Virtual environment

Draft

Note: DSchneider is not happy with the organization of wiki entries dealing with virtual environment issues .... have to come up with clear terms and decide where to write

History

See Raph Koster's excellent Online World Timeline

Definition

A virtual environment is a place with things that can be manipulated and people :).

Types of virtual environments (in random order):

• text-based virtual reality, such as MOOs and MUDs
• mixed reality environments
• Multi-user games with persistant storage features (mostly MMORPGs)
• Multi-user 3D interactive environments with persistant storage capabilities
• Immersive 3D environments, i.e. true immersive virtual reality environments
• any other form of virtual habitats
• Collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) - this includes habitats like MUDs, MMORPGs as well as some CSCW systems.
• Shared spaces

See also:

• Community of practice
• Virtual community
• Virtual learning environment
• Virtual laboratory

Typology of virtual environments

There is no real consensus on what constitutes a virtual environment. See also Benford's categorization of shared spaces.

Here is a picture made by DSchneider that shows a variety of such environments and their potential for education:

References

• Dieberger, A. (1999) Social connotations of space in the Design for Virtual Communities and Social Navigation. In Munro, A., Höök K. & Benyon D. (Eds), Social Navigation of Information Space, pp. 35-54. Springer: London