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Terms & Abbreviations
| Avatar, Av | Virtual In-World personification of yourself.
(Originated from Hindu mythology where avatar is the temporary body inhabitation of a god while visiting earth) |
| Furries | 3D avatars that look like animals |
| GIS | Geographic Information System |
| GPS | Global Positioning System |
| IP | Intellectual Property
Some Worlds ensure that you have kind of patent for all items that are created by you, therefore you have the unique right to sell those items as long as you don’t sell the IP or allow someone to act as a reseller. IP is usually given in virtual worlds with Real Cash Economy (RCE). |
| KML | A file format to store geographic data (placemarks) for use in an earth browser like Google Earth or Google Maps. |
| Landmarks | Geographic bookmarks, which can directly teleport you to a in-world location |
| Metaverse | see Virtual World
(Term for Virtual World from author Neal Stephenson) |
| Model | General term for objects in Virtual Worlds. |
| MMO | Massively Multiplayer Online |
| MMOG | MMO Game |
| MMOSG | MMO Social Game |
| MMORPG | MMO Role Playing Game |
| MMORTS | MMO Real Time Strategy |
| MMOVSG | MMO Virtual Sex Game |
| NPC | Non-Player Character (bot) |
| Paraverse | see Virtual Earth |
| Peak Concurrency | Number of concurrent avatars at its maximum, provides information about how the world is “really” lived. |
| Placemark | A stored location in the Virtual World for easy revisiting. Similar to bookmarks used for web surfing. |
| RCE | Real Cash Economy: Term for virtual worlds that support a in-world currency that has a real cash value rate. |
| RL | Real Life |
| Teleport | Movement in or to Virtual Worlds, similar to Links used for web surfing / movement. |
| UGC | User-generated Content |
| Virtual Earth | A Virtual World that is geographically based on Earth Data. |
| Virtual World | An umbrella term for all kinds of virtual online spaces that people build-up and where people live in by using avatars. |
