In preparation for a group activity CarrieLynn Reinhard will be leading at the international workshop this June, we will begin online with a discussion about what is a virtual world. The purpose of this discussion is to understand how we make sense of the technologies we are studying under the aegis of “virtual worlds”– to map out the various perspectives people have on this field of research, what led them to have their perspectives, and how we communicate across gaps in perspectives. To participate in this online discussion, you do not have to be a participant of the international workshop – in fact, I encourage anyone who cannot be there to lend their thoughts here.
To participate in this online dialogue, you must answer the following three questions. You may write as little or as much as you like, over as many comments fields as you need to feel you have completed an answer. As a rule to structure the communicating, you may only respond to what someone else has said after you have answered these questions. Additionally, any indication or claim of defamatory rhetoric will result in your comments being removed from the discussion.
Your three questions are:
1) What definition of “virtual worlds” do you use?
2) How are the following similar/dissimilar to one another: virtual world, virtual environment, virtual reality and virtual community?
3) Consider the list of labels supplied below. Of all the labels, what do you consider to be the 7-10 (or more if you need to) main labels used to describe virtual worlds? What leads you to say this?
3D web
3D internet
virtual reality
synthetic world
digital world
mirror world
sim
social virtual world
gaming virtual world
metaverse
online game
digital game, social game, casual game
Multi-User Object Oriented Domain/Dungeon (MOD)
Multi-User Dungeon/Domain (MUD)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online (MMO)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Game(MMOG)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Social Game (MMOSG)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)
Multi-User Virtual/Visual Environment (MUVE)
Social Virtual World Environment (SVWE)
Multi-User Simulated Environment (MUSE)
3D platform
virtual environments
synthetic environments
3D environments
Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE)
Immersive/Intelligent Virtual Environment (IVE)
Distributed Virtual Environment(DVE)
1) What definition of “virtual worlds” I use to make sense of these technologies?
By definition, “virtual” is a space “whose existence is inferred from indirect evidence.”
2) In my mind, how are these terms related to one another: virtual world, virtual environment, virtual reality and virtual community?
Among other things, they all include the “virtual”.
3) A list of 7-10 terms I consider to relate to virtual worlds has the following words:
*1 virtual reality
* 2 synthetic world, digital world, mirror world, sim, social virtual world, gaming virtual world, metaverse
* 3 online game, digital game, social game, casual game
* 4 Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online (MMO), Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Game(MMOG), Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Social Game (MMOSG), Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)
* 5 Multi-User Virtual/Visual Environment (MUVE), Social Virtual World Environment (SVWE), Multi-User Simulated Environment (MUSE)
* 6 Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE), Immersive/Intelligent Virtual Environment (IVE), Distributed Virtual Environment(DVE)
I use only the above because 3D is such a 1990s vision. In my view. 2D or 4D will do just as well, in order for something to be virtual worldly.
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1) What definition of “virtual worlds” do you use?
A non-physical space where you are represented inside it. That is, your virtual persona is your method of interaction with the space and its contents, and is interacted upon by it.
This means that a game where you use an avatar to participate is a virtual world, but Facebook or Microsoft Word aren’t. It also means that PacMan is a virtual world. I’ve used this definition explicitely on http://www.jvwe.org/:
Morgado, Leonel; Varajão, João; Coelho, Dalila; Rodrigues, Clara; Sa ncin, Chiara; Castello, Valentina (in press). The opportunity of using virtual worlds to teach and learn about SME management. To appear in The Journal of Virtual Worlds and Education, 1 (1).
2) How are the following similar/dissimilar to one another: virtual world, virtual environment, virtual reality and virtual community?
“Virtual environment” has been used for a long time for any synthetic environment, such as Moodle, Web pages, software, etc.
“Virtual reality” refers to an experience that tries to mimic reality – some virtual worlds don’t try to do that.
“virtual community” refers to interactions online, but not necessarily within a virtual space. A mailing list is a virtual community.
“virtual world” combines two things: a virtual space, independent from participants, and a persona per participant, which is inside the space and is the participant’s interaction with it (and is interacted upon by it).
3) Consider the list of labels supplied below. Of all the labels, what do you consider to be the 7-10 (or more if you need to) main labels used to describe virtual worlds? What leads you to say this?
The following are the most commonly used. This impression comes from my readings on Web sites, academic papers, blogs, and other media.
I believe an expression is lacking, and is already used by some people: “avatar-mediated environments”.
*3D web
*metaverse
*Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online (MMO)
*Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Game(MMOG)
*Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Social Game (MMOSG)
*Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)
*Multi-User Virtual/Visual Environment (MUVE)
Jonathon Richter and I tackled these questions last year in a special issue with the International Journal of Gaming and Computer Mediated Simulations. You might find it helpful. Good luck at the workshop. http://64.225.158.80/journals/journal-erb/IJGCMS2(1).pdf
Lisa Dawley
Chair-Elect, ARVEL SIG, http://arvelsig.ning.com
I don’t find definitions that helpful, nor the tendency toward taxonomy. To me, it really doesn’t matter what ‘virtual worlds’ means, so long as you make your use of the term accessible to your readers and other researchers, and that doesn’t really require definition, and in the end, the move to definition might be precisely what causes misunderstanding, as it launches the meta-discussion on definitions. So my definition is that there should be no definition beyond the pragmatics of the researcher/user of the worlds themselves. I’d argue that … if you feel a profound need, go for it, but don’t let your own personal definitions and shared definitions preclude other people’s definitions.
My definition of virtual world is a 3-D space that allows for some autonomy and social interaction (as opposed to a purely gaming environment).
You can build a virtual world or environment but the people who use the world create the virtual communities within those spaces. Neglect the community and the world becomes a dead planet.
Words I would use:
virtual reality
metaverse
Multi-User Virtual/Visual Environment (MUVE)
Social Virtual World Environment (SVWE)
Multi-User Simulated Environment (MUSE)
3D platform
virtual environments
Immersive/Intelligent Virtual Environment (IVE)
I believe that 3D (while perhaps the term is dated as leonel pointed out) will be an attribute that will distinguish virtual worlds from 2D social networks in the types of communications, models and uses that each will use.
1) My definition of virtual worlds is a combination of two proposals presented by Boellstorf and Bell (2008): I define virtual worlds as places of human culture persistent and synchronous networks populated by people represented by avatars, facilitated by computer networks.
2) All are different concepts: virtual world (see definition up), a virtual environment is a computer 3D generated space, but no necessarily a place of culture or where avatars exist. virtual reality is specifically related to technologies who allow immersion with accessories like globes or viewers. And a virtual community is a network of people doing or sharing a common interest.
3)
digital world
social virtual world
gaming virtual world
metaverse
Multi-User Object Oriented Domain/Dungeon (MOD)
Multi-User Dungeon/Domain (MUD)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online (MMO)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Game(MMOG)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Social Game (MMOSG)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)
Multi-User Virtual/Visual Environment (MUVE)
Social Virtual World Environment (SVWE)
Multi-User Simulated Environment (MUSE)
virtual environments
3D environments
virtual environment, virtual reality and virtual community
Great initiative! Here are my answers to the 3 questions:
1) What definition of “virtual worlds” do you use?
- I do not like virtual. Therefore, I prefer these terms:
3D web or 3.0 internet. Terms used by for example Jeffrey Schnapp, Henrik Bennetsen from Stanford University. Is it the next generation internet? (perhaps, if we get open standards, see http://www.web3d.org/ ) The 3.0 term works well with what follows our so-called 2.0 social web.
3D3C (reference to Yesha Sivan, at bottom of my reply)
However, 3D term also problematic because not all “3D” or virtual worlds entail an illusion of the threedimensional in their graphic style. Yet the 3D is in the nature of a distributed cyber-network, and 3D is also in our cognition and felt body sense and our felt actions. Perhaps we can say that the act of our imagination, our thoughts and our texts travelling via the 3D internet occurs differently with an avatar, it becomes more full in a sensory? But this to me is just a matter of degree.
2) How are the following similar/dissimilar to one another: virtual world, virtual environment, virtual reality and virtual community?
- They seem too similar as the word virtual is so problematic to me – I struggle with questions such as: what is the opposite of virtual? In my view, putting the concept “virtual” together with “world” adds to the problems, since the combination then references to very different notions relating to philosophy, geography, sociology. So it becomes confused.
3) Consider the list of labels supplied below. Of all the labels, what do you consider to be the 7-10 (or more if you need to) main labels used to describe virtual worlds? What leads you to say this?
- Hm, here is my ranking of 7. But I like 3D3C much more because it refers to what people DO with 3D internet (see below).
The 3D labels seem best since generic, but then we can add what we might DO with the 3D internet, which is of-course a different matter and then we need various terms. The common terms for online games like MMORPG are OK to use, role-playing and gaming actions and frameworks are important to identify and a caveat is again, we need to describe actions in detail as well – beyond the overall labels.
3D web
3D internet
3D platform
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Social Game (MMOSG)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)
Multi-User Virtual/Visual Environment (MUVE)
Yesha Sivan of the Metaverse1 Project Consortium (http://www.metaverse1.org/) defines threedimensional (3D) virtual worlds as a ‘3D3C’ combination of:
‒ 3D: controllable graphical environment (with 3D spatial audio) – one can zoom, change camera
position, etc.;
‒ Community: real people can create groups, helped by a system that allows communities to
blossom;
‒ Creation (or ‘plasticity’): there are ways to build and edit content, services, and various stuff;
and
‒ Commerce: the ability to attach real economic value (real money) to services, as necessary (cf.
e-commerce and fund raising activities on the flat, conventional Web).
Sivan, Y. 3D3C Real Virtual Worlds Defined: The Immense Potential of Merging 3D,
Community, Creation, and Commerce. J. Virtual Worlds Res. 2008, 1, 1-31
See article and valuable comments on 3D3C by Sivan: http://issuu.com/yeshasivan/docs/citj0809_ysfinal
1) What definition of “virtual worlds” do you use?
Defining Virtual Worlds is tricky! Once they are observed, catalogued and described they then go and change. Forcing a further definition. I’m about to contradict this argument as I like a broad and loose definition, one that involves certain factors. I would argue that it has to be online, not necessarily graphical (MUD’s anyone?), the ‘user’ has to be able to freely roam. Thinking about this as I type perhaps it’s easier to define features which DONT preclude online environments as being virtual worlds. Size is not and issue (some v. small), user generated content not an issue (WOW), 3d not an issue (MUD’s, habbo hotel? ok, it’s a bit 3d).
2) How are the following similar/dissimilar to one another: virtual world, virtual environment, virtual reality and virtual community?
The only one here that sticks out is ‘virtual reality’, this brings to mind early 90’s dudes wearing large helmets or goggles. Perhaps it’s time for a new definition? allthough, I don’t think that VR fits into these other statements as not all virtual worlds mimic reality. eg, WOW or second life (anyone flown recently? not you Peter Petrelli!)
Virtual environment/virtual world and virtual community seem to hang together to me. Can you have one without the other? Perhaps not. Even worlds where you just login and shoot stuff have some form of community, be it via fan forum’s or email.
3) Consider the list of labels supplied below. Of all the labels, what do you consider to be the 7-10 (or more if you need to) main labels used to describe virtual worlds? What leads you to say this?
synthetic world
This gives the idea that it is a freely contructed space, can either be via user generation or some central ‘authority’. Does not indicate a world based on reality.
digital world
Like this as it indicates a physical digital space, rather than an imaginary space (as in a novel or thought experiment)
social virtual world/gaming virtual world
At first it would seem that these are mutually exclusive, do be engage in gaming world solely for gaming? Surely some enter/stay for social reasons? Perhaps the split in these is useful if we think about the ‘intention’ of the creators of the world?
virtual environments
I like this term as it’s vague and wooly (like me!)
1) I go with: the use of computer-aided, networked technology to produce a representation of a space (graphical or textual) that becomes an ongoing and persistent place for people to engage with each other, synchronously or asynchronously, and the space, to the extent that the producers of the space permit such interaction. That being said, I think the nuances that exist among the various technologies and contents that we could lump under this definition calls for a dimensional approach, or at least a finely honed categorical approach that differentiates the differences genus and species of products.
2) To me, virtual reality is either a type of interface to access a virtual world or virtual environment, in which a virtual community can emerge. We can also consider virtual reality as the term applied, philosophically, to the whole of the experience of being immersed in a non-physical space. A virtual world differs from a virtual environment in that the virtual world is more pervasively open for people to engage with, whereas a virtual environment is more restrictive. Also, a virtual environment is more useful to describe the nature of the representation of the space, while virtual world is more useful to describe the pervasiveness and expanse of the space. A virtual community does not have to be in a space to exist — it can be diffused across a variety of spaces, such as websites.
3) I am going to go with these terms because I think they are the most used labels used relating to virtual world technologies, and as the most used they are the most useful for communicating the various types of virtual world technologies that exist:
virtual reality
social virtual world
gaming virtual world
metaverse
digital game
social game
Multi-User Dungeon/Domain (MUD)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Game(MMOG)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)
virtual environments
1) What definition of “virtual worlds” do you use?
I don’t tend to use a definition, since usually consider this term to be too broad (see list of possible terms!).
Wherever I do need to broaden the discussion, I tend to refer to the first issue of the Journal for Virtual Worlds Research and in particular Schroeder’s definition of ‘being there together’.
2) How are the following similar/dissimilar to one another: virtual world, virtual environment, virtual reality and virtual community?
Different traditions, partly different content, but my tendency is here the same as above: I prefer to name the specificity of the application and its particular qualities.
3) Consider the list of labels supplied below. Of all the labels, what do you consider to be the 7-10 (or more if you need to) main labels used to describe virtual worlds? What leads you to say this?
virtual reality
digital world
sim
social virtual world
metaverse
online game
Multi-User Dungeon/Domain (MUD)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)
virtual environments
Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE)
I partly wanted to include a range of ‘older’ and newer virtual environments in the list. The rest is based on those terms I have mostly come across (many I have never heard and do not find helpful).
The idea of a definition for any field is important. I confess that indeed this was my first goal when I delved deeply into the matter of virtual worlds four years ago.
I came up with the 3D3C definition (which was covered in an earlier comment) and covered in few papers elsewhere.
Today I feel good about this definition. Perhaps one thing missing is augmentation… which connects the virtual worlds and the real worlds.
I also want to caution over discussion of this definition. At some point each will have to make a decisions.
I will give an example. Is Facebook a virtual world? well it is for some, but once you select the a definition (say 3D3C) you are able to decide if
Facebook is included or not.
I also want to mention that the 3D3C definition is designed to be operational not just mere lexical. It guides me to what SHOULD be done and not necessarily what is the current state of the art.
Looking forward for the workshop.
1. Although I imagine the construction of the ‘virtual’ going much more father back than digital techologies; for defining ‘virtual world’, I prefer to stay close to ‘persistent online and simulated virtual environments where participants share the virtual space in real time’.. As I am researching collaborative co-design activities of users in some of these virtual worlds, I am also personally interested in ‘being modified/shaped/formed/created by its participants’ and ‘allowing user-generated content’ as important issues that virtual worlds I’ll be focusing on should have. Being ‘virtual’ in this sense is not only about the participation experience, or the collaborative work done by the participants, but it defines the tools that are used, and the environment where these tools are used. Being a ‘world’ for me describes ‘being a social environment where more than one type of interaction can occur between more than one type of participant (human or non-human) in any given time through as many communication channels as possible”. Being a ‘world’ is not something that a website or a 3D virtual environment inherently has, but it is its users who (re-)define, (re-)shape and construct the virtual spaces into ‘places’ by interacting in/with it. By using ‘virtual’ tools and environments, users create virtual ‘worlds’ for themselves; and they can resist, protest, redefine uses, and finally, migrate to other media if their demands for participation are not met. In this respect, I also like Bartle’s (2004) definition of virtual worlds as ‘places’ where people go to, do things in and go back home from. So, in any way, the use of “virtual” with socially made definition of “world” seems a bit problematic, since the “world” itself is in a way “virtual”.
‘ Bartle, R.A., 2004. Designing Virtual Worlds. New Riders. California.
2. To me, a virtual environment does not necessarily imply the ‘worldness’ aspect, because any simulated 3D virtual space (including models created in 3D Studio Max or AutoCAD) can simulate artificial environments for the viewer to get in, not depending on him/her being alone or in a social scene. However, in my understanding, virtual worlds are co-created by their users, as their social interaction and creativity enables them to make sense of the virtual environment together, and communicate/interact in it. With this perspective, it is also possible to question our definition of the “world” as we use it for defining the RL world. I imagine people would have significant disagreements (even among their own comments) about what “world” means, and what its fundamental components are (is the sky part of the “world”? where does the “world” end? ”? is there another “world”? Etc.) So, I think just as we, together, use these vague definitions to make sense of the “world” in RL, not so much differently than how Second Life residents collaboratively make sense of their virtual world.
“Virtual community” sounds oxymoronic, because all communities are also in most ways “virtual”…
And I try not to use the term “virtual reality” in my writings mainly for the same reason; oh yes, and because it irritatingly implies a former simulation technology..
3.
3D web, metaverse: because I like following buzz words to be able to keep myself informed about the ideas of creative people about the future
Social virtual world, Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE), Multi-User Virtual/Visual Environment (MUVE): because they imply the “social” aspect of collaborative world building
Synthetic world, virtual environments: because I believe if we are going to use the world “world” then we shouldn’t have to go with “virtual”; and if we want to go with “virtual”, then “environment” makes more sense as something that can actually be virtual (or simulated).
I’d like to change the last answer (synthetic world) to “digital world”.. it makes more sense this way..:)
From Simon Bignell via email:
1) What definition of “virtual worlds” do you use?
A ‘virtual world’ is a place in which a physical object cannot pass through.
2) How are the following similar/dissimilar to one another: virtual world, virtual environment, virtual reality and virtual community?
If we are comparing four things and they all share a commonality we can eliminate the commonality. That leaves us with ‘World’, ‘Environment’, ‘Reality’ and ‘Community’. So, the question becomes “How are the following similar and dissimilar?” Which is really is single question of, “What is the relation between these?” So, I’ll attempt that. First, I think it is safe to reduce ‘World’ into ‘Environment’ seeing as though a world must exist in an environment. So, we have, Environment, Reality, Community. An ‘environment’ is a place that things exist in. ‘Reality’ is the conviction that that place exists. ‘Community’ is what happens when people accept that their own environment is shared in the reality of others.
3) Consider the list of labels supplied below. Of all the labels, what do you consider to be the 7-10 (or more if you need to) main labels used to describe virtual worlds? What leads you to say this?
1. 3D platform
2. virtual environments
3. Multi-User Virtual/Visual Environment (MUVE)
4. Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)
5. synthetic environments
6. virtual reality
7. online game
8. synthetic world
9. metaverse
10. 3D environments
I’ve based my choices on the frequency with which I hear people use these in describing what I understand to be ‘virtual worlds’. I use the term ‘3D Virtual Worlds’ but I think the term ‘synthetic environments’ has by far the best Rock n’ Roll credentials.
Your three questions are:
1) What definition of “virtual worlds” do you use?
I would go with a narrow definition that brings up three dimensionality and multiple users, however, I tend to not to use any definition. The word “virtual” is somewhat problematic. In Finland the term “virtual education” has been used for a long time and it has included e.g. learning platforms that can be accessed with a web-browser. I would not call this type of education virtual, as virtual refers to 3D I think. Another “problem” is what to call the world outside virtual worlds. “Real world” or “Real life” are hardly describing and they suggest that “virtual” isn’t real, which is not the case for many people and many organisations.
2) How are the following similar/dissimilar to one another: virtual world, virtual environment, virtual reality and virtual community?
Again, I think that whenever “virtual” is used it includes 3D and multiple users. Hence, terms above are almost synonyms in my opinion. Virtual reality however is something that has been around for a long time and could be considered as a more technical term referring to technology and advances in it.
3) Consider the list of labels supplied below. Of all the labels, what do you consider to be the 7-10 (or more if you need to) main labels used to describe virtual worlds? What leads you to say this?
Mainly these (these I would use):
virtual reality
social virtual world
metaverse
virtual environments
and these are almost synonyms to each other:
Multi-User Object Oriented Domain/Dungeon (MOD)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online (MMO)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Game(MMOG)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Social Game (MMOSG)
Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)
Multi-User Virtual/Visual Environment (MUVE)
Social Virtual World Environment (SVWE)
Multi-User Simulated Environment (MUSE)
1) To define virtual worlds I employ the broad definition by Castronova (2005), who describes virtual worlds as computer-generated physical spaces, represented graphically in three dimensions that can be experienced by many users at once.
2) Virtual environment to me is the umbrella term to include asynchronous, two-dimensional or traditional web-based online platforms.
Virtual reality as discussed above seeks to mimic reality and relies heavier on technological devices as virtual worlds. For virtual worlds it is mainly the computer screen that turns into a window through which an alternative world can be seen or as the analogy provided by Bricken (1991) illustrates: “Viewing 3-D graphics on a screen is like looking into the ocean from a glass-bottom boat. We see through a flat window into an animated environment; we experience being on the boat”.
When I think about virtual community, Howard Rheingold’s definition comes to mind: “Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace”. While virtual worlds host a number of different virtual communities and form a virtual community as a whole, the technology does not necessarily need to be used to build or host virtual communities. It can also be used for simulations, one-time collaborations or communication efforts among many other applications.
3) From reading blogs, articles and books the following terms appear to be most commonly used to describe virtual worlds: 3D web, virtual reality, digital world, social virtual world, metaverse, 3D platform, virtual environments.
1) What definition of “virtual worlds” do you use?
The term virtual is highly problematic and has a lot of rather unnecessary baggage from the dotcom era. Therefore, it calls for a rather precise definition to be usable. Personally, I think that the view of Pierre Lévy that virtual is not an antithesis of real, but rather something that is non-actual is a useful baseline. Virtual is something that is definitely real, but not quite here if here is defined in very concrete meaning as being in this very particular physical place and time. The world part of the concept refers, in my opinion, to a world i.e. something that is comparable or similar to the physical world we are living in. Building on my 2006 (http://www.istohuvila.eu/dissertation) definition of virtual reality, I would see a virtual world as a non-actual (in a rather inclusive meaning) thing with some worldly characteristics A “3D virtual world” is clearly a virtual world, but also a wealth of other things can be a virtual world.
2) How are the following similar/dissimilar to one another: virtual world, virtual environment, virtual reality and virtual community?
The terms have been used in very different contexts, but to be consequent I would say that these are different manifestations or contexts of virtuality. Environment does not need to be a world, but has to be a space (i.e. environment for some activity). 3D chats are hardly virtual worlds, but can surely be virtual environments. A VR emphasises its relation to real, but it does not have to be spacial. In virtual communities, the focus is and should be on people and their mutual interactions.
3) Consider the list of labels supplied below. Of all the labels, what do you consider to be the 7-10 (or more if you need to) main labels used to describe virtual worlds? What leads you to say this?
virtual reality
synthetic world
digital world
metaverse
virtual environments
synthetic environments
If the question is to label virtual worlds with quasi-similar terms it is pretty tricky. Almost all of the labels could be very good to describe some particular and particular types of virtual worlds, but not all of them. I don’t myself think that the dichotomy of gaming worlds and social worlds is that productive it has been suggested to be when it comes to many other aspects than the ‘pure’ gamish things going on. Virtual worlds are for sure to a sense synthetic (although not necessarily in whole) and digital, they are part of the metaverse. MMOs, MMORPG etc. can be examples virtual worlds like a wealth of other things including casual and non-casual games. Multiple users can be often found in virtual worlds as multiple people is a rather descriptive thing in ‘world’, but I could think that there could be a kind of virtual world without a special emphasis on multiple users. Virtual world is (almost?) always to an extent a virtual reality and a virtual environment so they should be pretty ok.