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A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars. This habitation usually is represented in the form of two or three-dimensional graphical representations of humanoids (or other graphical or text-based avatars). Some, but not all, virtual worlds allow for multiple users.
The world being computer-simulated typically appears similar to the real world, with real world rules such as gravity, topography, locomotion, real-time actions, and communication. Communication has, until recently, been in the form of text, but now real-time voice communication using VOIP is available. This type of virtual world is now most common in massively multiplayer online games (Active Worlds, There, Second Life--although not games, per se, but more like virtual environments that can include gaming--Entropia Universe, The Sims Online, Red Light Center, Kaneva, Weblo), particularly massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as EverQuest, Ultima Online, Lineage, World of Warcraft, or Guild Wars.
History
The earliest virtual worlds were not games but generic virtual reality simulators. The first virtual worlds presented on the Internet were communities and chat rooms, some of which evolved into MUDs and MUSHes. They attempted to create sets of avatars for virtual interaction. Community virtual worlds allowed access to the environment and encouraged creating buildings, art, and structures (and many did not include avatars).
Some early prototyptes were WorldsAway, a prototype interactive communities featuring a virtual world by CompuServe called Dreamscape, 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, intending to map the whole 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.
The first virtual world devoted to the education of children was launched as Whyville.net by Numedeon inc. in 1999. Site design included many features that are now common to other virtual worlds, including user-customizable avatars, an "in world" economy, and 'bubble chat". In addition, the site includes educational games and simulations.
The virtual world concepts
One perception of virtual worlds requires an online persistent world, active and available 24 hours a day and seven days a week, to qualify as a true virtual world. Although this is possible with smaller virtual worlds, especially those that are not actually online, no massively multiplayer game runs all day, every day. All the online games listed above include downtime for maintenance that is not included as time passing in the virtual world. 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 games or MMORPGs where the user playing a specific character is a main feature of the game
- massively multiplayer online real-life/rogue-like games or MMORLGs, the user can edit and alter their avatar at will, allowing them to play a more dynamic role, or multiple roles.
Some would argue the the MMO versions of RTS and FPS games are also virtual worlds if the world editors, such as GtkRadiant 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.
Single-player games
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 levels.
In the classroom
In principle, virtual worlds represent a powerful new media for instruction and education. Persistance allows for continuing and growing social interactions, which themselves can serve as a basis for collaborative education. Virtual world platforms can also provide a foundation for serious games, intended to instruct and illuminate. Some virtual world platforms also provide support for simulation based instruction, increasingly recognized as a powerful new computer enabled approach to learning. Finally, virtual worlds can provide new methods for learning evaluation and teacher professional development, including embedded assessment and teacher training linked directly to student performance.
A growing number of 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. An example of such a program is AWEDU, a project started by Active Worlds, Inc. A number of educational institutions are now running virutal classrooms and discussion sections in worlds like Second Life.
To date, the only virtual world with an explicitly educational objection is Whyville.net, which was launched in 1999 and is aimed specifically at 'tweens' aged 8-15. With more than 2.5 million users, Whyville is one of the largest on-line virtual destinations for kids. While established as an informal education site, Whyville is being increasingly used by parents, teachers and even school districts to motivate learning across a large array of subjects. The educational value of Whyville is also the subject of a number of university-based studies, including a large research group headed by Dr. Yasmin Kafai, at UCLA. There appears to be a growing interest in general in the educational research community on the use of virtual worlds for education.
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, cyberspace) for decades. Among the most prominent virtual worlds in the literature is 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, 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.
A popular example of a virtual world in fiction is from the movie series The Matrix, a virtual reality so realistic that the great majority of those humans plugged in think they are living in the real world and do not know that they are living in a virtual world.
See also
- Category:Massively multiplayer online games
- Simulated reality
- Emerging Virtual Institutions
- Rise: The Vieneo Province
- Web3D Consortium
- Paraverse
- Virtual globe
- Whyville