From: cmcintos@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (Chip Mcintosh)
Subject: Request for Information
Date: 22 Apr 91 16:29:23 GMT
Organization: The M.F.C.T.S.: The Money For Chip To Spend foundation.



I got to work today and was kind of bored, so I thought that I
would look through my .newsrc to find a new newsgroup or so to add.
I came across this one and found one of the most pleasant surprises
I have had since I have been in college.  Let me explain why.

     I am an undergraduate computer science/philosophy major at Ohio
University,  and have begun to feel a bit concerned about my future in
the CS field, because I am seeing a lot of very standard career options
that just do not appeal to me.  I am not in computer science because I 
want to be a programmer for the rest of my life, I'm in it because I 
want to make some of my dreams come to fruition, and computer science
provides the best means to this end.

     Over the past few years I have been doing a lot of thinking about 
virtual worlds, but I have no idea which path to take so that I might
work on it.  That is why I am so surprised to find this group.  This is
one of the first times that anything has appealed to my career interests
since I have been in college, and I want to find out more.
Unfortunately, the CS department at OU is not very large/well funded, so
we basically are forced to stick to "popular interest" subjects(database
design, software engineering, minor AI, etc.), as we don't have the
funding(or the professors) for anything else.

     So what I need to know is this:  What direction do I need to point
myself in?  What types of CS classes do you think I should take(AI, 
databases, etc.) in order to get going with what I want to do.  What 
schools have good graduate programs in the area?  What corporations
are expressing interest?  Basically, what can you tell me about 
virtual worlds?  This is the first time I have heard anyone seriously
mention it besides myself, and I want to learn more.

     Any help any of you can give will be very much appreciated.  Thanks
a lot.