The Emerging Geography of Virtual Worlds (original) (raw)

The technology of virtual reality is producing new virtual worlds. These worlds are being created and utilized for a number of different purposes. Four main themes and application areas of virtual reality are: the arts and literature, the military, the preservation of aspects of reality, and finance or business. The technology of virtual reality is examined in these themes, and the differences as well as linkages between them are explored. The growing importance of virtual worlds as a topic of geographical analysis is discussed. Keywords: computers, technology, virtual reality, virtual worlds. rtual reality (VR) is creating new worlds. "Virtual reality" commonly has three components: a computer system that lets the user interact with a virtual space; the virtual world itself, a computer-generated 3-D visual or audiovisual environment either created originally or based on a simulation of the real world; and the interaction of the user with the virtual world in real time (Thierauf 1995, 22). Although the terms virtual world and virtual reality can have different meanings, this discussion focuses on a type of computer application that "lets users navigate and interact with a three-dimensional, computer-generated (and computer-maintained) environment in real time" (Pratt, Zyda, and Kelleher 1995, 17).