Another adult MMO hits the scene: Utherverse
A new adult MMO has launched called Utherverse. Details, via Wired:
Utherverse is the company behind Red Light Center, one of the erotic MMOs launching this year (and the subject of an upcoming column). The interesting part is that Utherverse has combined its social networking site with its virtual environment. You can get to the 3D chat from the social networking pages, and vice versa. The co-branding is blatant
Sort of looks like Adult Friend Finder meets a 3D avatar chat. Anybody tried this out yet?
July 27th, 2006 • 
TD Goodliffe • 
comment | September 10, 2007 at 17:04 | individual comment-link
I tried the free trial but it seemed pointless. You couldn’t do any of the things they where bragging about. Ofcourse if you sign up and pay 20 USD a month you can I’m sure. I must say I was impressed with the graphics though a bit typical in this style of game. There where lots of interactions with other REAL PEOPLE also!
comment | January 9, 2008 at 06:15 | individual comment-link
I am a member of Redlight Center aka RLC, And have been for more then a year. I must say I love the place, I don’t mind paying the lousy 20 bucks a month cos they have a system that makes it so you really dont have to after the first few payments. You can use your rays…, points you receive for interacting with other members, logging in, and viewing and rating others profiles, to pay for your next monthly fees. I love the animations and graphics. Plus RLC is growing, they are adding new things every few months. Keeping in mind utherverse is fairly new, I’m not surprised that SL has some competition now. Imagine when RLC is really up on there feet, they have already started allowing users to buy property and rent apartments as in SL. I like SL but I’d pick RLC over SL any day! The graphics are better and it’s much less confusing to use. plus they make sure you are an adult unlike SL, where kids can come on there and see anything!
comment | January 21, 2008 at 14:11 | individual comment-link
Yeah. I have been a member there for quite a while and have seen the same old patches and glitches keep recycling. The ppl that run it don’t seem to be concerned about improving the prgm. As long as they keep getting thousands of ppl spending their $20US/month, everything is fine.
I might add that the $20/month is double what any other virtual world costs and the privileges for basic members (non-paying) aren’t as much at RLC/Utherverse as they are at the less expensive virtual worlds.
My advice is to spend your $10 at other places and save yourself the $20 that RLC/Utherverse charges.
comment | March 17, 2008 at 18:08 | individual comment-link
RLC (Lite) never worked for me, no matter what I tried. Though their promo is very interesting! Technical support “thinks” the issue is the hotspot where I access the net blocking the service which is not the case. Given the adult content others access. Signing up for ‘UV’ did not help either (Utherverse). And (I) found their reference to sex too blatent. Since they cater to those who are into the other kind of adult activity, I am not seeking (porn, eroticism and the like; hence links to such ‘adult’ sites as “Adult Friend Finder”). There’s more to an adult (social networking service) and being an adult than sex in itself. I for one seek a service like MySpace for adults 21 and up, for business also. Without the (immaturity, negativity and sexploitation) nonsense that is not supposed to be there, per their policy. RLC /VU are on to something great! IF they get it right for everyone, according to their verified profiles they customize, their avatar is built on automatically. And anyone who wants VIP access pay a one time fee. Those who seek the “other” kind of adult content should pay monthly, and be in their own environment. Or be taken to that part of (virtual) town, only they can access; with VIP just for them. So that the social networks can accomodate everyone. Including teens who can be in their own world safely (with parental control!), similar to “IMVU” (avatar based instant messenging /chat service). With verification of identity for all members; who also want to meet others in the real world, as I do….
pingback | October 6, 2008 at 06:01 | individual pingback-link
[...] thing. I was going over some of the more niche markets we were covering in the past. And in browsing, I found that Red Light Center was “Powered by [...]
comment | October 12, 2008 at 00:32 | individual comment-link
I guess my problem with it was the low end graphics… I guess I’m just a stickler for such things and for better immersion, you need better graphics. Think…. crysis
comment | November 16, 2008 at 04:27 | individual comment-link
I’ve been a member since the end of June 2008.
It’s simply put, a consumer rip-off.
The software has bugs galore in it. That means both the server software, and the client software, which easily devours about a gig of your hard drive space between the software itself, and the swap file space that it is a real glutton for.
FAR from being user friendly, it’s actually very technically intensive. It can take a new user up to a month before they become comfortable with the software enough, to use it to its fullest potential to interact with fellow users.
Research and development is carried out in an extremely slipshod manner. They have a test server where they half-bake an idea, without debugging it. Then they dump it on unsuspecting users on the mainline server (the one you pay to access), and people paying $20 a month, are left with a service that doesn’t work anywhere NEAR as well as advertised.
Their downtime, which I measure in ‘time that you can chat and interact uninterrupted at a stretch that is denied to users’, is right around 65%. In fact in the last two months alone, I can tell you that I haven’t even HAD an interaction there, that WASN’T interrupted by a client crash or server malfunction.
So, you’re paying $20 to be a beta-tester, essentially, on a client/server software package, that shouldn’t even have been made public yet, and darn sure shouldn’t be costing anyone $20 to chat on.
Customer service is an absolute disaster. Everyone from the idiot that runs the place, Brian Schuster, on down the line on their staff, is wholly and completely out of touch with their paying users. By and large their attitude is, “You will take what we give you for your $20, whether it was what we promised, or less than that, and LIKE IT, or you will LEAVE and say nothing against us.”
In a nutshell folks… I not only recommend people NEVER chat there… I recommend that people who DO chat there, band together and file a class-action lawsuit to get that fraudulent site, and it’s CEO, OFF the internet, with all of their monies refunded to them, WITH punitive damages included.
At $20 a month, which is fully six times the going rate for a chat site membership, and easily double the going rate for a 3D system… Utherverse, Virtual Vancouver, and Red Light Center, (all DBA as Utherverse, Inc with CEO listed as Brian Schuster, based in Nevada according to the Reno Better Business Bureau), is a complete rip-off to consumers, and could very easily be the losers in a civil case if it’s ever brought against them, by paying users who’ve been largely suckered into paying for something that Brian Schuster and his cronies simply do not deliver on.
For businesses who might approach or be approached by Brian Schuster and his team, about the possibility of leasing some of Brian’s ‘virtual store space’, or advertising on Utherverse’s family of servers… You’re talking about paying some pretty exorbitant prices, for a vein of advertising and customer interaction, that does NOT pan out for you. You’ll be throwing your valuable marketing dollars into the toilet and gaining little if anything back. You will most likely NOT even make back what you invested.
So… For the business owner, be they an adult business or something more mainstream… save your dough as well. You’d get more bang for your advertising dollar by printing off fliers and handing em out at the mall, than you’ll ever get from paying Utherverse, Inc to help you develop your ‘virtual 3D world online presence’.
Save your money folks… we’re at LEAST three to five years from seeing a ‘really’ good adult 3D virtual world style of chat, that works exactly as advertised on a majority of home computer systems, in a user friendly fashion.
The downturn in the economy is quite enough to force businesses to become innovative in improving their services in a cost-effective fashion, across the board. The first to feel the pinch will be the businesses that depend on people’s expendable or entertainment income. Right now, Second Life is winning the 3D race, and is enjoying Utherverse’s self inflicted decline.
comment | March 3, 2009 at 09:16 | individual comment-link
I have been a member of RLC/Utherverse for a year and a half. There tends to be drama and people attempting to inerfer with relationships that are developed in the RLC world. I can only imagine that is the way those people conduct themselves in their day to day lives. I also find that many people mistake RLC for a game. They forget that there are real people with real feelings on the other side of the monitor. This is not a killing monster game like Redmoon, Two Moons and the dozens of others like them. RLC is a 3D Adult Chat with interactive avitars. RLC has come a long way since I first became a member. Second Life may have lots of things to do but the fact that you have to pay for your bodyparts and things like a realistic walk and hair tend to make me think ….. well they claim it is free but in the long run it actually cost more then $20 USD per month to look some what realistic. The graphic load time is so slow in SL that I actually uninstalled it from my pc it frustrated me so badly. RLC on the other hand may have it’s problems but for the most part it wins my vote hands down. I have even attempted to try Jewel of Indra. After paying my 14.95 USD I could not get the download to work. I’m sorry but I actually have made some real friends in RLC and found someone I love deeply. We are not only connected in RLC but have talked and seen each other in the real world. We use RLC to bridge the miles until one day we can be together. When that day arrives we will continue to go to RLC to hang out with our friends that live all over the world. The gliches, lag and boots that we experiance are minor to the relationships that we find and develop inside the world of RLC.
comment | March 3, 2009 at 18:13 | individual comment-link
I tried for a moth, the vip membership. But I have quit because their software cannot be used in linux and more important, most of the profiles that people make are false, so it can be anyone. There is no way to verify, that a person is, who she says she is.
comment | April 19, 2009 at 20:40 | individual comment-link
i tried it last year for a month, it crashes so much that you really get frustrated, so i quit. just went back about a week ago, this is now a year later, me and my wife joined, so paying $40 a month now, a year later nothing but boots and crashes. and guess what………..it’s down now as i write this, probably about 6 hours already, all their websites everything is down, waste of money as far as i’m concerned.
comment | May 5, 2009 at 09:33 | individual comment-link
I have been a member for about 2 months now, and personally I love it. I very rarely get booted (maybe 4 times in 2 months), and have no lag at all. If you’re into designing, then you can try all your ideas out on your own Zaby. That’s the virtual apartment you own, and can decorate any way you choose. You can own as many as you want, and decorate them all. I spend a lot of time doing that, and I also spend time chatting with the many friends I have made in RLC. It’s fun, it’s different, and best of all it’s safe. I think it’s well worth the $20 a month.
comment | July 14, 2009 at 15:58 | individual comment-link
Graphic on SL aka Second Life is very good it comes to what kind of hardware your computer is packing so if you have a standard crap computer you get the not good and high performance graphics, but if you have a more powerfull computer you get everything incredible gfx where you can see the clouds move just like in real life! For RLC aka Red Light Center there is ok gfx its texture blocks BUT the worste is that the avatars have not changed since 2006 that is a shame, rlc is more for those who arent that keen on learning how things works as long as it work. With SL the user has more options you can be what you want to be even an animal or what ever only your imaginations stop you there. Back to RLC the avatars look like they all from 1 family so to me it would be like you f*** someone within your family not good at all. Also clothing in rlc is very limited 50 other people is dressed same as you, to me it was not enough i need a virtual game that let me challenge myself to make my own clothes/avatar and also evolve by learning skills as building/scripting and eventual earn money that you can actual take out in real cash. Conclusion 20 usd in 2006 is now 20 euro thats a lot for a not that advanced virtual game, where you can’t do much as a free member other than run around and nobody take interest in you. In SL you can be as naked as you wish for free and all the accessories you need is completly free of charge at many free places, if you looking for what i explained about SL check it out or if you want to check out a very limited free account where you can’t do much check out RLC.
comment | July 31, 2009 at 15:00 | individual comment-link
I’m a 2 month member of RLC or Utherverse. The program is a memory hog … and a video card disaster. But … even with a laptop running windows vista … once I disabled all the eye candy bs in vista that I wasn’t even interested in … in the first place … my lag time nearly disappeared. There are some very user unfriendly aspects to the design portion of the game … but if you look there are dozens of people willing to help you design your zaby or clothing.
I admit that the way patches are released to the world is VERY unsettling. A test server should be used to establish that it is stable before unleashing it on unsuspecting members. Server is unavailable several times a day … and that is during the hours I am actually on. Texture distribution could be integrated better so that no one has to walk around looking like a naked mannequin out of the store window.
I appreciate the goal of the program … and as the previous poster mentioned … if you want to remain VIP … all you need to do is a little work. Whether it’s rating profiles or becoming a Working Girl / Guy or designing clothing. You never have to pay cash for your membership after the first month.
It’s a wonderful 3-D community. People interact and build relationships … NOT entirely based on sex.
comment | December 7, 2009 at 12:54 | individual comment-link
WWsMstcRaven_THS that was a pretty good spam you posted there. You managed to mention RLC 11 times, while putting down every other virtual community and made it appear as though it was part of the discussion. Not bad at all. The truth is I have been a member of them all. And I find SL, RLC, and Jewel of Indra all need some work. But, of the three of them RLC is the worst. It crashed all the time. The people were rude and not friendly at all. For a while I wondered if all those avatars had any real people behind them because no one ever spoke to me even when I tried to talk to them. In SL I just got tired of the kids. I wanted to talk to adults. Jewel had adults only and less crashing. That was good but not enough people yet. I will probably check that one out again soon… give them some time to build up. But so far they get my vote.