Virtual worlds

Abstract
Virtual worlds are now a reality, representing intriguing environments for researchers from multiple fields to pursue collaborative investigations. To provide a background, we first highlight the basic business and sociological phenomena occurring in virtual worlds. Real world institutions, ranging from business to governmental organizations, are already experiencing the effects of increased growth in the number of individuals participating in these virtual world environments. We consider research paths from four representative perspectives: (1) information systems, (2) neurobiology, (3) political science, and (4) organizational governance research. Virtual world environments offer significant opportunities for research in many fields for study, including demonstration and examination of intra-world and inter-world practice and behavior.