Online Worlds: Convergence of the Real and the Virtual (Paperback)

Virtual worlds are persistent online computer-generated environments where people can interact, whether for work or play, in a manner comparable to the real world. The most popular current example is World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online game with eleven million subscribers. However, other virtual worlds, notably Second Life, are not games at all but internet-based collaboration contexts in which people can create virtual objects, simulated architecture, and working groups.

This book brings together an international team of highly accomplished authors to examine the phenomena of virtual worlds, using a range of theories and methodologies to discover the principles that are making virtual worlds increasingly popular, and which are establishing them as a major sector of human-centred computing.

虛擬世界是持續存在的線上電腦生成環境，人們可以在其中進行工作或娛樂，與現實世界相似。目前最受歡迎的例子是《魔獸世界》，這是一款擁有1100萬訂閱者的大型多人在線遊戲。然而，其他虛擬世界，尤其是《第二人生》，並不是遊戲，而是基於互聯網的協作環境，人們可以在其中創建虛擬物體、模擬建築和工作團隊。

本書匯集了一個國際團隊的高度成就的作者，使用各種理論和方法來研究虛擬世界的現象，以發現使虛擬世界越來越受歡迎並成為人類中心計算的主要領域的原則。