Have a Mingle
At HEXUS we relish the opportunity to try out new software, so when we were approached by Vancouver startup Mingleverse, which hosts virtual meeting spots for up to 50 people offering 3D voice, within a web-based 3D visual environment, we decided to see what it was all about.
Mingleverse essentially offers people web based venues to meet, socialise and even watch media together, as a group, in an attempt to almost replicate the experience of being in the same room as the other Minglers, no matter where they are in the world.
After creating their own Avatar on the site, users can enter a Mingle Room on the site - either their own or someone else's - and get chatting. The service can connect from as little as two to as many as 50 people at a time, with all being able to take part in what the firm describes as "natural, clear conversation and simultaneous media sharing."
Having tried it out, it's true that the audio is remarkably crisp, something the firm's founder and CEO, Ron Stevens, puts down to 3D high quality voice technology, which he says is the first on offer inside a browser-based 3D visual environment.
Launched back in September 2009 as a beta service, the firm already has a multitude of ideas about how to monetize Mingleverse as it starts to take off, notably in charging users to enter 'private mingles'.
The firm has already entered a partnership with a Canadian hockey team so that fans can 'meet' the players after a game and discuss strategy with their favourite players. Disney has also purportedly shown an interest in working with the firm to allow kids to interact with their most loved characters. Even CBS is on board.
Once the service becomes popular, Stevens says people may even want to approach advertisers to put up ads in their mingle rooms and charge for it.