What is a virtual world?

A Virtual world is an environment created and encoded by computer languages whereby people meet virtually as characters called "Avatars" for gaming, learning, and socializing. These environments are created in an interactive way so that people can relate to the real-life joy of enjoying as games through avatars in a virtual way. Modern Virtual worlds are different than traditional ones which are less of fighting through avatars, but more of objective-oriented and story-based worlds dedicated to having real-life entertainment, learning, and socializing.

Virtual worlds are generally designed to closely simulate real life as much as possible. There are many usages of virtual worlds in today's world. Some of which are listed below: 

• Education: When Virtual Worlds are used for education, the results tend to be favorable. In a study of chemistry students using either a virtual lab inside Second Life or students using an in-person lab, the Second Life lab performed as well as the students using the in-person lab.  Students indicated that they felt less distracted experimenting with Second Life and that certain components of the experiments were easier to do inside the virtual world 

• Entertainment: The virtual world in entertainment offers endless possibilities. Users can play games through their avatars. Entertainment-based virtual worlds represent the majority of virtual worlds in existence today. 

• Social Interactions: These are used for interaction and training through simulated worlds. People can explore landscapes in the comfort of their own homes. People can be trained in a simulated environment if physical interaction is not possible due to world pandemics or other reasons. 

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