Vitural Worlds: What are they?

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts-William Shakespeare

A virtual at its core is a simulated reality where people can interact with each other through player made representations(sometimes referred to as Avatars). within these realities people can interact, form social groups and bond and create communities just as if they were communicating in everyday life. This worlds can range from simplistic socializing programs such as Second Life, to worlds of intense complexity and competition as with the online RPG genre. All these worlds are linked however by a common theme of player interaction and communication, which is a a central element of the virtual world.

In Future posts we will look at

-Popular virtual worlds and their appear.
-Virtual world economics and their affects on player interaction.
-Entertainment vs Education, what types of virtual worlds provide educational value.
-Offline virtual worlds, can AI interaction make up for lack of player interaction?

www.eecs.harvard.edu/~nesson/e4/ed-vw-1.0.pdf-follow link for more information