Virtual world
Encyclopedia
A virtual world is an online community
that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment
through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of avatar
s visible to others. These avatars usually appear as textual, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional
representations, although other forms are possible (auditory and touch sensations for example). In general, virtual worlds allow for multiple users.
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 experience a degree of telepresence
. Such modeled worlds and their rules may draw from the reality
or fantasy worlds. Example rules are gravity, topography
, locomotion
, real-time
actions, and communication
. Communication between users can range from text, graphical icons, visual gesture, sound, and rarely, forms using touch, voice command, and balance senses.
Massively multiplayer online game
s depict a wide range of worlds, including those based on fantasy
, science fiction
, the real world
, super heroes, sports, horror
, and historical
milieus. The most common form of such games are fantasy worlds, whereas those based on the real world are relatively rare. Many MMORPGs have real-time actions and communication
. Players create a character who travels between buildings, towns, and worlds to carry out business or leisure activities. Communication is usually textual, but real-time voice communication is also possible. The form of communication used can substantially affect the experience of players in the game.
Virtual worlds are not limited to games but, depending on the degree of immediacy presented, can encompass computer conferencing and text based chatrooms. Sometimes, emoticons or 'smilies' are available, to show feeling or facial expression. Emoticons often have a keyboard shortcut. Edward Castronova
is an economist who has argued that "synthetic worlds" is a better term for these cyberspaces, but this term has not been widely adopted.
, who expressed one of the earliest recorded interests in perceptual illusion. In the twentieth century, the cinematographer Morton Heilig
explored the creation of the Sensorama
, a theatre experience designed to stimulate the senses of the audience—vision, sound, balance, smell, even touch (via wind)--and so draw them more effectively into the productions
Among the earliest virtual worlds implemented by computers were virtual reality
simulators, such as the work of Ivan Sutherland
. Such devices are characterized by bulky headsets and other types of sensory input simulation. Contemporary virtual worlds, in particular the multi-user online environments, emerged mostly independently of this research, fueled instead by the gaming industry but drawing on similar inspiration. While classic sensory-imitating virtual reality relies on tricking the perceptual system into experiencing an immersive environment, virtual worlds typically rely on mentally and emotionally engaging content which gives rise to an immersive experience.
Maze War (also known as The Maze Game, Maze Wars or simply Maze) was the first networked, 3D multi-user first person shooter game. Maze introduced the concept of online players in 1973-1974 as "eyeball 'avatars' chasing each other around in a maze.” It was played on ARPANET
, or Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, a precursor to the Internet funded by the United States Department of Defense
for use in university and research laboratories. The initial game could only be played on an Imlac
, as it was specifically designed for this type of computer.
The first virtual worlds presented on the Internet
were communities and chat room
s, some of which evolved into MUD
s and MUSH
es. The first MUD, known as MUD1
, was released in 1978. The acronym originally stood for Multi-User Dungeon, but later also came to mean Multi-User Dimension and Multi-User Domain. A MUD is a virtual world with many players interacting in real time. The early versions were text-based, offering only limited graphical representation and often using a Command Line Interface. Users interact in role-playing or competitive games by typing commands and can read or view descriptions of the world and other players. Such early worlds began the MUD heritage that eventually led to massively multiplayer online role-playing game
s, more commonly known as MMORPGs, a genre of role-playing games in which a large number of players interact within a virtual world.
Some prototype virtual worlds were WorldsAway
, a two-dimensional chat environment where users designed their own avatars; Dreamscape, an interactive community featuring a virtual world by CompuServe
; Cityspace
, an educational networking and 3D computer graphics project for children; and The Palace
, a 2-dimensional community driven virtual world. 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).
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 city. 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.
; in other words, the world must continue to exist even after a user exits the world, and user-made changes to the world should be preserved. As defined by Mark W. Bell at Indiana University
, a virtual world is a "synchronous, persistent network of people, represented as avatars, facilitated by networked computers." While the interaction with other participants is done in real-time, time consistency is not always maintained in online virtual worlds. For example, EverQuest time passes faster than real-time despite using the same calendar and time units to present game time.
As virtual world is a fairly vague and inclusive term, the above can generally be divided along a spectrum ranging from:
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 shared. 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 permitted.
is the emergent property of the interaction between participants in a virtual world. While the designers have a great deal of control over the economy by the encoded mechanics of trade, it is nonetheless the actions of players that define the economic conditions of a virtual world. The economy arises as a result of the choices that players make under the scarcity of real and virtual resources such as time or currency. Participants have a limited time in the virtual world, as in the real world, which they must divide between task such as collecting resources, practicing trade skills, or engaging in less productive fun play. The choices they make in their interaction with the virtual world, along with the mechanics of trade and wealth acquisition, dictate the relative values of items in the economy. The economy in virtual worlds is typically driven by in-game needs such as equipment, food, or trade goods. Virtual economies like that of Second Life
, however, are almost entirely player-produced with very little link to in-game needs.
The value of objects in a virtual economy is usually linked to their usefulness and the difficulty of obtaining them. The investment of real world resources (time, membership fees, etc.) in acquisition of wealth in a virtual economy may contribute to the real world value of virtual objects. This real world value is made obvious by the trade of virtual items on online market sites like eBay
. Recent legal disputes also acknowledge the value of virtual property, even overriding the mandatory EULA which many software companies use to establish that virtual property has no value and/or that users of the virtual world have no legal claim to property therein.
Some industry analysts have moreover observed that there is a secondary industry growing behind the virtual worlds, made up by social networks, websites and other projects completely devoted to virtual worlds communities and gamers. Special websites as GamerDNA
, Koinup
and others which serve as social networks for virtual worlds users are facing some crucial issue as the DataPortability
of avatar
s across many virtual worlds and MMORPGs.
Furthermore, economical actors are interested by virtual world like 3D video games, instant messaging, search engines and blogs because these are places where they can display targeted advertising, adapted to the people who will see it. Projects about coming video games planned to include advertisements inside the 3D environment.
This is the same with research being carried out in virtual worlds. It is an ever increasing way for business and governments to use the resources to gather and collate information for their use.
Research for information systems purposes is being carried out in virtual worlds for the look in open sourcing, providing tools without the need for sponsorship of corporate businesses. It provides a look into the virtual world creation and how it is able to spread itself around the internet for different people from different countries to interact and provide information. It provides an insight how people find the information and how that information is being used by different people.
Governments are also beginning to interact in virtual worlds and are a discussion point for some in terms of governance and law. Virtual world is neither public nor private owned. It is the people interacting in it that make the world. Governments research into the use of virtual worlds by people as some have virtual property, amounting to a second life online in another world. This is where governments have to look into if it is viable or even feasible for them to tax those with a second life to govern them with taxes and laws. State of Play
is an annual conference sponsored by the Institute for Information Law & Policy at New York Law School; since 2003 the conference has investigated the intersection of virtual worlds, games and the law.
Research in psychology has also been proposed and conducted in virtual worlds with key focus of the use of the innovative platform. Bloomfield (2007) has suggested that virtual worlds may be useful for examining human behaviour and traditional internet-world constructs (alongside other fields). For example, Doodson (2009) reported that offline- and virtual-world personality are significantly differ from each other but are still significantly related which has a number of implications for Self-verification, Self-enhancement
and other personality theories
. Similarly, panic and agoraphobia have also been studied in a virtual world
, for example, is a children's virtual world that tracks chores via customizable chore charts and lets children get involved in their household duties offline. They complete chores and use the website and virtual world to keep track of their progress and daily tasks.
s, virtual worlds are usually navigated (as of 2009) using HIDs which are designed and oriented around flat, 2-dimensional graphical user interface
s; as most comparatively-inexpensive computer mice
are manufactured and distributed for 2-dimensional UI navigation, the lack of 3D-capable HID usage among most virtual world users is likely due to both the lack of penetration of 3D-capable devices into non-niche, non-gaming markets as well as the generally-higher pricing of such devices compared to 2-dimensional HIDs. Even those users who do make use of HIDs which provide such features as six degrees of freedom
often have to switch between separate 3D and 2D devices in order to navigate their respectively-designed interfaces.
Like video gamers, users of virtual world clients may also have a difficult experience with the necessity of proper graphics hardware (such as the more advanced graphics processing unit
s distributed by Nvidia
and AMD
) for the sake of reducing the frequency of less-than-fluid graphics instances in the navigation of virtual worlds.
Systems that have been designed for a social application include:
for example) to create a comfortable and safe environment which can expand their situation, experience interactions (when you factor in the involvement of a multiple cultures and players from around the world) they may not have been able to experience without a virtual world, healthy or sick. Virtual worlds also enable them to experience and act beyond the restrictions of their illness and help to relieve stress. Disabled or chronically invalided people of any age can also benefit enormously from experiencing the mental and emotional freedom gained by temporarily leaving their disabilities behind and doing, through the medium of their avatars, things as simple and potentially accessible to able, healthy people as walking, running, dancing, sailing, fishing, swimming, surfing, flying, skiing, gardening, exploring and other physical activities which their illnesses or disabilities prevent them from doing in real life. They may also be able to socialise, form friendships and relationships much more easily and avoid the stigma and other obstacles which would normally be attached to their disabilities. This can be much more constructive, emotionally satisfying and mentally fulfilling than passive pastimes such as television watching, playing computer games, reading or more conventional types of internet use.
Psychologically virtual worlds can help players become more familiar and comfortable with actions they may in real-life feel reluctant or embarrassed. For example, in World of Warcraft, /dance is the emote for a dance move which a player in the virtual world can "emote" quite simply. And a familiarization with said or similar "emotes" or social skills (such as, encouragement, gratitude, problem-solving, and even kissing) in the virtual world via avatar can make the assimilation to similar forms of expression, socialization, interaction in real life smooth. Interaction with humans through avatars in the virtual world has potential to seriously expand the mechanics of one's interaction with real-life interactions.
Many companies and organizations now incorporate virtual worlds as a new form of advertising. There are many advantages to using these methods of commercialization. An example of this would be Apple creating an online store within “Second Life”. This allows the users to browse the latest and innovative products. You cannot actually purchase a product but having these “virtual stores” is a way of accessing a different clientele and customer demographic. The use of advertising within "virtual worlds" is a relatively new idea. This is because Virtual Worlds is a relatively new technology. Before companies would use an advertising company to promote their products. With the introduction of the prospect of commercial success within a Virtual World, companies can reduce cost and time constraints by keeping this "in-house". An obvious advantage is that it will reduce any costs and restrictions that could come into play in the real world.
Using virtual worlds gives companies the opportunity to gauge customer reaction and receive feedback. Feedback can be crucial to the development of a project as it will inform the creators exactly what users want.
Using virtual worlds as a tool allows companies to test user reaction and give them feedback on products. This can be crucial as it will give the companies an insight as to what the market and customers want from new products, which can give them a competitive edge. Competitive edge is crucial in the ruthless world that is today's business.
Another use of virtual worlds in business is where you can create a gathering place. Many businesses can now be involved in business-to-business commercial activity and will create a specific area within a virtual world to carry out their business. Within this space all relevant information can be held. This can be useful for a variety of reasons. You can conduct business with companies on the other side of the world, so there are no geographical limitations, it can increase company productivity. Knowing that there is an area where help is on hand can aid the employees. Sun Microsystems have created an island in second life dedicated for the sole use of their employees. This is a place where people can go and seek help, exchange new ideas or to advertise a new product.
According to trade media company Virtual Worlds Management, commercial investments in the "virtual worlds" sector were in excess of USD 425 million in Q4 2007, and totaled USD 184 million in Q1 2008. However, the selection process for defining a "virtual worlds" company in this context has been challenged by one industry blog.
The customer will access (usually via Internet) the shop : this is called E-commerce. The website has an obligation to show the state of business, the postal address (proof of geographical location) and a way to contact them directly (phone or email address). The website does not have to show the price of sold product. If prices are shown, then they must be displayed clearly, The differences between the product price with taxes and delivery costs must also be clear.
The goods are usually displayed thanks to one/many pictures, in which the seller should specify “Caveat Emptor”, which signifies in Latin “Buyer Beware”. That means the buyer might not receive exactly the same product that is displayed on the picture. The sold goods must be presented with a minimum of extra information: full reference, maker (if different from the seller), technical information. The accepted payment modes should be displayed before the subscription/registration.
Concerning delivery, information cannot be sent by another way than the website itself. After the transaction is complete, it is the responsibility of the seller to achieve delivery correctly. The full details must be displayed: including extra charges for customer (in case off-country delivery, unusual weight). The delay must be precise (it cannot be exact, so give an idea, i.e. “one week”).
No modification about the delay, price or delivery mode can be made after concluding the contract. The contract is defined by the terms and conditions. The customer cannot buy the goods without accepting it; Unfortunately, it is often written in really small print and not really easy to read. These terms and conditions define the customer rights, for example these to cancel contract.
Canceling the contract: The customer has the right to cancel a contract concluded on-line by giving written-notice to the seller. The customer has seven days after the day when he receives goods. The customer can simply change his mind, so is allowed to cancel without justification.
As stated above, there are laws governing the purchasing and selling of products within a e-commerce environment. When it comes to virtual worlds, such as Second Life then there are no laws which you have to abide by. In some ways this can be seen as a positive thing, it gives users complete freedom to carry out their business or pleasure activities, with the knowledge that there are no repercussions. On the other hand there are downsides of course, people have moral, social and ethical responsibilities to other users. Whether this is keeping information up to date, or avoiding fraud. Even with these basic responsibilities to others, some people may take advantage of a situation such as this.
The lax rules surrounding taxation and e-commerce regulations on the popular game Second Life can be both a blessing and a curse. As seen in the example of Ginko Financial, a bank system featured in Second Life where avatars could deposit their real life currency after converted to Linden Dollars for a profit. When in July 2007 residents of Second Life crowded around the ATM's in an unsuccessful attempt to withdraw their money. After a few days the ATM's along with the banks disappeared altogether. Around $700,000 in real world money was reported missing from residents in Second Life. An investigation was launched but nothing substantial ever came of finding and punishing the avatar known as Nicholas Portacarrero who was the head of Ginko Financial.
s
(NPC). Many of these allow you to save the current state of this world instance to allow stopping and restarting the virtual world at a later date. (This can be done with some multiplayer environments as well.)
The virtual worlds found in video games are often split into discrete level
s.
Virtual worlds represent a powerful new media for instruction and education that presents many opportunities but also some challenges. Persistence allows for continuing and growing social interactions, which themselves can serve as a basis for collaborative education. The use of virtual worlds can give teachers the opportunity to have a greater level of student participation. It allows users to be able to carry out tasks that could be difficult in the real world due to constraints and restrictions, such as cost, scheduling or location. Virtual worlds have the capability to adapt and grow to different user needs, for example, classroom teachers are able to use virtual worlds in their classroom leveraging their interactive whiteboard
with the open source
project Edusim
. They can be a good source of user feedback, the typical paper-based resources have limitations that Virtual Worlds can overcome.
Virtual world can also be used with virtual learning environment
s, as in the case of what is done in the Sloodle project, which aims to merge Second Life
with Moodle
.
Virtual worlds allow users with specific needs and requirements to be able to access and use the same learning materials from home, as they would be receiving if they were in the presentation. This can help users to keep up to date with the relevant information and needs while also feeling as though involved. Having the option to be able to attend a presentation via a virtual world from home or from their workplace, can help the user to be more at ease and comfortable. The flexibility of virtual worlds have greatly improved the options for student study and business collaboration. Although virtual worlds are a good way of communicating and interacting between students and teachers, this is not a substitute for actual face-to-face meetings. When using virtual worlds, there are the downsides in that you lose the body language and other more personal aspects.
as the first virtual world explicitly designed to engage young students in a wide range of educational activities. With a player base of over 3 million. Whyville
has been particularly successful in attracting young teens.
With respect to older students, a growing number of universities such as the open university and other educational institutions are exploring existing general purpose virtual world platforms as a means to extend and enhance their offerings to students. Typically, educators create an online presence where students can interact, using their avatars to learn about new assignments or create projects that are viewable within the virtual world. For example, students taking a computer manufacturing class can log into a virtual world in which they are the inhabitants of a burgeoning village that needs their expertise for the construction of houses, furniture, machines, and other goods. A number of educational institutions are now running virtual classrooms and discussion sections in worlds like Second Life
.
Technologies can sometimes take up to 10 years to become fully incorporated within everyday life. For virtual worlds to be accepted, then it is vital that teachers and students alike adapt to new ideas and technologies and use them to their full potential and become a useful tool in education (Yukiko Inoue, Effects of virtual reality support compared to video support in a high-school world geography class). The best idea for a more complete and wider variety in learning techniques is to integrate both paper based and technology based methods. In 2005 Languagelab.com
was established to teach languages solely though virtual worlds, and today reports more than 5000 students from 80 different countries making larger than most brick and mortar language schools.
environment for the training of employees
for which it represents an excellent venue.
In particular, virtual worlds environment (such as Second Life
) have been used in business schools as an extension of the classroom
. In some other cases virtual worlds have been used for creating business game
s .
Since the growth of the Internet, employees have been able to learn and to follow online trainings. This is a major breakthrough and helps to overcome problems such as distance, infrastructure or appointment. There are different methods in which this can be carried out: Video Conferencing is probably the most common tool. People can stay in their office to attend a live conference or a recorded meeting. This new way of training raises some questions: Is virtual training as effective as real trainings? Are people happy with virtual training
and does this method encourage people to learn?
Using technologies can affect people's behaviour in many ways. First of all they can seem more interested in using virtual modes as a study method and because of this their learning satisfactions can be higher when compared to traditional classroom techniques. Despite the fact that people are not in a face to face meeting and thus are not creating social links, the efficiency is not really affected. Actually, adults need this autonomy and need to learn by themselves with more self-direction than younger students.
Virtual training has a lot of advantages compared to the traditional classroom and meetings. Thanks to the rise of the Internet people can now interact with the information through a more user-friendly environment which allows them a greater level of involvement and creativity. A large number of websites offer tutorials and the possibility to test user knowledge with interactive online tests (using multiple choice questions). Virtual training is not so different from usual training in terms of content. Thus, it is not difficult to adapt the existing course to fit with virtual tools. This of course would not only save the company time but also money (no flight, accommodation costs etc.).
Virtual training is becoming a more widely accepted form of training and is being used more often. One example is made by the INSR-Institute competence in the area of occupational risk prevention: protecting workers’ health and safety and preventing occupational accidents or diseases. They have created a program to warn people about the chemical risk of products using interactive support. INSR used 3D environment show clearly a professional situation and involve people through this interactive support.
In addition to the use of virtual training, virtual reality can also provide useful tools. One of the widest uses of this technology is maybe the use of 3D environment to allows virtual visits. The concept is used by many companies and is usually divided into two purposes. The main use for a company is to provide a virtual preview of their tour. Moreover some public places allow free access to their facilities, thus allows people who cannot visit the location for real are due to personal constraints, are able to visit virtually. This allows an easy access to knowledge and it becomes a real alternative to video or picture.
Due to the ease of learning brought by the spread of virtual worlds, learning may become lifelong and the curriculum is in perpetual evolution (David Davies, The virtual university: a learning university), each employee being able to learn through virtual world, no matter where he lives or how old he is.
) for decades. Among the most prominent virtual worlds in the literature are the ones written about by William Gibson
. Virtual worlds were prominent in such movies and books as Tron
, Neuromancer
, The Lawnmower Man, The Lawnmower Man 2, Epic, Snow Crash
, .Hack//Sign
, Real Drive
, Summer Wars
, The Matrix
and Ghost in the Shell
. There are many other examples of the virtual world; for example Lyoko in the French animated television series Code Lyoko
.
Series 4 of the smash hit New Zealand TV series, The Tribe featured the birth of Reality Space and the Virtual World that was created by Ram, the computer genius leader of The Techno's.
In 2009, BBC Radio 7 commissioned Planet B
, set in a virtual world in which a man searches for his girlfriend, believed to be dead, but in fact still alive within the world, called "Planet B". The series is the currently the biggest ever commission for an original drama series.
Rita J. King, CEO of Dancing Ink Productions, a strategic creative content development and research company, believes virtual worlds will augment what she calls "the Digital Culture."
"I envision virtual worlds evolving for business and cultural development as the medium becomes more ubiquitous."
"Chatting in a two-dimensional platform can be fun, informative and valuable," argued King. "But co-creating and inhabiting a three-dimensional space that can then be collaborated upon cannot be matched. This allows people to 'be together' despite geographical location, age, gender, ethnic or sociopolitical affiliation."
"But interactions will only be as developed as the imaginations and motivations of the people involved."
Ideally, King believes we will move to a position where people can augment their physical lives with virtual realities. This may ultimately affect our perceptions of physical 'wants'.
"Things change and develop so fast," Nergiz Kern, an English language educator inside Second Life, told IOL. "But I think virtual worlds will become as normal as the internet is now. Most people who are online will have an avatar and use VW [virtual worlds] for all kinds of activities from meeting and chatting with friends to learning and doing business."
Wasko, Teigland, Leidner, & Jarvenpaa question how virtual worlds will affect our traditional economic and governance models and argue that firms, governments and leaders should pay attention to their development as they may lead to a "mobility" of labor that may impact national and organizational competitiveness in a way similar to the way that first the mobility of goods and then the mobility of labor impacted competitiveness.
Online community
An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted...
that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment
Computer simulation
A computer simulation, a computer model, or a computational model is a computer program, or network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system...
through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of avatar
Avatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
s visible to others. These avatars usually appear as textual, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
representations, although other forms are possible (auditory and touch sensations for example). In general, virtual worlds allow for multiple users.
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 experience a degree of telepresence
Telepresence
Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance of being present, or to have an effect, via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location....
. Such modeled worlds and their rules may draw from the reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
or fantasy worlds. Example rules are gravity, topography
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
, locomotion
Animal locomotion
Animal locomotion, which is the act of self-propulsion by an animal, has many manifestations, including running, swimming, jumping and flying. Animals move for a variety of reasons, such as to find food, a mate, or a suitable microhabitat, and to escape predators...
, real-time
Real-time computer graphics
Real-time computer graphics is the subfield of computer graphics focused on producing and analyzing images in real time. The term is most often used in reference to interactive 3D computer graphics, typically using a GPU, with video games the most noticeable users...
actions, and communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
. Communication between users can range from text, graphical icons, visual gesture, sound, and rarely, forms using touch, voice command, and balance senses.
Massively multiplayer online game
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
s depict a wide range of worlds, including those based on fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, the real world
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
, super heroes, sports, horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
, and historical
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
milieus. The most common form of such games are fantasy worlds, whereas those based on the real world are relatively rare. Many MMORPGs have real-time actions and communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
. Players create a character who travels between buildings, towns, and worlds to carry out business or leisure activities. Communication is usually textual, but real-time voice communication is also possible. The form of communication used can substantially affect the experience of players in the game.
Virtual worlds are not limited to games but, depending on the degree of immediacy presented, can encompass computer conferencing and text based chatrooms. Sometimes, emoticons or 'smilies' are available, to show feeling or facial expression. Emoticons often have a keyboard shortcut. Edward Castronova
Edward Castronova
Edward "Ted" Castronova is a Professor of Telecommunications at Indiana University Bloomington. He is known in particular for his work on the economies of synthetic worlds.- Biography :...
is an economist who has argued that "synthetic worlds" is a better term for these cyberspaces, but this term has not been widely adopted.
History
The concept of virtual worlds predates computers. In fact, it can be traced to the Roman naturalist Gaius Plinuis, more commonly known as Pliny the ElderPliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, who expressed one of the earliest recorded interests in perceptual illusion. In the twentieth century, the cinematographer Morton Heilig
Morton Heilig
Morton Heilig was a thought-leader in Virtual Reality . He applied his cinematographer experience and with the help of his partner developed the Sensorama over several years from 1957, patenting it in 1962....
explored the creation of the Sensorama
Sensorama
The Sensorama was a machine that is one of the earliest known examples of immersive, multi-sensory technology. Morton Heilig, who today would be thought of as a “multimedia” specialist, in the 1950s saw theater as an activity that could encompass all the senses in an effective manner, thus...
, a theatre experience designed to stimulate the senses of the audience—vision, sound, balance, smell, even touch (via wind)--and so draw them more effectively into the productions
Among the earliest virtual worlds implemented by computers were virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
simulators, such as the work of Ivan Sutherland
Ivan Sutherland
Ivan Edward Sutherland is an American computer scientist and Internet pioneer. He received the Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery in 1988 for the invention of Sketchpad, an early predecessor to the sort of graphical user interface that has become ubiquitous in personal...
. Such devices are characterized by bulky headsets and other types of sensory input simulation. Contemporary virtual worlds, in particular the multi-user online environments, emerged mostly independently of this research, fueled instead by the gaming industry but drawing on similar inspiration. While classic sensory-imitating virtual reality relies on tricking the perceptual system into experiencing an immersive environment, virtual worlds typically rely on mentally and emotionally engaging content which gives rise to an immersive experience.
Maze War (also known as The Maze Game, Maze Wars or simply Maze) was the first networked, 3D multi-user first person shooter game. Maze introduced the concept of online players in 1973-1974 as "eyeball 'avatars' chasing each other around in a maze.” It was played on ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
, or Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, a precursor to the Internet funded by the United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
for use in university and research laboratories. The initial game could only be played on an Imlac
Imlac PDS-1
The Imlac PDS-1 is a graphical minicomputer made by Imlac Corporation of Needham, Massachusetts. The PDS-1 debuted in 1970 and is considered to be the predecessor of all later graphical minicomputers and modern computer workstations. The PDS-1 had a built-in display list processor and 4096 16-bit...
, as it was specifically designed for this type of computer.
The first virtual worlds presented on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
were communities and chat room
Chat room
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing...
s, some of which evolved into MUD
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
s and MUSH
MUSH
In multiplayer online games, a MUSH is a text-based online social medium to which multiple users are connected at the same time...
es. The first MUD, known as MUD1
MUD1
Multi-User Dungeon, or MUD is the first MUD and the oldest virtual world in existence. It was created in 1978 by Roy Trubshaw at Essex University on a DEC PDP-10 in the UK, using the MACRO-10 assembly language...
, was released in 1978. The acronym originally stood for Multi-User Dungeon, but later also came to mean Multi-User Dimension and Multi-User Domain. A MUD is a virtual world with many players interacting in real time. The early versions were text-based, offering only limited graphical representation and often using a Command Line Interface. Users interact in role-playing or competitive games by typing commands and can read or view descriptions of the world and other players. Such early worlds began the MUD heritage that eventually led to massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
s, more commonly known as MMORPGs, a genre of role-playing games in which a large number of players interact within a virtual world.
Some prototype virtual worlds were WorldsAway
WorldsAway
WorldsAway is an online graphical "virtual chat" environment in which users designed their own two dimensionally represented avatars. It was one of the first visual virtual worlds. In 1996 it was one of the top 20 most popular forums on Compuserve.- History :...
, a two-dimensional chat environment where users designed their own avatars; Dreamscape, an interactive community featuring a virtual world by CompuServe
CompuServe
CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
; Cityspace
Cityspace
CitySpace was an internet-based virtual world launched at SIGGRAPH 1993 by educator and project director Zane Vella. CitySpace was one of the earliest online virtual 3D environments and first came to attention via mainstream news media in late 1993...
, an educational networking and 3D computer graphics project for children; and The Palace
The Palace (computer program)
The Palace is a software program used to access graphical chat room servers, called palaces, in which users may interact with one another using graphical avatars overlaid on a graphical backdrop...
, a 2-dimensional community driven virtual world. However, credit for the first online virtual world usually goes to Habitat
Habitat (video game)
Lucasfilm's Habitat was an early and technologically influential online role-playing game developed by Lucasfilm Games and made available as a beta test in 1986 by Quantum Link, an online service for the Commodore 64 computer and the corporate progenitor to America Online...
, developed in 1987 by LucasFilm Games for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
computer, and running on the Quantum Link
Quantum Link
Quantum Link was a U.S. and Canadian online service for Commodore 64 and 128 personal computers that operated from November 5, 1985 to November 1, 1995. It was operated by Quantum Computer Services of Vienna, Virginia. In October 1991 they changed the name to America Online, which continues to...
service (the precursor to America Online).
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 city. 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.
Virtual world concepts
Most accepted definitions of virtual worlds require that it be persistentPersistent world
A persistent world is a virtual world that continues to exist even after a user exits the world and that user-made changes to its state are, to some extent, permanent...
; in other words, the world must continue to exist even after a user exits the world, and user-made changes to the world should be preserved. As defined by Mark W. Bell at Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, a virtual world is a "synchronous, persistent network of people, represented as avatars, facilitated by networked computers." While the interaction with other participants is done in real-time, time consistency is not always maintained in online virtual worlds. For example, EverQuest time passes faster than real-time despite using the same calendar and time units to present game time.
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 gamesMMORPGMassively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
(MMORPGs), also called virtual game worlds, where the user playing a specific character is a main feature of the game (World Of WarcraftWorld of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
for example). - massively multiplayer online real-life games (MMORLGs), also called virtual social worlds, where the user can edit and alter their avatarAvatar (computing)In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
at will, allowing them to play a more dynamic role, or multiple roles.
Some would argue that the MMO versions of RTS and FPS games are also virtual worlds if the world editors
Level editor
A level editor is a software tool used to design levels, maps, campaigns, etc and virtual worlds for a video game. In some cases the creator of a video game releases an official level editor for a game, but other times the community of fans step in to fill the void...
allow for open editing of the terrains if the "source file" for the terrain is shared. Emerging concepts include basing the terrain of such games on real satellite photos, such as those available through the Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
API or through a simple virtual geocaching
Geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world....
of "easter eggs
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
" on WikiMapia
Wikimapia
WikiMapia is a privately owned, online map and satellite imaging resource that combines Google Maps with a wiki system, allowing users to add information, in the form of a note, to any location on Earth. Users may currently use this information for free...
or similar mashups
Mashup (web application hybrid)
In Web development, a mashup is a Web page or application that uses and combines data, presentation or functionality from two or more sources to create new services...
, where permitted.
Economy
A virtual economyVirtual economy
A virtual economy is an emergent economy existing in a virtual persistent world, usually exchanging virtual goods in the context of an Internet game...
is the emergent property of the interaction between participants in a virtual world. While the designers have a great deal of control over the economy by the encoded mechanics of trade, it is nonetheless the actions of players that define the economic conditions of a virtual world. The economy arises as a result of the choices that players make under the scarcity of real and virtual resources such as time or currency. Participants have a limited time in the virtual world, as in the real world, which they must divide between task such as collecting resources, practicing trade skills, or engaging in less productive fun play. The choices they make in their interaction with the virtual world, along with the mechanics of trade and wealth acquisition, dictate the relative values of items in the economy. The economy in virtual worlds is typically driven by in-game needs such as equipment, food, or trade goods. Virtual economies like that of Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
, however, are almost entirely player-produced with very little link to in-game needs.
The value of objects in a virtual economy is usually linked to their usefulness and the difficulty of obtaining them. The investment of real world resources (time, membership fees, etc.) in acquisition of wealth in a virtual economy may contribute to the real world value of virtual objects. This real world value is made obvious by the trade of virtual items on online market sites like eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
. Recent legal disputes also acknowledge the value of virtual property, even overriding the mandatory EULA which many software companies use to establish that virtual property has no value and/or that users of the virtual world have no legal claim to property therein.
Some industry analysts have moreover observed that there is a secondary industry growing behind the virtual worlds, made up by social networks, websites and other projects completely devoted to virtual worlds communities and gamers. Special websites as GamerDNA
GamerDNA
gamerDNA Inc. is a social media company for computer and video game players founded on 2006-09-21, acquired by Crispy Gamer in December 2009. The name is usually spelled with a lower case g: gamerDNA...
, Koinup
Koinup
Koinup is an image and video hosting website, web portal and online community for virtual worlds users. It is used both as a photo and video repository platform and as tool to share virtual worlds screenshots, photographs and machinima....
and others which serve as social networks for virtual worlds users are facing some crucial issue as the DataPortability
DataPortability
Data portability is the ability for people to reuse their data across interoperable applications - the ability for people to be able to control their identity, media and other forms of personal data...
of avatar
Avatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
s across many virtual worlds and MMORPGs.
Furthermore, economical actors are interested by virtual world like 3D video games, instant messaging, search engines and blogs because these are places where they can display targeted advertising, adapted to the people who will see it. Projects about coming video games planned to include advertisements inside the 3D environment.
Research
The number of people using virtual worlds is increasing at a rate of 15% every month and this growth does not appear to be stopping or slowing down anytime soon. (Hof, 2006d; Gartner, 2007 cited by Bray and Konsynski 2007).This is the same with research being carried out in virtual worlds. It is an ever increasing way for business and governments to use the resources to gather and collate information for their use.
Research for information systems purposes is being carried out in virtual worlds for the look in open sourcing, providing tools without the need for sponsorship of corporate businesses. It provides a look into the virtual world creation and how it is able to spread itself around the internet for different people from different countries to interact and provide information. It provides an insight how people find the information and how that information is being used by different people.
Governments are also beginning to interact in virtual worlds and are a discussion point for some in terms of governance and law. Virtual world is neither public nor private owned. It is the people interacting in it that make the world. Governments research into the use of virtual worlds by people as some have virtual property, amounting to a second life online in another world. This is where governments have to look into if it is viable or even feasible for them to tax those with a second life to govern them with taxes and laws. State of Play
State of Play (Conference series)
State of Play is a conference series put on by the Institute for Information Law & Policy at New York Law School which deals with the intersection of virtual worlds, games and the law.-Past Conferences:...
is an annual conference sponsored by the Institute for Information Law & Policy at New York Law School; since 2003 the conference has investigated the intersection of virtual worlds, games and the law.
Research in psychology has also been proposed and conducted in virtual worlds with key focus of the use of the innovative platform. Bloomfield (2007) has suggested that virtual worlds may be useful for examining human behaviour and traditional internet-world constructs (alongside other fields). For example, Doodson (2009) reported that offline- and virtual-world personality are significantly differ from each other but are still significantly related which has a number of implications for Self-verification, Self-enhancement
Self-enhancement
Self-enhancement is a type of motivation that works to make people feel good about themselves and to maintain self-esteem. This motive becomes especially prominent in situations of threat, failure or blows to one's self-esteem...
and other personality theories
Personality type
Personality type refers to the psychological classification of different types of individuals. Personality types are sometimes distinguished from personality traits, with the latter embodying a smaller grouping of behavioral tendencies. Types are sometimes said to involve qualitative differences...
. Similarly, panic and agoraphobia have also been studied in a virtual world
Virtual worlds and real life
Some virtual worlds have off-line, real world components and applications. HandipointsHandipoints
Handipoints is a website with a chore chart component and an MMORPG virtual world containing a range of online games and activities, called "HandiLand". It is developed by Handipoints Inc. The purpose of Handipoints is to "Make Fun of Work" and to provide parents with printable customizable chore...
, for example, is a children's virtual world that tracks chores via customizable chore charts and lets children get involved in their household duties offline. They complete chores and use the website and virtual world to keep track of their progress and daily tasks.
Hardware
Unlike most video games, which are usually navigated using various free-ranging human interface deviceHuman interface device
A human interface device or HID is a type of computer device that interacts directly with, and most often takes input from, humans and may deliver output to humans. The term "HID" most commonly refers to the USB-HID specification. The term was coined by Mike Van Flandern of Microsoft when he...
s, virtual worlds are usually navigated (as of 2009) using HIDs which are designed and oriented around flat, 2-dimensional graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
s; as most comparatively-inexpensive computer mice
Mouse (computing)
In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...
are manufactured and distributed for 2-dimensional UI navigation, the lack of 3D-capable HID usage among most virtual world users is likely due to both the lack of penetration of 3D-capable devices into non-niche, non-gaming markets as well as the generally-higher pricing of such devices compared to 2-dimensional HIDs. Even those users who do make use of HIDs which provide such features as six degrees of freedom
Six degrees of freedom
Six degrees of freedom refers to motion of a rigid body in three-dimensional space, namely the ability to move forward/backward, up/down, left/right combined with rotation about three perpendicular axes...
often have to switch between separate 3D and 2D devices in order to navigate their respectively-designed interfaces.
Like video gamers, users of virtual world clients may also have a difficult experience with the necessity of proper graphics hardware (such as the more advanced graphics processing unit
Graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
s distributed by Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
and AMD
Advanced Micro Devices
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...
) for the sake of reducing the frequency of less-than-fluid graphics instances in the navigation of virtual worlds.
Social
Although the social interactions of participants in virtual worlds are often viewed in the context of 3D Games, other forms of interaction are common as well, including forums, blogs, wikis, chatrooms, instant messaging, and video-conferences. Communities are born in places which have their own rules, topics, jokes, and even language. Members of such communities can find like-minded people to interact with, whether this be through a shared passion, the wish to share information, or a desire to meet new people and experience new things. Users may develop personalities within the community adapted to the particular world they are interacting with, which can impact the way they think and act. Internet friendships and participation in online communities tend to complement existing friendships and civic participation rather than replacing or diminishing such interactions.Systems that have been designed for a social application include:
- Active WorldsActive WorldsActive Worlds is a 3D virtual reality platform. The Active Worlds client runs on Windows. Users assign themselves a name, log into the Active Worlds universe, and explore 3D virtual worlds and environments that other users have built. Users can chat with one another or build structures and areas...
- TwinityTwinityTwinity is the first 3D online virtual world to build true-to-scale replicas of large cities from all over the world. Twinity is developed by Metaversum GmbH, a company based in Berlin, Germany. It offers its population, called Twinizens, to navigate around virtual versions of real-world cities,...
- KanevaKanevaKaneva, LLC is a privately owned Atlanta-based company founded in 2004 by Christopher Klaus and Greg Frame. Kaneva is a 3D Virtual World that supports 2D web browsing, social networking and shared media....
- SmallworldsSmallworldsSmallWorlds is a virtual world. It has over 6,000,000 registered users. It is commonly also known as 'SW'. The website is owned and operated by Outsmart 2005 Ltd, a privately owned company based in Auckland, New Zealand. The virtual world runs inside a web browser, without the need to download or...
- OnverseOnverseOnverse is a free online 3D virtual world, social network and gaming platform developed by Onverse, LLC. Onverse, LLC is a privately held company based out of Tempe, Arizona. Its name is a portmanteau of "online" and "universe."-History:...
Medical
Virtual worlds can also be used, for instance by the Starlight Children's Foundation, to help hospitalised children (suffering from painful diseases or autismAutism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
for example) to create a comfortable and safe environment which can expand their situation, experience interactions (when you factor in the involvement of a multiple cultures and players from around the world) they may not have been able to experience without a virtual world, healthy or sick. Virtual worlds also enable them to experience and act beyond the restrictions of their illness and help to relieve stress. Disabled or chronically invalided people of any age can also benefit enormously from experiencing the mental and emotional freedom gained by temporarily leaving their disabilities behind and doing, through the medium of their avatars, things as simple and potentially accessible to able, healthy people as walking, running, dancing, sailing, fishing, swimming, surfing, flying, skiing, gardening, exploring and other physical activities which their illnesses or disabilities prevent them from doing in real life. They may also be able to socialise, form friendships and relationships much more easily and avoid the stigma and other obstacles which would normally be attached to their disabilities. This can be much more constructive, emotionally satisfying and mentally fulfilling than passive pastimes such as television watching, playing computer games, reading or more conventional types of internet use.
Psychologically virtual worlds can help players become more familiar and comfortable with actions they may in real-life feel reluctant or embarrassed. For example, in World of Warcraft, /dance is the emote for a dance move which a player in the virtual world can "emote" quite simply. And a familiarization with said or similar "emotes" or social skills (such as, encouragement, gratitude, problem-solving, and even kissing) in the virtual world via avatar can make the assimilation to similar forms of expression, socialization, interaction in real life smooth. Interaction with humans through avatars in the virtual world has potential to seriously expand the mechanics of one's interaction with real-life interactions.
Commercial
As businesses compete in the real world, they also compete in virtual worlds. As there has been an increase in the buying and selling of products online (e-commerce) this twinned with the rise in the popularity of the internet, has forced businesses to adjust to accommodate the new market.Many companies and organizations now incorporate virtual worlds as a new form of advertising. There are many advantages to using these methods of commercialization. An example of this would be Apple creating an online store within “Second Life”. This allows the users to browse the latest and innovative products. You cannot actually purchase a product but having these “virtual stores” is a way of accessing a different clientele and customer demographic. The use of advertising within "virtual worlds" is a relatively new idea. This is because Virtual Worlds is a relatively new technology. Before companies would use an advertising company to promote their products. With the introduction of the prospect of commercial success within a Virtual World, companies can reduce cost and time constraints by keeping this "in-house". An obvious advantage is that it will reduce any costs and restrictions that could come into play in the real world.
Using virtual worlds gives companies the opportunity to gauge customer reaction and receive feedback. Feedback can be crucial to the development of a project as it will inform the creators exactly what users want.
Using virtual worlds as a tool allows companies to test user reaction and give them feedback on products. This can be crucial as it will give the companies an insight as to what the market and customers want from new products, which can give them a competitive edge. Competitive edge is crucial in the ruthless world that is today's business.
Another use of virtual worlds in business is where you can create a gathering place. Many businesses can now be involved in business-to-business commercial activity and will create a specific area within a virtual world to carry out their business. Within this space all relevant information can be held. This can be useful for a variety of reasons. You can conduct business with companies on the other side of the world, so there are no geographical limitations, it can increase company productivity. Knowing that there is an area where help is on hand can aid the employees. Sun Microsystems have created an island in second life dedicated for the sole use of their employees. This is a place where people can go and seek help, exchange new ideas or to advertise a new product.
According to trade media company Virtual Worlds Management, commercial investments in the "virtual worlds" sector were in excess of USD 425 million in Q4 2007, and totaled USD 184 million in Q1 2008. However, the selection process for defining a "virtual worlds" company in this context has been challenged by one industry blog.
E-commerce (legal)
The legal part of “virtual worlds” in business will be focused on “selling goods” by a virtual interface (on-line shopping, on the Internet) and consumer rights. Goods can be anything except money.The customer will access (usually via Internet) the shop : this is called E-commerce. The website has an obligation to show the state of business, the postal address (proof of geographical location) and a way to contact them directly (phone or email address). The website does not have to show the price of sold product. If prices are shown, then they must be displayed clearly, The differences between the product price with taxes and delivery costs must also be clear.
The goods are usually displayed thanks to one/many pictures, in which the seller should specify “Caveat Emptor”, which signifies in Latin “Buyer Beware”. That means the buyer might not receive exactly the same product that is displayed on the picture. The sold goods must be presented with a minimum of extra information: full reference, maker (if different from the seller), technical information. The accepted payment modes should be displayed before the subscription/registration.
Concerning delivery, information cannot be sent by another way than the website itself. After the transaction is complete, it is the responsibility of the seller to achieve delivery correctly. The full details must be displayed: including extra charges for customer (in case off-country delivery, unusual weight). The delay must be precise (it cannot be exact, so give an idea, i.e. “one week”).
No modification about the delay, price or delivery mode can be made after concluding the contract. The contract is defined by the terms and conditions. The customer cannot buy the goods without accepting it; Unfortunately, it is often written in really small print and not really easy to read. These terms and conditions define the customer rights, for example these to cancel contract.
Canceling the contract: The customer has the right to cancel a contract concluded on-line by giving written-notice to the seller. The customer has seven days after the day when he receives goods. The customer can simply change his mind, so is allowed to cancel without justification.
As stated above, there are laws governing the purchasing and selling of products within a e-commerce environment. When it comes to virtual worlds, such as Second Life then there are no laws which you have to abide by. In some ways this can be seen as a positive thing, it gives users complete freedom to carry out their business or pleasure activities, with the knowledge that there are no repercussions. On the other hand there are downsides of course, people have moral, social and ethical responsibilities to other users. Whether this is keeping information up to date, or avoiding fraud. Even with these basic responsibilities to others, some people may take advantage of a situation such as this.
The lax rules surrounding taxation and e-commerce regulations on the popular game Second Life can be both a blessing and a curse. As seen in the example of Ginko Financial, a bank system featured in Second Life where avatars could deposit their real life currency after converted to Linden Dollars for a profit. When in July 2007 residents of Second Life crowded around the ATM's in an unsuccessful attempt to withdraw their money. After a few days the ATM's along with the banks disappeared altogether. Around $700,000 in real world money was reported missing from residents in Second Life. An investigation was launched but nothing substantial ever came of finding and punishing the avatar known as Nicholas Portacarrero who was the head of Ginko Financial.
Single-player games
Some single-player games contain virtual worlds populated by non-player characterNon-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s
(NPC). Many of these allow you to save the current state of this world instance to allow stopping and restarting the virtual world at a later date. (This can be done with some multiplayer environments as well.)
The virtual worlds found in video games are often split into discrete level
Level (computer and video games)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
s.
Education
Virtual worlds represent a powerful new media for instruction and education that presents many opportunities but also some challenges. Persistence allows for continuing and growing social interactions, which themselves can serve as a basis for collaborative education. The use of virtual worlds can give teachers the opportunity to have a greater level of student participation. It allows users to be able to carry out tasks that could be difficult in the real world due to constraints and restrictions, such as cost, scheduling or location. Virtual worlds have the capability to adapt and grow to different user needs, for example, classroom teachers are able to use virtual worlds in their classroom leveraging their interactive whiteboard
Interactive whiteboard
An interactive whiteboard , is a large interactive display that connects to a computer and projector. A projector projects the computer's desktop onto the board's surface where users control the computer using a pen, finger, stylus, or other device...
with the open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
project Edusim
Edusim
Edusim is a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment "Immersive Touch" 3D Natural User Interface based concept of lesson driven 3D virtual worlds on the classroom interactive whiteboard or classroom interactive surface...
. They can be a good source of user feedback, the typical paper-based resources have limitations that Virtual Worlds can overcome.
Virtual world can also be used with virtual learning environment
Virtual learning environment
Defined largely by usage, the term virtual learning environment has most, if not all, of the following salient properties:* It is Web-based* It uses Web 2.0 tools for rich 2-way interaction* It includes a content management system...
s, as in the case of what is done in the Sloodle project, which aims to merge Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
with Moodle
Moodle
Moodle is a free source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment...
.
Virtual worlds allow users with specific needs and requirements to be able to access and use the same learning materials from home, as they would be receiving if they were in the presentation. This can help users to keep up to date with the relevant information and needs while also feeling as though involved. Having the option to be able to attend a presentation via a virtual world from home or from their workplace, can help the user to be more at ease and comfortable. The flexibility of virtual worlds have greatly improved the options for student study and business collaboration. Although virtual worlds are a good way of communicating and interacting between students and teachers, this is not a substitute for actual face-to-face meetings. When using virtual worlds, there are the downsides in that you lose the body language and other more personal aspects.
Adoption of the use of virtual worlds for education
In April 1999, Numedeon Incorporated launched WhyvilleWhyville
About Whyville=Whyville is an educational Internet site geared towards children from ages 8-15. Its goal is to engage its users in learning about a broad range of topics, from science and business to art and geography....
as the first virtual world explicitly designed to engage young students in a wide range of educational activities. With a player base of over 3 million. Whyville
Whyville
About Whyville=Whyville is an educational Internet site geared towards children from ages 8-15. Its goal is to engage its users in learning about a broad range of topics, from science and business to art and geography....
has been particularly successful in attracting young teens.
With respect to older students, a growing number of universities such as the open university and other educational institutions are exploring existing general purpose virtual world platforms as a means to extend and enhance their offerings to students. Typically, educators create an online presence where students can interact, using their avatars to learn about new assignments or create projects that are viewable within the virtual world. For example, students taking a computer manufacturing class can log into a virtual world in which they are the inhabitants of a burgeoning village that needs their expertise for the construction of houses, furniture, machines, and other goods. A number of educational institutions are now running virtual classrooms and discussion sections in worlds like Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
.
Technologies can sometimes take up to 10 years to become fully incorporated within everyday life. For virtual worlds to be accepted, then it is vital that teachers and students alike adapt to new ideas and technologies and use them to their full potential and become a useful tool in education (Yukiko Inoue, Effects of virtual reality support compared to video support in a high-school world geography class). The best idea for a more complete and wider variety in learning techniques is to integrate both paper based and technology based methods. In 2005 Languagelab.com
Languagelab.com
Languagelab.com is an English school based on Second Life. It is the first school that teaches exclusively online in a virtual environment; students and teachers use avatars to navigate the environment and take part in lessons...
was established to teach languages solely though virtual worlds, and today reports more than 5000 students from 80 different countries making larger than most brick and mortar language schools.
Language education
Language learning is the most widespread type of education in virtual worlds, with many universities, mainstream language institutes and private language schools using 3D virtual environments to support language learning.Business education
Virtual worlds is used in today's businessBusiness
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
environment for the training of employees
Training and development
In the field of human resource management, training and development is the field which is concerned with organizational activity aimed at bettering the performance of individuals and groups in organizational settings...
for which it represents an excellent venue.
In particular, virtual worlds environment (such as Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
) have been used in business schools as an extension of the classroom
Classroom
A classroom is a room in which teaching or learning activities can take place. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, including public and private schools, corporations, and religious and humanitarian organizations...
. In some other cases virtual worlds have been used for creating business game
Business game
Business game refers to simulation games that are used at an educational tool for teaching business. Business games may be carried out for various business training such as: general management, finance, organizational behaviour, human resources, etc...
s .
Since the growth of the Internet, employees have been able to learn and to follow online trainings. This is a major breakthrough and helps to overcome problems such as distance, infrastructure or appointment. There are different methods in which this can be carried out: Video Conferencing is probably the most common tool. People can stay in their office to attend a live conference or a recorded meeting. This new way of training raises some questions: Is virtual training as effective as real trainings? Are people happy with virtual training
E-learning
E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process...
and does this method encourage people to learn?
Using technologies can affect people's behaviour in many ways. First of all they can seem more interested in using virtual modes as a study method and because of this their learning satisfactions can be higher when compared to traditional classroom techniques. Despite the fact that people are not in a face to face meeting and thus are not creating social links, the efficiency is not really affected. Actually, adults need this autonomy and need to learn by themselves with more self-direction than younger students.
Virtual training has a lot of advantages compared to the traditional classroom and meetings. Thanks to the rise of the Internet people can now interact with the information through a more user-friendly environment which allows them a greater level of involvement and creativity. A large number of websites offer tutorials and the possibility to test user knowledge with interactive online tests (using multiple choice questions). Virtual training is not so different from usual training in terms of content. Thus, it is not difficult to adapt the existing course to fit with virtual tools. This of course would not only save the company time but also money (no flight, accommodation costs etc.).
Virtual training is becoming a more widely accepted form of training and is being used more often. One example is made by the INSR-Institute competence in the area of occupational risk prevention: protecting workers’ health and safety and preventing occupational accidents or diseases. They have created a program to warn people about the chemical risk of products using interactive support. INSR used 3D environment show clearly a professional situation and involve people through this interactive support.
In addition to the use of virtual training, virtual reality can also provide useful tools. One of the widest uses of this technology is maybe the use of 3D environment to allows virtual visits. The concept is used by many companies and is usually divided into two purposes. The main use for a company is to provide a virtual preview of their tour. Moreover some public places allow free access to their facilities, thus allows people who cannot visit the location for real are due to personal constraints, are able to visit virtually. This allows an easy access to knowledge and it becomes a real alternative to video or picture.
Due to the ease of learning brought by the spread of virtual worlds, learning may become lifelong and the curriculum is in perpetual evolution (David Davies, The virtual university: a learning university), each employee being able to learn through virtual world, no matter where he lives or how old he is.
In fiction
The concept of a virtual world has become a popular fictional motif and setting in recent years, although science-fiction writers have been portraying similar ideas (for example, cyberspaceCyberspace
Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
) for decades. Among the most prominent virtual worlds in the literature are the ones written about by William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
. Virtual worlds were prominent in such movies and books as Tron
Tron
-Film:*Tron , a franchise that began in 1982 with the Walt Disney Pictures film Tron** Tron , a 1982 science fiction film by Disney, starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor and David Warner...
, Neuromancer
Neuromancer
Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, a seminal work in the cyberpunk genre and the first winner of the science-fiction "triple crown" — the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. It was Gibson's debut novel and the beginning of the Sprawl trilogy...
, The Lawnmower Man, The Lawnmower Man 2, Epic, Snow Crash
Snow Crash
Snow Crash is Neal Stephenson's third novel, published in 1992. Like many of Stephenson's other novels it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics, and philosophy....
, .Hack//Sign
.hack//SIGN
.hack//Sign is an anime television series directed by Kōichi Mashimo and produced by studio Bee Train and Bandai Visual, that makes up one of the four original storylines of the .hack franchise...
, Real Drive
Real Drive
is an anime TV series, created by Production I.G and Masamune Shirow. Real Drive is produced in collaboration with broadcaster Nippon Television , and premiered in Japan on NTV on 8 April 2008.-Storyline and setting:...
, Summer Wars
Summer Wars
is a 2009 Japanese animated science fiction romance film directed by Mamoru Hosoda, animated by Madhouse and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film's voice cast includes Ryunosuke Kamiki, Nanami Sakuraba, Mitsuki Tanimura, Sumiko Fuji and Ayumu Saitō...
, The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
and Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell
is a Japanese multimedia franchise composed of manga, animated films, anime series, video games and novels. It focuses on the activities of the counter-terrorist organization Public Security Section 9 in a futuristic, cyberpunk Japan ....
. There are many other examples of the virtual world; for example Lyoko in the French animated television series Code Lyoko
Code Lyoko
Code Lyoko is a French animated television series created by Thomas Romain and Tania Palumbo. The series centers on boarding school students Jeremie, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd who travel to the virtual world of Lyoko to fight against multi-agent computer program XANA with Aelita, a being originally...
.
Series 4 of the smash hit New Zealand TV series, The Tribe featured the birth of Reality Space and the Virtual World that was created by Ram, the computer genius leader of The Techno's.
In 2009, BBC Radio 7 commissioned Planet B
Planet B
Planet B is a science fiction drama series first broadcast on BBC Radio 7 on 2 March 2009 as part of BBC Radio's science fiction season between February and March 2009. Planet B is set in a virtual world called "Planet B" in which people play as life-size avatars...
, set in a virtual world in which a man searches for his girlfriend, believed to be dead, but in fact still alive within the world, called "Planet B". The series is the currently the biggest ever commission for an original drama series.
Future
According to K Zero, a virtual world consultancy service, there are over 1 billion (1,009,000,000) people worldwide registered in virtual worlds today.Rita J. King, CEO of Dancing Ink Productions, a strategic creative content development and research company, believes virtual worlds will augment what she calls "the Digital Culture."
"I envision virtual worlds evolving for business and cultural development as the medium becomes more ubiquitous."
"Chatting in a two-dimensional platform can be fun, informative and valuable," argued King. "But co-creating and inhabiting a three-dimensional space that can then be collaborated upon cannot be matched. This allows people to 'be together' despite geographical location, age, gender, ethnic or sociopolitical affiliation."
"But interactions will only be as developed as the imaginations and motivations of the people involved."
Ideally, King believes we will move to a position where people can augment their physical lives with virtual realities. This may ultimately affect our perceptions of physical 'wants'.
"Things change and develop so fast," Nergiz Kern, an English language educator inside Second Life, told IOL. "But I think virtual worlds will become as normal as the internet is now. Most people who are online will have an avatar and use VW [virtual worlds] for all kinds of activities from meeting and chatting with friends to learning and doing business."
Wasko, Teigland, Leidner, & Jarvenpaa question how virtual worlds will affect our traditional economic and governance models and argue that firms, governments and leaders should pay attention to their development as they may lead to a "mobility" of labor that may impact national and organizational competitiveness in a way similar to the way that first the mobility of goods and then the mobility of labor impacted competitiveness.
See also
- BlaxxunBlaxxunblaxxun interactive originally named "Black Sun Interactive" was one of the first companies to develop a 3D community platform designed for the Internet using VRML and highly scalable multi-user server environments.- Company History :...
- Emerging Virtual InstitutionsEmerging Virtual InstitutionsEmerging Virtual Institutions are patterns of organized culture; such as forms of government, business models, or social norms, that develop endogenously within a virtual world...
- MetaverseMetaverseThe Metaverse is our collective online shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet...
- Simulated realitySimulated realitySimulated reality is the proposition that reality could be simulated—perhaps by computer simulation—to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not be fully aware that they are living inside a simulation....
- Virtual globeVirtual globeA virtual globe is a 3D software model or representation of the Earth or another world. A virtual globe provides the user with the ability to freely move around in the virtual environment by changing the viewing angle and position. Compared to a conventional globe, virtual globes have the...
- Virtual realityVirtual realityVirtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
- Web3D ConsortiumWeb3D ConsortiumThe Web3D Consortium is a not-for-profit, member-funded industry consortium whose purpose is to define and develop the X3D royalty-free open standards file format and runtime architecture to represent and communicate 3D scenes....