A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL VIRTUAL WORLDS

The Internet has been achieving a notable popularization as a way of communication.
With the continuous increase in the transmission and storage capacity of data, the communication will be more dynamic and more information will be shared. This allows the development of virtual worlds (VW). Nowadays, such systems provide the users with a high level of immersion, being a stage for new concepts such as "virtual life". It seems that the only and real world is already not sufficient and many people feel the necessity to belong to different worlds where they can move in space and in time, advancing and retreating inside a virtual extended attractive space not to obey to the same rules and laws as the real world.
The real and the virtual worlds get confused in a hybrid fusion of concepts. In this sense this study aims to: (1) clarify the concept of virtual world;(2) distinguish the different types of virtual worlds and (3) make a comparative analysis between different virtual worlds to contribute to an increasing use of these environments. In this context, some opportunities rise out as a new business, through which we can socialize, collaborates, train, and make purchase or the society aware of the future of the 3D internet. The 3D Internet will not be a single virtual world - a network of interconnected virtual spaces with a single avatar and common interface and simple browser access to many websites, which it will allow a more flexible cooperation in the sharing of applications for development teams of VW.
How could the process of developing virtual worlds, and more precisely the aspect of modelling the behaviour, be improved?