Abstract
This chapters seeks to trace some of the concepts behind virtual worlds as we currently know them back to their roots. It draws from histories of information science, military history, history of computer and video games and from popular culture, namely the literary genres science fiction and cyberpunk.
The first section focuses on the origins of real-time networked computing and graphical displays and presents the competing views of computer as a guardian of a closed world and an entrance to a "mathematical wonderland", as proposed by Ivan Sutherland. The second section turns to the visions of virtual environments as fantasy landscapes inspired by fantasy literature and table-top role-playing games and their subsequent computer and video game adaptations which evolved into multi-user environments such as MUDs.
The third section focuses on the visions of virtual worlds contained in influentional works of science fiction, such as Vernor Vinge''s True Names and Neal Stephenson''s Snow Crash. The fourth section covers more recent developments in virtual worlds, such as the advent of MMORPGs, rise and decline of Second Life and the competition from social networking sites.