Entities
Entities represent people and groups on a world operator's network. A connected user has a Connection Identity which keeps track of the set of Entities the user belongs to at any given time.
Contents
Entities and Permissions
Entities are one of two types of securable objects; the other being Worldspace. Entities can be granted Permissions on these securable objects (Worldspace or other Entities). The securable object hierarchy looks like this:
- Securable (permissions are applied "on" a securable)
- Entity (permissions are applied "for" an entity)
- Account
- Persona
- EntityGroup
- DynamicGroup
- Area (Worldspace)
- ServiceProvider
- World
- Scene
- SceneInstance
- Layer
- AreaGroup
- Entity (permissions are applied "for" an entity)
Permissions are applied on some securable, for some entity. For example "DrDoom has Enter permission on the Evil Lair scene". In this case DrDoom is a Persona entity and they have Enter permission on the Evil Lair scene (which is a securable)
Types Of Entities
Account
An account represents a person in the real world with an account on the Virtual World Web. At any given time, a user's Connection Identity will reflect exactly one account; the account they used to authenticate.
Persona
A persona represents an avatar or character owned by an account. An account can have many personae, and each persona can be owned by only one account. At any given time, a user's Connection Identity will reflect one or no persona, depending on whether they are currently embodied as a Participant of an Instance.
Entity Group
An entity group is a collection of other entities, possibly including other entity groups, or dynamic groups. Entity groups allow you to form complex hierarchies and groupings of accounts and personae so that Permissions can be applied in useful ways (see Controlling Access)
Dynamic Group
A dynamic group is a run-time group that a user's Connection Identity can be joined to for whatever reason. For example, if a zombie plague was spreading through your game world, users could be joined to a dynamic group Infected by a Script or Component. Being a member of this group might prevent you entering some protected area of the world, or change some aspect of your character's behavior or appearance.
