The actual configuration of a Palace server site is menu-driven, with a point and click, WYSIWYG interface. According to the Time-Warner documentation, many beta-testers of the software defined complete, twenty-room environments in less than an hour -- the majority of additional time having been spent on actually creating the artwork and graphics used in the site.

Today I'm nestled in "The Finch's Nest," a visually stunning Palace site developed by Lynn Finch and her multimedia development group out of Florida. I enter a pyramid portal located out on some distant, alien plain, and suddenly find myself standing before a glowing, Roman-style pool, complete with marble columns and a burbling jacuzzi.

Finchy's rooms make elegant use of The Palace's multimedia-like scripting language (called Iptscrae), an offshoot of Jim Bumgardner's Mars CD ROM Project. The Iptscrae language adds a variety of impressive effects, not only for a given Palace site, but for individual patrons themselves.

Within the world of The Palace, both rooms and patrons are seen as mere data objects -- with specific properties and abilities (capable of being augmented by Iptscrae). For example, a room can automatically add props to you when you enter (such as donning a halo in the "Cloud Room"), or greet you by name, or even alter what you say. The Time-Warner "Beach" room appends an affected (and often irritating) array of "Dude!", "Man!", and "Babe!" catch-phrases to whatever you type!

And, more full-blown multi-media effects are also possible. In one room, a television screen flickers confetti-like static. In an outdoor courtyard, fish dart skitishly beneath the glimmering surface of a Koi pond. In a stately, wood-paneled library, the command of "open sesame," moves a secret bookcase panel back with a dull thud, revealing a previously hidden entrance.