Anthropology of virtual worlds: history, current debates and future possibilities

Abstract

The research of virtual worlds has become an increasingly important part of digital anthropology in recent years and offers promising possibilities for social science, such as conducting experiments in virtual worlds. However, the field is far from being unified on a lot of topics and the discussion about definitions, uses and important terms is not yet finished. This article provides an introduction to virtual worlds, anthropological involvement with that topic and current anthropological discourses, finishing with a discussion of the prospects of researching perceptions and practices of violence within virtual worlds.