Virtual world

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10,000 moving cities, Marc Lee , virtual world, telepresence-based installation

A virtual world is a computerized simulated environment that can be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities and communicate with others. These avatars can be textual, two- or three-dimensional graphic representations or live video avatars with sensations of hearing and touch. In general, virtual worlds allow multiple users, but also single-player computer games such as B. Skyrim, can be seen as a kind of virtual world.

The user accesses a computer-simulated world, which presents perceptual stimuli to the user, who in turn can manipulate elements of the modeled world and thereby experience a certain presence. Such modeled worlds and their rules can draw from reality or from fantasy worlds. Example rules are gravity, topography, locomotion, real-time actions, and communication. Communication between users can range from text, graphic symbols, visual gestures, sounds and, less often, shapes to touch, voice control and a sense of balance.

Massively multiplayer online games represent a wide range of worlds, including those based on science fiction, the real world, superheroes, sports, horror, and historical milieus. The most common form of such games are fantasy worlds, while those based on the real world are relatively rare. Most MMORPGs have real-time action and communication. The players create a character who travels between buildings, cities and worlds in order to pursue business or private activities. Communication is usually in text form, but real-time voice communication is also possible. The form of communication used can significantly affect the players' experience in the game.

Virtual worlds are not limited to games but, depending on the degree of immediacy, can include computer conferences and text-based chat rooms. Sometimes emoticons or "smilies" are available to show emotions or facial expressions. Emoticons often have a keyboard shortcut. Edward Castronova is an economist who has argued that "synthetic worlds" is a better term for these cyberspaces, but that term has not caught on widely.

history

The concept of virtual worlds is much older than the computer. The Roman natural scientist Pliny the Elder was already interested in perceptual illusion. In the twentieth century, cameraman Morton Heilig explored the creation of the Sensorama , a theatrical experience designed to stimulate the audience's senses - sight, sound, balance, smell, even touch (via the wind) - and thus better involve them in the staging.

Among the earliest virtual worlds implemented by computers were virtual reality simulators, such as the work of Ivan Sutherland. Such devices were characterized by bulky headsets and other types of simulation of sensory impressions. Contemporary virtual worlds, especially the multi-user online environments, emerged largely independently of this research, which was primarily promoted by the games industry. While classic sensory imitation of virtual reality is based on tricking the perceptual system into experiencing an immersive environment, virtual worlds are usually based on mentally and emotionally appealing content that evokes an immersive experience.

Maze War was the first networked 3D multi-user first person shooter game. Maze introduced the concept of online gamblers chasing each other in a maze in 1973–1974. "It was played on the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network ( ARPANET ), a forerunner of the Internet developed by the United States Department of Defense was funded for use in university and research laboratories The first game could only be played on an Imlac as it was designed specifically for this type of computer.

The first virtual worlds presented on the Internet were communities and chat rooms, some of which developed into MUDs and MUSHes. The first MUD, known as MUD1, was released in 1978. The acronym originally stood for Multi-User Dungeon, but later also became Multi-User Dimension and Multi-User Domain. A MUD is a virtual world with many players interacting with each other in real time. The early versions were text-based, offered limited graphical representation, and often used a command line interface. In role-play or competitive games, users interact by entering commands and can read or view descriptions of the world and other players. With such early worlds began the legacy of the MUD, which eventually led to massively multiplayer online role-playing games, better known as MMORPGs , a genre of role-playing games in which large numbers of players interact within a virtual world.

Some prototypes of virtual worlds were WorldsAway, a two-dimensional chat environment in which users designed their own avatars; Dreamscape, an interactive community with a virtual world from CompuServe ; CitySpace, an educational network and 3D computer graphics project for children; and The Palace, a two-dimensional, community-controlled virtual world. However, credit for the first online virtual world usually goes to Habitat, which was developed in 1987 by LucasFilm Games for the Commodore 64 computer and runs on the Quantum Link service (the forerunner of America Online ).

In 1996 the city of Helsinki , Finland, started the first virtual 3D online representation with the Helsinki Telephone Company (since the Elisa group), which was supposed to depict an entire city. The Virtual Helsinki project was eventually renamed the Helsinki Arena 2000 project, and parts of the city in the modern and historical context were rendered in 3D.

In 1999, Whyville.net, the first virtual world specifically for children, with a base in game-based learning and one of the earliest virtual currency-based economies was launched. Shortly thereafter, in 2000, Habbo launched and grew into one of the most popular and long-standing virtual worlds with millions of users around the world.

software

Apart from the fact that everything is essentially based on the game engine , there are two ways of implementing a virtual world. The first option is that of the single player . Only one person can join the virtual world here. The second option is that of multiplayer . Virtual worlds, in which several people can join, have the server software and the client software. The server software is mostly operated on servers that are located in data centers . It is different for the client software. Often the software has to be installed . However, it can also be used as a browser plug-in or Flash content directly from the Internet.

Avatar

Each visitor is represented by an avatar. This can be observed and controlled from the first person perspective , third person perspective or bird's eye view .

It is currently not possible to travel between the different VWs with your own avatar. The only exceptions are virtual worlds based on the Opensim software, which use the so-called HyperGrid protocol, as well as teleports between the Second Life Beta Grid and Opensim worlds.

Physical laws

This software also describes the physical laws of the virtual world. How fast an avatar can move, whether it can fly, how far something flies when you throw it, whether light is broken in window panes and trees cast shadows. But since the designers of the VW can determine all of this, it often happens that the physical laws of a VW are very different from those of the earthly physical laws. The best example are flying and magic avatars from World of Warcraft .

Types of virtual worlds

Twinity , IMVU or Second Life are examples of MUVEs , which stands for Multi User Virtual Environments . In these virtual worlds, the focus is not on playing, nor are you forced to take on a role other than that of your own person. Even Google did with the platform Google Lively follow suit, however it was now set.

Virtual reality

The Virtual Reality , VR for short is generated in each virtual world.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 10,000 Moving Cities - Same but Different, Interactive network and telepresence-based installation, 2015 .
  2. ^ Thomas Aichner, Frank Jacob: Measuring the Degree of Corporate Social Media Use . In: International Journal of Market Research . tape 57 , no. 2 , March 2015, ISSN  1470-7853 , p. 257-276 , doi : 10.2501 / ijmr-2015-018 .
  3. ↑ Singhal, Sandeep; Zyda, Michael: Networked Virtual Environments: Design and Implementation. Addison-Wesley, 1999.
  4. ↑ Voice Chat Can Really Kill the Mood on WoW. July 17, 2012, accessed April 24, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Biocca, Frank ,, Levy, Mark R.,: Communication in the age of virtual reality . L. Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ 1995, ISBN 0-8058-1549-X .
  6. ↑ A virtual world | Information Technology Leadership. January 20, 2012, accessed April 24, 2020 .
  7. ↑ DigiBarn Events: Maze War 30 Year Retrospective @ VCF 7.0 (7 November 2004). Retrieved April 24, 2020 .
  8. ↑ 3D Virtual Worlds. November 13, 2005, accessed April 24, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Robert Rossney: Metaworlds . In: Wired . June 1, 1996, ISSN  1059-1028 ( wired.com [accessed April 24, 2020]).
  10. ↑ Helsinki: virtual capital of the world? Retrieved April 24, 2020 (English).
  11. ↑ Los Angeles Times: Cartoon Lips, Virtual Fashion and Physics. Retrieved April 24, 2020 .
  12. ^ Sulake: 15 years of Habbo Hotel. Retrieved April 24, 2020 (English).

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