It was 1998. We were working at the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, leading their recently founded digital department, and we got in contact with the Polytechnic of Milan because we got news that they were developing a very interesting technology that would allow the creation of 3D collaborative online worlds. We spoke with prof. Paolo Paolini, who was running the project, and he showed us a demo. It was based on VRML, a 3D modelling language to create 3D environme