This was the heyday of VRML, developed by two friends Tony Parisi and Mark Pesce. It was also the peak of the multimedia boom. San Francisco's SOMA district was abuzz with design firms authoring interactive CD titles and games for entertainment and education, promotion and profit. And there was an intense desire to push the Web in an equally interactive, richer new direction. VRML was a means to this end, 3D for the Web.
Low polygon counts, compressed textures, simple landscapes and rich promises.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite catch at the mainstream level. The tools for creating VRML were complex and few, the browsers were finicky, and bandwidth was at a premium with 14.4 and 28.8 modems everywhere. Today, bandwidth has expanded, 3D tools are powerful, affordable and easy to use, browsers have become robust and stable, and rich media is transforming the Web. There are several players and many interests, yet only a handful of tools. Poser users have already demonstrated a great interest in communities and community building.