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What is a Virtual World?

By R. Kayne
Updated: May 16, 2024
Views: 31,748
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A virtual world is an animated three-dimensional world created with computer graphics imagining (CGI) and other rendering software. One of the hallmarks of such a world is that a user can interact within the environment by virtue of an avatar, or a computerized character that represents the user. The avatar manipulates and interacts with objects in the world by mouse movements and keystrokes issued by the user. In simple terms, the avatar is a remote controlled character or proxy.

In addition to graphics, a virtual world also provides sound effects and may offer streaming sound for listing to music, radio or scripts issuing from within the virtual environment. In multiplayer games and environments, chat and instant messaging allow avatars to communicate with each other in the world.

There are two basic genres of virtual worlds: those created for gaming, and those created for their own sake as virtual communities. Though they share many similarities in terms of rendering ability, they are created for two distinct purposes. Gaming worlds are inhabited by antagonists the hero must defeat and provides a built-in objective for the user to achieve in order to conquer the game. Virtual communities, on the other hand, are places where the user decides what he or she wants to do. The avatar’s role in this world can be as passive or as active and creative as the user wishes.

Gaming world or virtual community, there is no doubt that gaming paved the way to virtual worlds. Wolfenstein 3D, released in 1992, was the first game that offered a mesmerizing first-person three-dimensional experience. This provided a stepping-stone to the more complex worlds created in later games such as Doom (1993) and Quake (1996).

In these initial forays into a virtual setting, the user’s point of view was that of the avatar’s, seeing only the tip of the weapon extending into the forefront of the screen. In some cases, the avatar’s face was a semi-animated mug shot in a toolbar that changed expressions depending on the user’s actions. Some first-person shooter games continue to follow this style.

The avatars of virtual communities are fully rendered characters that can be completely personalized. Avatars walk, run or fly through rich environments ranging from forests of swaying trees to pounding surf and underwater sea life. Homes, businesses, clubs, art galleries and shopping malls are created in the virtual world, inhabited and explored by interacting avatars. Some worlds replicate sections of real-world famous cities, while other virtual landscapes allow residents to take creative license to build bizarre floating temples with cascading water fountains, neon weeping willow gardens, marble castles and rotating art plazas. The virtual world might also offer interactive classes, dances, club memberships and any number of other activities.

While the multibillion dollar gaming industry is well-established, virtual world communities like Second Life are just getting started, comparatively speaking. Second Life’s founding company, Linden, Inc., purportedly earned 64 million US dollars in 2005 — quite impressive considering a basic account is free. Though hardcore gamers may find it a little awkward to inhabit a world that does not have a ready-made purpose — much less a pursuing brain-eating goblin coaxing them onward — a different sect is finding the virtual world a strangely compelling and addictive place to explore and hang out. In time, such communities might even incorporate real-world goods and services, taking interactive shopping, customer support, education, and participation-by-proxy in directions few have yet considered.

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Discussion Comments
By ShadowGenius — On Feb 01, 2011

@arod2b42

Good point, it seems that the implication of this may be that there will be actual online communities with their own set of rules and loyalties, kind of like an "internet nation." This sounds like it could get ugly fast.

By arod2b42 — On Jan 31, 2011

@TrogJoe

What you are saying is interesting, but aren't there problems in the real world as well? People are often unafraid to initiate brutal conflict and confrontation. In a virtual world in which multiple nationalities participate, which country would determine the rules of the virtual world?

By TrogJoe19 — On Jan 29, 2011

@ShadowGenius

This may be true, but I think that there are ways which you can eliminate this kind of "trolling." For instance, in an account based site, people are required to follow certain rules and regulations or else risk losing their account. In the near future, there may even be virtual reality worlds with live interaction and necessary body movement. In this scenario, people may be able to see each other face to face, as they appear in the real world. This usually discourages trolling as well.

By ShadowGenius — On Jan 27, 2011

These worlds can be unrealistic and addictive. The social groups formed in these worlds can also be brutal. People are able to be much nastier to strangers than they would be in real life, because there is no fear of repercussions for bat netiquette. Unlike in the real world, where a rude person is shunned and forced to apologize for their own good, people in these virtual worlds can get away with whatever they want to, much like they do when driving a vehicle. Behind a wheel and a keyboard, people's true bad sides come out.

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