Integrating Electronic Institutions with 3D Virtual Worlds

The work described in this paper is embedded within a research project that has the principal goal of developing an instrument to support the complex interaction patterns of providers and consumers in an e-business setting. In particular, these providers and consumers, either humans or software agents, are members of a heterogeneous society cohabiting in a multi-agent based 3D virtual environment. Conceptually speaking, the environment is designed according to a three-layered architecture comprising i) the multi-agent system layer, ii) the middleware layer and iii) the visualization layer. This paper's contribution lies in the description of the design and implementation of the middleware connecting the two other layers.