Almost Original

[robinturner]

I just posted the following to the Second Life Educators' list:

So I think what distinguishes virtual worlds is not so much the medium as the fact that they are simulacra of already-existing worlds. The VW may be a nigh-on complete simulacrum like the Matrix, or it may simulate some aspects of an existing world and create others anew, like SL or WoW. If a computer-mediated environment were to attempt to create a totally original world then it probably would not count as virtual, but then it would be hard to identify it as a world either. "It's Second Life, Jim, but not as we know it."

I was most disappointed to find, after a quick search, that I am not the first person to coin that phrase: someone called 2E Leven came up with it first. There's nothing new under the web. [Quick Google check. Yes, that one's been done too. This is getting like the South Park episode "The Simpsons Already Did It."]