle things will rise again…I belive virtual reality is of the furture thus clearing a path so much money can be make…I believe you had one of the best to offer..so you see I am not giving up on you..and that one day who knows when your love of the game will come to life again..I do not beieve you do it just for the money..that it was truly your baby..The best to you in your future endevers..I look forward to THERE.COM again however it may happen..but one must move on and not just take from life but give back all one can…Wheather we have the opportunity to enjoy there again..others will and with brillant minds to make it happen..like yourself…first it has to what you want more then anythig not so much what we expect..I have picutures of all the hard work I did creating my hood and having a yacht oh and other things..they are real to me and will remain in my heart..Thank You Again. CrystaLyn1
#154 by nic madden on 2010.05.10 - 3:15 am
such a shame there is noting that touch ur world michael…many thererians lost with out there.com….hope u do well in your new ventures….
#155 by Explorer_One on 2010.05.09 - 8:06 pm
Pssst… Xbox Live avatar world.. 😉
But yea, I’ve also relegated myself to the fact that There is not re-opening. You wouldn’t have given all those refunds if there was even a slight chance I would guess.
So very sad the world is gone.