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The Matrix depicts a future in which the human world has been trapped inside a virtual world by sentient machines.Ĭomedy Central’s South Park parodied rising phenomenon World of Warcraft in its episode “Make Love not Warcraft” of Season 10. Mainstream pop culture engaged the concept of virtual worlds in 1999, when special-effects extravaganza sci-fi film The Matrix reaped $460 million in the box office. Pop culture picked up the virtual world trends in the past 10 years, and catalyzed virtual worlds’ emergence in mainstream culture. The objective of virtual worlds is to continue participating in the world, interact with other users, and gaining more status or experience within the virtual world.Įven computer users who don’t have a World of Warcraft account probably are acquainted with virtual worlds through pop culture.

Playing in a virtual world, by contrast, is an end in itself. Traditional video games generally have some ultimate game objective, for example defeating all the level bosses, saving the kingdom, or just winning the game. Modern virtual worlds differ from traditional video games in their objective. A virtual world is a computer-simulated representation of a world with specific spatial and physical characteristics, and users of virtual worlds interact with each other via representations of themselves called “avatars.”