InterSpace

Interactive Networked Tele-Presence and Shared 3D Environment.

In the dawn of the internet’s evolution from static pages to immersive experiences, InterSpace stood as an early vision of virtual worlds — a pioneering experiment in real-time networked 3D environments developed under the auspices of telecommunications innovators in the late 1990s. By combining spatial navigation, avatars, and shared communication, InterSpace offered users a glimpse of what online interaction could become when transcending text chat and hyperlinks.

Participants entered a persistent virtual space where they could move freely, meet others, and engage in real-time conversations and activities — foreshadowing the social and collaborative universes that would follow in the decades to come. With support for interactive virtual presence, object scripting, user directories, and multimedia integration, InterSpace was a precursor to the metaverse — a formative chapter in the history of digital worlds that laid early groundwork for communal exploration beyond the physical plane.