Wikipedia describes a virtual world as a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars. This habitation usually is represented in the form of two or three-dimensional graphical representations of humanoids (or other graphical or text-based avatars). Most, but not all, virtual worlds allow for multiple users.
A virtual computer-simulated world typically appears similar to the real world, with real world rules such as gravity, topography, locomotion, real-time actions, and communication. Communication has, until recently, been in the form of text, but now real-time voice communication using VOIP is available. This type of virtual world is now most common in massively multiplayer online games (Active Worlds, ViOS, There, Second Life--although not games, per se, but more like virtual environments that can include gaming--Entropia Universe, The Sims Online, Red Light Center, Kaneva), particularly massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as EverQuest, Ultima Online, Lineage, World of Warcraft, RuneScape, AdventureQuest, or Guild Wars.
Leonie Rasmondt
Playing Doctor: A simulated operating room at Stanford University Medical Center lets medical workers practice on make-believe patients.
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