-> *See also: Massive Multiplayer Games and Social Networks* Virtual worlds are all systems where people act within a platform in [[Virtuality]], interacting with the platform and with each other. Simply: Contextual transparent multi-user systems. Virtual Worlds can be distinguished by their [[Magic Circle]], essentially creating the boundaries of their purpose and governance. Some might be specifically for socializing, but others might have different goals like play, entertainment, education, training and so on. ## Attributes of Virtual Worlds They have these attributes: * They track users within a platform ("This is YOU") * Position them spatially or contextually ("You are HERE") * Allow interaction between the user and the platform ("Since you are here, you can do THIS") * Other users see the interactions ("The OTHER has done THIS THERE") These attributes work as much for World of Warcraft, [Pokémon Go](https://pokemongolive.com/en/) as they do for [Swarm](https://www.swarmapp.com/) (Foursquare), [Google Maps](https://maps.google.de/), [Yelp](https://www.yelp.com/), [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/) or your [work portal](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/). To a degree every virtual world is an entry point into a [[Metaverse]], if elements of the digital space crosses into the physical one. See the [[Metaverse Roadmap]] where virtual worlds is one of the Metaverse quadrants. See also [[Multi-User Dungeons#Fleissner attributes]]. ## It's all the same The reason why virtual worlds can be defined so broadly is that they follow the same rules for social dynamics - the people using them are the same. And people don't really care if the world they interact in is fully virtual, digital-physical or fully physical. That means that the methods and mechanics to design these spaces is largely the same or at least transferable. That means all virtual worlds deal with the same problems and design challenges. * As soon as you have user generated content or ways to express themselves, you have the "[Time To Penis](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=time%20to%20penis)"-metric. It doesn't matter if you build the penis out of [dirt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_xqyIMwbew) in a game or making videos of penis-shaped clouds for YouTube or just write 4 pages of penis fan fiction on Facebook. * If you have users interact with each other you will have [abusers](http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle_vv.html). It doesn't matter how many degrees you abstract a virtual representation - if you attach value to that representation, the abuse matters. See [Facebook Files - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Files). * Ad-click-farms are the same as comment bots are the same as gold farming bots - ways to automate the value generation on social platforms. Raph Koster is in this space for decades and explains regularly why and how these systems are all connected. Example: [Still Logged In: What AR and VR Can Learn from MMOs - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgw8RLHv1j4) This is also why I don't buy argument by [[Meta (Facebook)]] that they are too big to clean up their act (see [You and the Algorithm: It Takes Two to Tango - About Facebook (fb.com)](https://about.fb.com/news/2021/03/you-and-the-algorithm-it-takes-two-to-tango/)). My response is very direct and graphic. The polite version is: Conceding that Facebook is a product that can't be safely engineered is a slap in the face for all the virtual worlds that did just that. It's not hard to do so, Facebook is brainwashing the public because it's more profitable for them to be unsafe & eventually regulated than to clean up their platform. See [Raph Koster: "As someone who has run online communities for nearly 30 years, principle 2 just doesn't work. Period.](https://twitter.com/raphkoster/status/1603111427161497600) and [Raph Koster: "Long long ago, back on LegendMUD, we had a player who was obstreperous. I don’t recall what they did, who they were, or anything. We had recently decided to adopt a code of conduct for players, and had taken the unusual step of also creating a code of ethics for the game admins."](https://twitter.com/raphkoster/status/1603611911395823616) See [Facebook profits off hate and that's why it won't change, says whistleblower Frances Haugen | Euronews](https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/10/04/facebook-profits-off-hate-and-that-s-why-it-won-t-change-says-whistleblower-frances-haugen) - I guess it needed a whistleblower to confirm to the public what experts said for years. ## The metagame is the game [[MDA]] describes the platform design and rules as mechanics while the interaction with it are the dynamics of a system: What happens and what it does to the player. Every system has that and in virtual social worlds you can translate this to: There is the platform itself, it's explicitly designed rules and mechanics and as soon as people interact with it, they create the [Metagame](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metagaming) that transcends or operates outside of the prescribed rules of the game. That said, you cannot differentiate between the two. If you design a platform so that families can communicate with each other and some people use it for misinformation, manipulation and fraud - it's still on you. If features of your platform can be weaponized, it's on you that you gave people a weapon and you can't complain that people will seize the opportunity to build & operate driving ranges on top of your platform. ## Examples [Gather | A better way to meet online.](https://www.gather.town/) is essentially [Habbo](https://www.habbo.com/) with video calls. See [Habbo - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habbo) for the history of Habbo. ## Articles & posts [MMO Timeline – Bio Break (wordpress.com)](https://biobreak.wordpress.com/mmo-timeline/)