[sxp]

tl;dr: "So at Simul, for the past few years we’ve been building this protocol: it’s called Teleport VR. Let’s see what we can make with it!"

An alternative view would be that HTTP(S) would be "the HTTP of VR". With WebXR and standard JS APIs for HTTPS, async fetching, WebRTC, etc, all the items listed in "Imagine an application-layer protocol for VR with the following characteristics..." are satisfied. And the stack can use battle-tested web technologies so that it can leverage standard CDNs, cloud servers, etc.

VR has some extra constraints over 2D webpages due to tighter frames per second and latency tolerances, but most of the web protocols can get you 90% of the way there.

[jayd16]

I wouldn't even say performance is all that different.

Something that is unique is the idea that a website is a single document where as a virtual website might take the form of an interactive object and/or an interactive space.

I would say it's an open question how we want these web based virtual objects to interact with each other. Would we want to physically pull a video object off the Google Drive shelf and drop it into the YouTube workstation? How would such an interaction be possible? Even if, as today, they just never speak directly, could those objects live in the same space or would each website fully immerse the user?