A virtual world is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online Virtual worlds are also called "digital worlds，" "simulated worlds" and "MMOG'" There are many different types of virtual worlds， however there are six features all of them have in common: Shared Space: the world allows many users to participate at Graphical User Interface: the world depicts space visually， ranging in style from 2D "cartoon" imagery to more immersive 3D Immediacy: interaction takes place in real Interactivity: the world allows users to alter， develop， build， or submit customized Persistence: the world's existence continues regardless of whether individual users are logged Socialization/Community: the world allows and encourages the formation of in-world social groups like teams， guilds， clubs， cliques， housemates， neighborhoods， --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Virtual worlds have been created for many different The largest and most common type of virtual world is the "MMORPG" which stands for "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing G" But virtual worlds have also been built for purposes other than The following section summarizes a few ways in which virtual worlds are currently used: Commercial GamingCommercial gaming worlds tend to focus on a singular fictional theme and consistently follow formal conventions such as character-focused avatars， progression through an interactive narrative storyline， and a series of competitive Strongly influenced by fantasy， science fiction， and anime genres of literature and film， the majority of sizable virtual worlds in existence today are commercial gaming Examples include Everquest， Lineage 2， and World of W While Virtual Worlds Review includes several top-quality gaming worlds on the review list， we mostly feature worlds that fall outside the traditional gaming Fortunately there are many other great sites that contain comprehensive lists of commercial gaming Here are a few: MPOGD Gamespot Gamespy Socializing / Online Community BuildingIn addition to the traditional fantasy RPG worlds， there are many commercial community-focused virtual worlds that emphasize socializing rather than These worlds offer a more open-ended experience and are strongly influenced by the cultures of text-based chat Although small-scale， casual games may be incorporated into a social world， participants are not necessarily there to win or play a game， but rather to socialize with others and， in many cases， create and decorate a personal space such as a home， room， or Social worlds tend to use settings based on idealized versions of Most provide some basic building tools and the ability to host activities and events that revolve around a wide variety of EducationSome virtual worlds have been created for educational In most cases， educational worlds are sponsored by academic institutions or nonprofit organizations， although some educational worlds are sponsored by Educational worlds come in a wide variety of forms， including 3D recreations of museum and gallery spaces， computer programming tutorials， virtual libraries， and meeting spaces for online university Active Worlds Educational Universe is one of the oldest and largest networks of educational Adobe Atmosphere is also being used to build virtual worlds for educational A great example of a corporate-sponsored educational world is M Political ExpressionVirtual worlds can serve as forums for political expression and While real-world political issues can crop up in gaming， social， and educational worlds， there are a few cases in which completely separate virtual worlds have been built for the purpose of political debate or even experiments in various types of self-governing online A great example of a virtual world with a political focus is AgoraX Military TrainingVirtual world technologies are also being used in some interesting ways by the US America's Army is being used as a tool to recruit potential soldiers， while companies like Forterra Systems are working with military groups to develop training And this is just the As these technologies develop further over the next several years， virtual worlds will be used for all types of purposes as more people begin spending more time in If you're new to the "world of virtual worlds" we hope that Virtual Worlds Review will serve as a user-friendly， informative place to learn a bit about For those who are already familiar with virtual worlds， we hope the site will let you know about other types of worlds you may not have heard of In either case， welcome and enjoy the -------------------A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via These avatars are usually depicted as textual， two-dimensional， or three-dimensional graphical representations， although other forms are possible[1] (auditory[2] and touch sensations for example) Some， but not all， virtual worlds allow for multiple The computer accesses a computer-simulated world and presents perceptual stimuli to the user， who in turn can manipulate elements of the modeled world and thus experiences telepresence to a certain [3] Such modeled worlds may appear similar to the real world or instead depict fantasy The model world may simulate rules based on the real world or some hybrid fantasy Example rules are gravity， topography， locomotion， real-time actions， and Communication between users has ranged from text， graphical icons， visual gesture， sound， and rarely， forms using touch and balance Massively multiplayer online games commonly depict a world similar to the real world， with real world rules and real-time actions， and Communication is usually textual， with real-time voice communication using VOIP also [clarify]Virtual worlds are not limited to games but， depending on the degree of immediacy presented， can encompass computer conferencing and text based HistoryThe concept of virtual worlds predates computers and could be traced in some sense to P[5] The mechanical-based 1962 Sensorama machine used the senses of vision， sound， balance， smells and touch (via wind) to simulate its Among the earliest virtual worlds to be implemented by computers were not games but generic virtual reality simulators， such as Ivan Sutherland's 1968 virtual reality This form of virtual reality is characterized by bulky headsets and other types of sensory input Contemporary virtual worlds， multi-user online virtual environments， emerged mostly independently of this virtual reality technology research， fueled instead by the gaming industry but drawing on similar [6] While classic sensory-imitating virtual reality relies on tricking the perceptual system into experiencing an imersive environment， virtual worlds typically rely on mentally and emotionally engaging content which gives rise to an immersive The first virtual worlds presented on the Internet were communities and chat rooms， some of which evolved into MUDs and MUSH MUDs， short for “Multi User Dungeons，” are examples of virtual worlds that consist of virtual space inhabited by representations of data and other users [7] Early virtual worlds were text-based， offering limited graphical representation， and often using a Command Line IMaze War (also known as The Maze Game， Maze Wars or simply Maze) was the first networked， 3D multi-user first person shooter Maze first brought us the concept of online players as eyeball "avatars" chasing each other around in a ” (-VCF7-MazeWar/html， 29th Feb) According to the website this was in 1974， it was played on Arpanet (the initial internet)， however it could only be played on an Imlac， as it was specifically built for this type of Then in 1978 MUD was released， it however was not 3D， it was text-based and used a TELNET program， by following the link you will be able to play the game， and understand just how far virtual worlds have come since -/ You can understandably argue whether or not this is a “virtual world” and that Maze War was more sophisticated (being 3D)， but you must understand that MUD could be played by anyone， Maze War was computer Perhaps in today’s senses it is not a true virtual world， but the idea of a virtual world in those days were different (see Neuromancer link in bibliography for more information)Some early prototyptes were WorldsAway， a prototype interactive communities featuring a virtual world by CompuServe called Dreamscape， Cityspace， an educational networking and 3D computer graphics project for children， and The Palace， a 2-dimensional community driven virtual However， credit for the first online virtual world usually goes to Habitat， developed in 1987 by LucasFilm Games for the Commodore 64 computer， and running on the Quantum Link service (the precursor to America Online)[citation needed]In 1996， the city of Helsinki， Finland with Helsinki Telephone Company (since Elisa Group) launched what was called the first online virtual 3D depiction intended to map an entire The Virtual Helsinki project was eventually renamed Helsinki Arena 2000 project and parts of the city in modern and historical context were rendered in 3D[citation needed][edit] Virtual world conceptsOne perception of virtual worlds requires an online persistent world， active and available 24 hours a day and seven days a week， to qualify as a true virtual [citation needed] Although this is possible with smaller virtual worlds， especially those that are not actually online， no massively multiplayer game runs all day， every All the online games listed above[clarify] include downtime for maintenance that is not included as time passing in the virtual While the interaction with other participants is done in real-time， time consistency is not always maintained in online virtual For example， EverQuest time passes faster than real-time despite using the same calendar and time units to present game As virtual world is a fairly vague and inclusive term， the above can generally be divided along a spectrum ranging from:massively multiplayer online role-playing games or MMORPGs where the user playing a specific character is a main feature of the game (World Of Warcraft for example) massively multiplayer online real-life/rogue-like games or MMORLGs， the user can edit and alter their avatar at will， allowing them to play a more dynamic role， or multiple Some would argue that the MMO versions of RTS and FPS games are also virtual worlds if the world editors allow for open editing of the terrains if the "source file" for the terrain is Emerging concepts include basing the terrain of such games on real satellite photos， such as those available through the Google Maps API or through a simple virtual geocaching of "easter eggs" on WikiMapia or similar mashups， where [edit] BoundariesVirtual worlds are well-known as being fantasy spaces sealed off from the real world， but more careful analysis reveals that the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds is quite Participants constantly arrive and depart from the world， carrying with them their unique set of behavioral assumptions and attitudes that cannot be disentangled from their interactions in the virtual [8][clarify] For example， in virtual worlds which bring together players from multiple cultural backgrounds， a participant in a virtual world brings their own cultural preconceptions about those other cultures across the boundary into the world while The term magic circle has been used to describe the imaginary barrier between the virtual world and the real The fantasy environment of the virtual world is protected from the intrusion of real life by this magic circle， but practices such as the sale of virtual items and virtual currency for real life currency challenges this separation while reinforcing the notion that objects in the virtual world have real life In a 2001 study by Edward Castronova， the value of the currency in the MMORPG Everquest was evaluated based on its exchange rate at USD 0107， making this unit of virtual currency of higher value than the Yen or the LEven though Virtual Worlds are most of the time seen as 3D Games， there are many different kinds of it: forums， blogs， wikis and chatrooms where communities Places which have their own world， their own rules， topics， jokes， members， Each person who belongs to these kinds of communities can find like-minded people to talk to， whether this be a passion， the wish to share information about or just to meet new people and experience new Some users develop a double personality depending on which world they are interacting Depending on whether that person is in the real or virtual world can impact on the way they think and It is not all about video games and communities， virtual world also plays a part in the social as it can allow people to speak or share knowledge with each Best examples are instant messaging and visio-conferences which allow people to create their own virtual It can also be used to help hospitalized children (suffering from painful disease or autism for example) to create a comfortable and safe environment which can help Although Virtual Worlds can be seen as a new way for people to socialize， they are said to be at the heart of a lot of anti-social People playing video games online and more precisely， MMORPG are sometimes so addicted to the game that they cannot live without playing Such people are called “No Life” or Otaku and spend most of their time in their house not leaving it for They are often wrongly treated like insane people and also represented as dangerous when criminal cases imply links with video The thing is that video games played online are most of the time designed to be played for a long period of time (and even in the case of World Of Warcraft indefinitely – programmers provide updates and new things to discover regularly) People who abuse this kind of video games end up living most of their live in their bedrooms， do not develop any social life or skills: they communicate with friends mostly via the game or the internet， they create their own life on the internet with a specific name， image and The example of Second Life is totally unique because players develop communities and businesses in this Second Life is a game where the player has to create his/her own character with a human aspect and live a second life in a virtual The thing is that some people are so involved in this game (and created their “own self” in this game) that they have a double
