A History of the VR World

February 23, 2038:
A History of the VR World Or How Commerce, Learning and Gaming has Been Affected by the Virtual World -
By: Eugene Palintino
History 228; Sapientiam Station Orbital University
In 2024 a company by the name of Macroscene was founded in a garage in Silicon Valley, CA. It was founded by a group of wireheads who had met initially playing MMORPG's (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) during the secondary boom of online gaming in the late 2010's. Once they bonded as a gaming team they discovered they had all the necessary skills to found their own software company, and in 2024, that is exactly what they did. With Jason Miller leading the company as primary developer, the small group of software engineers, developers and one lone writer decided to, instead of building a new game for a market already full to the brim on products, create something new.
They created the Galaxy. 
What effect does this piece of VR software have on today's world? While it has ushered in a new era of communication on a multinational level, there are those who are saying that the platform is also allowing open, relatively unmonitored communications between terrorist and radical groups. Money laundering too has reached a golden age. Macroscene and Worldview Industries claim there are checks in place to stop this, but like so many other things, following the purchase of the company, all has remained in total secret. 
Built on Virtual Reality technology that first became popular in the mid-to-late 2010s; Macroscene wanted to create an interactive world for games that acted more as a platform, or lobby, than a game itself. In 2026 they launched the Galaxy, which, despite a significant enthusiastic media and fan buildup, did not take off. Some now point to problems such as the lack of launch titles, a lack of support for the project, and the cost of players needing to invest in not only the headset and gloves, but also a multi-directional treadmill. 
Despite these setbacks, and the slow release and general apathy of developers to embrace the technology, the Galaxy continued to stay online... and grow. It is now common knowledge that software and A.I. giant Worldview Industries was a major hidden investor in the project, and Kevin Rowe, CFO, has unequivocally stated that without that funding the project wouldn't have lasted six months. Two years after the Galaxy went online it had over a hundred fully interactive Virtual Reality games. By 2029 it had taken over the primary platform for gaming. Then, in 2031, Macroscene made a revolutionary deal with Harvard University, allowing students to attend their classes through the Galaxy. It only took six more months before the majority of Universities worldwide offered lesser prices to all of their classes through the platform. 
In 2034 the VR World was plugged into the global economics net. With the rise of new VR tech allowing people to create custom avatars with astonishing realism, and the widespread sale of virtual real-estate, it was a no brainer to allow economic interaction. What started as a small trickle of users having their meetings in the Virtual World has turned into a flood of people conducting their transactions through the system.
What truly opened the floodgates was the complete acquisition of Macroscene by Worldview Industries in late 2034 for an undisclosed amount. This deal has been kept in utmost secrecy for unknown reasons, but the effect was a total legitimization of VR economic activities. With new built in translation algorithms it wasn't long before the VR World was being used as a hub of activity for the economic and diplomatic sectors.
In ten years we've seen the system go from concept, to gaming platform, to a world changing product allowing previously unheard of levels of communication. The question being raised now is how this communication is being used. Reports from INTERPOL and other multinational law enforcement agencies claim that the Galaxy is being used for both massive amounts of money laundering, and free communication between criminal cells in developing nations... a claim that Macroscene abjectly denies. 
Despite the relative newness of the economic centers of the Galaxy, Community and PR liaison Renee Middleton says, "We are doing everything in our power to quell any illegal activity in what is still a burgeoning community. The Galaxy is tightly controlled, and vigorously monitored using advanced A.I. technology. All activity and translation algorithms go through our servers, and so we hear it all."
A slightly Orwellian ideology for what was once just an online platform for gaming.
Category:Sapientiam Station Orbital University
Category:2024
Category:Macroscene
Category:Jason Miller
Category:Worldview Industries
Category:2026
Category:Kevin Rowe
Category:2029
Category:2031
Category:Galaxy
Category:Harvard University
Category:2034
Category:VR World
Category:Virtual Reality
Category:Renee Middleton