Special Issue "Virtual Worlds"

Guest Editor
Dr. Andrew Crooks
Department of Computational Social Science, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University, 379 Research Hall, MS 6B2, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Website: http://www.gisagents.blogspot.com/
E-Mail: acrooks2@gmu.edu
Phone: +1 703 993 1402
Interests: geographical information systems and science; neogeography; crowdsourcing; volunteered geographic information; agent-based modeling, urban informatics, virtual environments and virtual worlds

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue of the journal Future Internet focuses on the broad topic of virtual worlds such as Second Life, Active Worlds and OpenSim and their research potential. Virtual worlds are computer simulated environments that can mimic the real world or be purely artificial. In such worlds people, in the form of avatars (a computer user's digital representation of himself/herself) interact with each other and their environment through a computer.

Such electronic environments offer huge potential for study, education and outreach across all the sciences albeit in the virtual world (see Bainbridge 2007). Virtual worlds are open to whoever is connected to the internet (with obvious limits of membership, censorship, etc.). This literally puts users "in" the internet, rather than "on" it. The ability of many to engage and interact is the key feature that defines Web 2.0 technologies where interaction is key and where most interaction is currently achieved through graphical user interfaces.

We therefore seek high-quality, original papers on any aspect of virtual world research. Example topics might include: emergence of cooperation in role playing games; the evolution of social norms; censorship within virtual worlds; modelling; creating realistic worlds and associated technological challenges; experiences of using virtual worlds for teaching purposes, public participation or as space for experimentation or debate, etc. Papers can be either empirical, conceptual or theoretical in nature, or position papers that outline and/or evaluate any important existing or emerging aspects in the field, or issues, benefits and limitations of virtual environments.

Dr. Andrew Crooks
Guest Editor

Reference:
Bainbridge, W.S. (2007) The Scientific Research Potential of Virtual Worlds. Science. 317(5837): 472-476.

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Future Internet is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 500 CHF (Swiss Francs). English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.