Virtual worlds literally mean an artificial environment that resembles reality or not, through a simulation based on the use of avatars or characters. A virtual world is also known as a metaverse and can be used in different areas such as education or video games.
What are virtual worlds?
The term virtual world was first used in Neal Stephesson's novel Snow Crash in 1992 and began to be used to describe the vision of work in 2D and 3D environments and from there it jumped to computing and later to video games.
This is due to the fact that a metaverse has characteristics such as interactivity, simulation, great possibility of graphics and immersion, which allows to recreate playful and leisure activities applicable both in education, education and in video games.
It is precisely in the gaming sector where they are used the most, since they are historically linked to computing and technology by making use of a video game engine for the representation of characters and avatars.
Virtual worlds in gaming
In addition, virtual worlds function as collective supply platforms, a definition that fits perfectly with the world of video games.
An example of virtual worlds with many users is single-player computer games like Skyrim, which are considered to be a kind of virtual world.
Other games like MMORPGs or massively multiplayer games also represent simulated worlds. Many of which are recreated in science fiction stories, novels, sports, horror, or historical or fantasy settings.
There are many examples of video games that are small virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft, The Sims, Age of Conan or Minecraft.
This last case is very curious since it allows us to create our own world without the help of players and then work with other users and design larger, more complex and different environments.
Many of these games have real-time action and communication thanks to computer conferences and text-based or voice-based chats. This increases their interactivity and reality.
This is because users experience a greater degree of presence through the manipulation of elements of reality as well as access to different forms of communication such as visual gestures, sound, graphic icons and even text, on some occasions and depending on the interface. of touch and the senses of balance.
Characteristics and advantages of virtual worlds
If we stick strictly to a metaverse, its characteristics are: interactivity, corporeality and persistence.
Persistence: we understand by this characteristic that the recreated system or virtual world continues to work, even if there is no user inside it, since the positions and moments where the users were are automatically saved when closing the sessions and are reloaded at the moment of connection.
Interactivity and graphics: one of the main characteristics of a virtual world is the possibility of recreating different realities through the design of graphics and worlds that allow dialogue or interaction between the machine and the user, in this case, they are graphics.
Corporeal or physical: all users who make use of a virtual world know that when entering it they are subject to rules, limited and organized resources that respond to physical laws.
These properties were defined by Professor Edward Castronova, an expert in the work of metaverses and synthetic or virtual worlds.
But we can define more features, many of which are used in the gaming sector.
Among them are the following:
Space limitation: Virtual environments are fully organized and delimited by making use of 2D or 3D spaces.
Great capacity for immersion: the digital recreation of spaces combined with the use of simulations, avatars and interactive graphics is capable of recreating everyday scenes and situations or not that are capable of putting us in the skin of a character and an environment thanks to its high impact immersive.
Simulation: Users enter the environment through an interface or console that recreates the virtual environment on a screen. The user is represented by an avatar or character. This, combined with the immersive graphics and, above all, with the possibility of interacting remotely and directly with other characters inside and outside the virtual world, is capable of recreating and designing a wide variety of environments and situations.
Different uses and applications: virtual worlds are multi-user environments that allow the design of multiple situations and activities applicable in areas such as education, psychology, leisure and video games.
Multi-user environment: All users within a virtual environment such as a metaverse are able to communicate with each other in order to interact in the virtual world.
Types of metaverses
To finish we will mention the four classes of metaverses that exist and they are mirror worlds, augmented reality, lifelogging and games and virtual worlds.
However, they can also be classified according to the use that is going to be given to the platform, for example, for the health sector, for education or the business world.
In short, virtual worlds are a powerful digital tool and an ideal way to recreate, with a greater or lesser degree of similarity, different scenarios and environments that serve to socialize and interact between users.
Today, technology provides simulated worlds with communication and collaboration tools that have transformed these digital environments into valuable platforms for use in different sectors thanks to learning, collaboration and communication.
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