As part of an ongoing study on how people make sense of virtual worlds, our project has been compiling a list of all known online sites that purport to be virtual worlds.
As this is an ongoing study, this list will be updated regularly as more virtual worlds are added to it. Also, if in perusing the list, you have any suggestions for additions or deletions, please contact us, either here in the comments or to CarrieLynn Reinhard at carrie@ruc.dk.
If you prefer to download rather than browse in the embedded viewer, here is a .pdf version.
it would be much more useful to just link this as a pdf or html page. this open publication system is a great hinderance.
Noted and changed. But please note that this .pdf file has a date on it. Each time we update the file, it will have the date of updating as part of the file name. To be current, please make sure you have the most recent version when you make comments.
Looks like a good list. Better to it in Google Spreadsheet so it can be sorted.
Thanks for the suggestion, Yesha. We’ll look into it after the workshop.
Wouw, what a splendid resource. Thank you for sharing it! I wonder if there are any criterias behind the list? Would Mingoville.com qualify?
“any criteria”…
Well, Mikala, that would depend on how we identify what is a virtual world. I am certain some on this list are debatable about fitting into such a taxonomy, given how they are defined. Do you believe it would qualify, based on your definition of what is a virtual world?
As you know my definition of a virtual world is relationally and empirically defined. Mingoville.com is by the developers described as a virtual universe and it includes what they call a virtual world (MMO) part with flamingo avatars where you can safe chat with other flamingos, play games together with other players, explore Mingoville which consists of among other a beach, a forest, a basket ball lane, a school, a club, a café, a fruit and vegetable shop, a fishing shop etc. There is in-world transportation via among other helicopter and boat. You can buy things in Mingoville, and Christmas was selebrated in Mingoville. It is designed by Mingoville A/S with a reference to being a world, so I would say that it ought to be on the list as it represents a variation of a what it may mean to be a virtual world. See: http://www.mingoville.com/da/blog.html. Of course the actual engagements with Mingoville, whether and how users experience Mingoville as a world is a whole other interesting (and not at all general) aspect.
Thanks for a great workshop this week. I learned a lot
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And considering the fact that Mingoville is the only Danish developed Virtual world out there, I also think it deserved to be at the list.
Thanks for making this list available!