Virtual Worlds
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Archived Viewpoints
2014
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July:
Announcement: Final Virtual Worlds Viewpoints
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June:
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May:
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April:
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March:
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February:
2013
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December/January:
2013: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 2014 -
November:
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October:
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September:
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August:
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July:
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June:
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May:
Microsoft Confirms the Shortcomings of Virtual Worlds for Workplace Conferencing
HP Unveils Eyewear-Free 3D Display -
April:
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March:
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February:
Disney Bets on Mixed Reality
Eyeglass Displays Gather Momentum
2012
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December/January:
2012: The Year in Review
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November:
Google Releases Alternate-Reality Game
Rats Meet People in Virtual Reality -
October:
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September:
Augmented-Reality Applications: From Showcasing Technology to Meeting Real User Needs
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August:
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July:
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June:
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April:
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2011
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December/January:
2011: The Year in Review
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November:
Merging the Real World and Virtual Worlds: Projection-Based Augmented Reality
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October:
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September:
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August:
The Reputation of In-App Purchasing
Eyeglass Displays for Consumer Augmented Reality -
July:
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June:
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May:
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April:
US Military's Virtual-Worlds Efforts
Augmented-Reality-Based Virtual Worlds Progress Further -
March:
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February:
2010
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December/January:
2010: The Year in Review
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November:
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October:
Registered Virtual Worlds Accounts Reach 1 Billion
Location-Based MMOGs -
September:
Online Gaming Addiction
Augmented-Reality Tech for BlackBerrys -
August:
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July:
Linden Lab Abandons Enterprise Market and Cuts One-Third of Staff
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June:
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May:
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April:
Location-Based Social Networks and Augmented-Reality Virtual Worlds
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March:
Linden Lab Overhauls Second Life User Interface
PlayStation Home Faces Problems? -
February:
2009
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December/January:
2009: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 2010 -
November:
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October:
Report from the United Kingdom's Serious Virtual Worlds Conference
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September:
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August:
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July:
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June:
Sony's and Microsoft's New Motion Controllers: Implications for Virtual Worlds
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May:
Recent Developments: Chevron Pilot of Qwaq Virtual World | Apply Serious Games in London
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April:
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March:
Enterprise Adoption of Web 2.0 and Implications for Virtual Worlds
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February:
2008
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December/January:
2008: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 2009 -
November:
Linden Lab and Rivers Run Red Team on "Immersive Workspaces"
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October:
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September:
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August:
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July:
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June:
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2007
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December/January:
2007: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 2008 -
November:
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October:
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September:
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Before September 2007, the Virtual Worlds technology area was Virtual Environments.
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August:
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July:
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June:
Revolutionary Consumer-Level Haptic-Interface Device and Its Possibilities in Virtual Worlds
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May:
The Potential and Risk of Three-Dimensional Virtual Collaboration and Learning Environments
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April:
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March:
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February:
2006
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December/January:
2006: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 2007 -
November:
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October:
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September:
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August:
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July:
Virtual Environments for Self-Guided Academic and Professional Learning
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2005
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December/January:
2005: The Year in Review
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November:
Blending of Virtual and Real Worlds Raises Financial, Legal, and Property Issues
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October:
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September:
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August:
Haptics for Teaching Anatomy, Conducting Virtual Surgery and Telesurgery
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July:
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June:
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2004
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December/January:
2004: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 2005 -
November:
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October:
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September:
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August:
Pervasive and Wearable Computing for Next-Generation Learning Applications
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July:
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2003
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December/January:
2003: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 2004 -
November:
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October:
Augmented-Reality Developments
Recent Developments: Virtual-Reality TV Show -
September:
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August:
Obtaining Perfect Virtual Humans
Recent Developments: Virtual Car Mechanics -
July:
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June:
eLearning: Expanding Opportunities for Software-Based Simulation
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2002
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December/January:
2002: The Year in Review
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November:
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October:
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September:
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August:
Recent Developments: Real Homes, Virtual Environments | Smart Textiles
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July:
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June:
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May:
Recent Developments: Changing Human-Machine Interface | Getting Chipped: Human Silicon Implants
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April:
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March:
Recent Developments: Virtual Stunt Characters | Electronic-Ink Displays
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February:
2001
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December/January:
2001: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 2002 -
November:
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October:
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September:
Recent Developments: Retinal Scanning Display-Based HMD | Nanobots and Virtual Environments
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August:
Recent Developments: Clash of Realities | Men and Women in Cyberspace
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July:
Recent Developments: VR Meets Motion | Cybernet's Gesture-Recognition Technology
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June:
Recent Developments: Web-Based Product Simulations | A Head on the Net
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May:
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April:
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March:
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February:
Recent Developments: Personalization Payoff | 3-D Web Interfaces
2000
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December/January:
2000: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 2001 -
November:
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October:
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September:
Recent Developments: Virtual Fearlessness | Virtual Hypnosis | Virtual Symptoms
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August:
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July:
Recent Developments: Driving with Force | Phantom Force | Sweet Smell of Success?
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June:
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May:
3-D e-Commerce Heats Up
Recent Developments: Augmenting Reality -
April:
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February:
1999
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December/January:
1999: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 2000 -
November:
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October:
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September:
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August:
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Before August 1999, the Explorer service was called TechMonitoring, and Viewpoints were TechLinks.
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1998
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December/January:
1998: The Year in Review
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November:
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1997
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December/January:
1997: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 1998 -
November:
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October:
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September:
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August:
Mars Mission Showcases VR Capabilities for Enhanced Telepresence
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July:
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June:
Increasing Use of VR for Industrial and Military Training Programs
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May:
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April:
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February:
1996
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December/January:
1996: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 1997 -
November:
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December/January:
1995: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 1996
About Virtual Worlds
August 2012
Virtual worlds are 3D software environments that users can "walk through" and explore. These environments utilize server-side software, internet communications, and either client software or web browsers. Users access virtual worlds from desktop computers, consoles, or (potentially) handheld devices. Typical features of virtual worlds include avatars, real-time interaction among a large number of users, in-world social activities, and tools for users to create in-world objects. Virtual worlds serve a wide variety of purposes, from entertaining children to training military personnel in battlefield operations.
Children dominate the market for consumer virtual worlds: Consultancy firm KZero estimates that 63% of all consumer virtual-worlds accounts are registered to users younger than age 16. Social virtual worlds for adults such as Second Life have stagnated, but massively multiplayer online games, played by users of all ages, are still popular. For example, Blizzard's World of Warcraft has more than 10 million paying customers. Virtual worlds are also an important tool for enterprise collaboration and learning. For example, BP has trained new graduates with a virtual world from ProtonMedia, IBM has held major internal meetings and conferences in Second Life, and Thomson Reuters used a virtual-worlds solution to assist in a change-management program. However, because of corporate budget cuts, enterprise virtual worlds have not developed as quickly as some providers hoped. Linden Lab shut down its Second Life Enterprise business, Teleplace folded, and Forterra ran into financial difficulties and had to sell its assets to defense contractor SAIC.
Children's virtual worlds and massively multiplayer online games are now established markets, but other forms of virtual worlds are in transition. Client-server worlds that are difficult for the average user to operate and stand separate from the web have a limited future. But the elements of virtual worlds—shared 3D environments, avatars, real-time conversations, 3D-object creation, communication through gestures, and other features—could become increasingly common features of consumer websites and mobile-gaming, social-networking, and enterprise-collaboration applications. What may eventually disappear is the term virtual world and notions of very immersive but closed-off environments. On the web and in enterprise collaboration, connectivity with other systems is more important than immersion, and the new generation of virtual worlds is likely to reflect this orientation. Another change is the move toward augmented-reality-based virtual worlds. In the future, perhaps, viewing a coffee store through a smartphone's camera will reveal a variety of virtual characters and objects superimposed onto the real store—potentially an entire virtual world overlaid onto the real world and navigated by a smartphone. Finally, mirror worlds may combine virtual worlds and mapping technologies to create immersive, data-rich replicas of the real world. Already, in Washington, DC, the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center uses Google Earth to integrate and visualize data from disparate sources such as the District's 911 Call Center, automated systems such as license-plate readers, and the ShotSpotter gunshot-detection system and traffic information such as road closures during public events.