There is no generally accepted definition for a virtual world, with many complimentary terms and acronyms having emerged implying a virtual world. Advances in networking techniques such as host migration of instances, mobile ad hoc networking, and distributed computing, bring in to question whether architectures can actually support a virtual world. Without a concrete definition, controversy ensues and it is problematic to design an architecture for a virtual world. Several researchers provided a definition but aspects of each definition are still problematic and simply can not be applied to contemporary technologies. The approach of this article is to sample technologies using grounded theory and to obtain a definition for a "virtual world" that is directly applicable to technology. The obtained definition is compared with related work and used to classify advanced technologies such as a pseudo-persistent video game, a MANet, virtual and mixed reality, and the Metaverse. The results of this article include a break down of which properties set apart the various technologies; a definition that is validated by comparing it with other definitions; an ontology showing the relation of the different complimentary terms and acronyms; and the usage of pseudo-persistence to categories those technologies, which only mimic persistence.
Bartle, in 2003, stated that a persistent virtual world "continues to exist and develop internally even when there are no people interacting with it" (Bartle 2003). Bartle's criterion that the world "continues to exist" can be referred to as "world persistence" (Nevelsteen 2015), with the element of time, as a minimum, continually "developing internally" within the world, i.e., "a [persistent] virtual world cannot be paused" (Bell and Robbins-Bell 2008).
Participatory design methods face challenges when designing for a widespread youth community. In such projects, it is not enough to design in collaboration with a few selected individuals; one must also strive to understand the community at a deeper level and incorporate its values and practices into the design solution.We report on our process of designing with, and for, an identified youth group: the Parkour and Freerunning community. We show how the successful design relied not only on employing methods of participatory observation and participatory design, but also on acquiring an understanding of the practice as a 'fun community', valuing play over achievement and competition.
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