Virtual worlds are persistent, avatar-based social spaces that provide players or participants with the ability to engage in long-term, coordinated conjoined action. In these spaces, cultures and meanings emerge from a complex set of interactions among the participants, rather than as part of a predefined story or narrative arc.
This sense of “being with others” and being able to share space, see physical representations of each other, and communicat e and act in that shared space provides a very specific set of affordances for players. This article is an effort to trace out and understand those affordances. Or, put differently, it is an effort to understand why virtual worlds, and the avatars that exist inside them, can matter.
This article was originally published in the International Journal of Learning and Media, Winter 2009, Vol. 1, No. 1, Pages 37-49.