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List of Virtual Worlds

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.


13 Responses

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  1. jeremy says

    it would be much more useful to just link this as a pdf or html page. this open publication system is a great hinderance.

  2. CarrieLynn says

    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.

  3. Yesha Sivan says

    Looks like a good list. Better to it in Google Spreadsheet so it can be sorted.

  4. CarrieLynn says

    Thanks for the suggestion, Yesha. We’ll look into it after the workshop.

  5. Mikala Hansbøl says

    Wouw, what a splendid resource. Thank you for sharing it! I wonder if there are any criterias behind the list? Would Mingoville.com qualify?

  6. Mikala Hansbøl says

    “any criteria”… :-)

  7. CarrieLynn says

    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?

  8. Mikala Hansbøl says

    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 :-) .

  9. Anton Sølvsten says

    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.

  10. jordi says

    Thanks for making this list available!

Continuing the Discussion

  1. Quora linked to this post on 2011/01/21

    What are the most creative online communities?…

    I’m not sure how one would decide which are the most creative communities, but I would argue that virtual worlds should be considered in the mix along with more conventional internet sites.  Virtual worlds support the creation of objects, environments…

  2. List of Virtual Worlds « A Stranger in a Familiar Land linked to this post on 2011/08/26

    [...] are a couple ways to view this document.  You can either go directly to the old posting about this list, at the worlds.ruc.dk blog.  You can go see the document published at Issuu.  Or [...]

  3. The Multiplicity of Virtual Worlds | Playing, With Research linked to this post on 2013/02/27

    [...] available on the internet, including how they are using the labels found in the first list.  This list will be ready for disbursement online before the workshop as a database of active online places that [...]

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