The Synthetic Worlds Initiative at Indiana University conducts research on persistent immersive online spaces that host many users: "virtual" or "synthetic" worlds that are in many ways much like our world. We explore how the real and the virtual world differ, how they are the same, and how they affect one another. Our main research effort is to use virtual worlds as laboratories for social science experiments.

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• are the economies of virtual worlds like normal economies
• the definition of "virtual world"
• how much do you have to play before you are game-literate
• how does virtual status affect virtual violence
• how does the avatar-costume affect social networks
• what's the best way to conduct in-world surveys
• does virtual sex have the same effect on brain circuits as filmed sex

• Professor
• Edward Castronova
• PhD Students
• Mark Bell
• James J. Cummings
• Matthew Falk
• Travis Ross