An amateur world will take an author 5-20 hours of work to create one hour of play time. A 10-hour amateur title is 50-200 hours of work. However, the more work you put into your world, the more fun it'll be. A high-quality world will take an author 50-200 hours of work to create one hour of play-time. People often team-up into small groups in order to reduce the work load and spread the expertise around.

You need to know how to program, but you don't need to be an expert. Before trying to create a world in CircumReality, you should have at least some experience in Java, Flash ActionScript, C, C++, C#, or another language.

Prior experience in 3D modelling is helpful, but not necessary. You will probably create 3D models for your world, but simple modelling fairly easy to learn.

The CircumReality software for running up your own world is free. However, you will need to hire a (virtual) server to run it, with costs starting at around USD $70/month. To find a list of companies, search for "dedicated hosting" on the Internet. (You could also run the software on your own home computer and broadband connection, if your ISP permits this.)

Unfortunately, it's early stages, so good tutorials aren't available yet. I'll work on them at some point in the future.

Here's a really quick tutorial:

1. Download 3D Outside the Box from http://www.mXac.com.au/m3d. This is the 3D modelling program that you'll use to create scenes.

2. In the CircumReality install directory, usually "c:\program files\mxac\CircumReality", you'll find a program, CircumRealityWorldSim.exe. Run this; it's both the world editor, and the server application.
   
   For this particular sample to work, you must install into the default location, "c:\program files\mxac\CircumReality".

3. Press the "New" button.

4. Create a project called "SampleWorld.mfp". The script (code) for the sample world is automatically included as the "Sample world" library. A few .m3d (3D scene) files are already installed in the CircumReality directory.

5. Under the Misc menu, press Compile.

6. Under the Misc menu, press Test compiled code.
   
   After the world has been compiled and built, a new window will be created, call "CircumReality world simulator". It will also display your computer's IP address, or 127.0.0.1 if it isn't connected to the internet. The window displays all of the players currently playing the game; there shouldn't be any players yet.

7. Run the CircumReality client (the application that players run). You'll find it off your Start menu, or in "c:\program files\mXac\CircumReality\CircumReality.exe".

8. In the client, select a password file and type in your password. (You could also create a new one if you don't already have a password file.)

9. Press "Try playing in a new world".

10. In the world-selection page, change the directory to where you saved SampleWorld.mfp. Then, click on the "Sample world" (Internet required, multiple players) entry; it has a ".crk" extension. Don't click on the "(No internet, single player)" one. Press "Play".
    
    You can give the SampleWorld.crk file to your friends and they can play in your world too.

11. You will be asked for the IP address. Type in the IP address that appears in the title bar of the "CircumReality world simulator".
    
    You're now playing in your own world. You'll see an entry for your character appear in the "CircumReality world server" window.

12. Afterwards, you can look through the code and help topics (accessed from the menu in the CircumReality world editor) to get an idea how to program in a world.

You can create your own text-to-speech voice(s) using the tools in 3D Outside the Box. Include these as resources in your world's project file and your world will be talking like you!

For more information on creating your own world:

• Search through http://www.Amazon.com for books on game design.

• Look at my "blog", Deeply Random Thoughts.

• Search around the web and join game-development forums, such as mud-dev2 or www.MudConnect.com.

• 3D Game Studio
• Areae
• BigWorld
• CircumReality
• Elysium
• Explorations RPG
• Fantasy Realm Online
• FieldView
• Hero Engine (Simutronics)
• Icarus Studios
• Irth Worlds
• Kaneva
• Minions of Mirth (Prairie games)
• My Dream RPG
• Multiverse
• NEL (Nevrax)
• Neverwinter nights 2
• ORE
• Planeshift
• Realmcrafter
• Second Life, and Open Second Life emulator
• SparkForge
• Toi
• Torque game engine
• vbGore
• Visual3d.net
• WorldForge

If you know of any other MMORPG development toolkits that I've missed, E-mail me.

Some of these will be easier to use than CircumReality. However, the ones that are easy-to-use are generally less flexible, resulting in player-created worlds that are all more-or-less the same.