Welcome to the Onverse Wiki! Onverse was a fun, populated, and free virtual world that was closed down January 7, 2018 shortly after the fiscal year of 2017 ended. The website was replaced with a message blaming hackers for the shutdown and informed readers to check back for updates, eventually expired, and is now in use for unrelated purposes. Feel free to join the community on Discord to connect with other former players and share memories. Thank you for visiting and hopefully you will learn new information about Onverse that you didn't know before!
Onverse, LLC
Onverse, LLC is a privately held company that was founded in late 2006 by the late Stephen M. Pierce II, former Design Manager for Sony Online Entertainment. He had grown tired of the corporate environment and felt he was "ready to build his own world". Development of the online world began in late 2007 when Pierce was able to convince an engineer, Wesley Macdonald, to take on the project as Chief Technology Officer. The staff soon expanded with the addition of Eric Hoefer (an artist), Ben Steele (an animator), and Scott Mitting (a web developer). After 18 months, the Windows client opened to a public beta on June 15, 2009. On August 6, 2009, the Mac OS X client was also opened to the public.
After 2009, Onverse downsized its development team and focused on marketing and financing opportunities. Scott and Ben moved onto other opportunities and Onverse took on a community manager and investor named Johana Schmitz to grow the guide team and provide support for world-building. Wesley moved to a consultant role after 2011.
The Game
Onverse was a free 3D virtual world, social network and gaming platform developed by Onverse, LLC. Its name is a portmanteau of "online" and "universe." Onverse is built on top of a highly modified version of the Torque Game Engine. Using Torque means it was available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux operating systems. The game can be run with high or low-detail graphics. High-detail produces better images, whereas low-detail reduces lag on less powerful computers. The patching system was developed in house, allowing it to be compatible with many operating systems and have frequent updates.
The Players
In Onverse, you would send requests to befriend another player, and they had the option to accept or decline your request. You could also right click an avatar to access a menu of choices of Teleport, Ignore, Add, Profile (Web), and Home. You could access this same list of options by left clicking their name in the chat box.
The World
The game had an open map style system where players were free to move about and interact with other players. There were places to explore and hang out with other players. Players could view the world from their current position by moving their camera around their avatar, or free-looking in the "equip mode". There were also items in the world that players could interact with such as chairs, animation points, doors, and lights. However, the world was not full of interactive physicals, and couldn't be modified by player action outside of users' homes.
Currency
Onverse's economy was supported with two currencies; those were Player Points and Cash Coins.
Player Points
Player Points (PPs) were used to buy various different items such as clothing, furniture, pets, homes, and rare items. Items purchasable for Player Points are indicated in stores with a blue or red glow beneath them. Player Points could be found in Onverse by using basic tools free of charge. They could also be collected with more advanced tools that cost a certain amount of Player Points or Cash Coins. You could use these tools to activate objects such as rocks, trashcans, butterflies, etc. for a random amount of Player Points. These objects were found throughout the world of Onverse. You can see a list of all Player Point Targets by clicking here. There were also games you could use to earn more player points, like Icefall, or you could participate in events and if you won you earn a certain amount of PP (usually 2,500pp). Amounts of pp you coul earn while pp hunting were 1, 5, 10, 25, though you could also earn rare amounts like 50, 100, and even 1000.
Cash Coins
Cash Coins (CCs) were used to buy premium items, higher quality clothing and furniture, larger homes, and a wider selection of anything that could be bought for Player Points. Items worth Cash Coins are indicated in stores with a yellow or gold glow beneath them. These were bought on the website with real money, awarded for winning a competition/event hosted by the Guide Team, or awarded for completing special offers on the website. Furthermore, Cash Coins could be converted in-game through Seymour the PP Dealing Duck into Player Points (with a 1:10 ratio), and found while PP hunting in Gold Keys and Canned Food worth CCs.
Payment Options
- Credit/Debit Card: Supported cards included MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and Visa.
- PayPal: Third-party PayPal would let you purchase Cash Coins as well, keeping your Credit/Debit card information secure.
- Gift Cards: Purchased at your local convenience store (Pharmacy Store, Grocery Store, Restaurant, or a Gas Station). Ultimate Pay eventually went out of business, however some offers let you use gift cards for less CC verses a Prepaid Credit Card.
- PayByCash: Originally available by mailing a money order to Onverse, LLC located in Tempe, Arizona.
The Guide Team
There were three types of Guides on Onverse. These Guides were responsible for keeping control of the community, answering questions, and showing new people around. Guides were not hired by Onverse, although they did represent the main front in customer support for Onverse (in-game). They had their own chat channel in-game through which players could ask questions, report or ask for help. You can find a list of them by clicking here.
Guides
The Guide Team comprised of users who had been selected from the community to act as "customer service" for players in Onverse. Guides answered questions through guide chat as well as ensured that players in Onverse were following the Terms of Use. Guides had moderation powers and were chosen to be promoted by the Community Managers. They were in charge of hosting events and moderating Onverse. Their names appeared as yellow in Onverse and red in the Forums.
Senior Guides
Senior Guides had more responsibilities in the Guide Team. They had the same responsibilities as guides and each had a team of guides under them that they managed, ensuring that every guide had a leader to confide in. In addition, Senior Guides often had extra roles they were in charge of, such as forums and events, as well as training new guides. Their names appeared as purple in Onverse and red in the Forums.
Community Managers
There were normally 5-7 Community Managers in Onverse. They were promoted to maintain the community by the developers, especially by leading the Guide Team. They also promoted, demoted, removed and added guides to the guide team. Their names appeared as salmon pink in Onverse and blue in the Forums.
The Staff
There were technically three employees working for Onverse, LLC upon closure. They were the developers of Onverse. Their names appeared in blue in Forums and a lighter blue in Onverse.
Development Team
Besides the CEO, StevEO, there were three developers associated with Onverse. Their in-game names were: Eslayer, Wes and Timber. Each of these employees have been working with Onverse since before Onverse was released to the public in Beta (excluding Timber). Two other developers also used to be employed at Onverse, which are Ben and Smitting.
Upon the passing of the Founder and CEO of Onverse, Stephen M. Pierce II (StevEO), ownership of Onverse, LLC was passed onto his wife, Amilyn Davidson Pierce. Her in-game name was MrsStevEO. She was the CEO for just under 3 years until it shut down.
Check the list of Developers for more information.