A Second Life for Sound

Crossing Sonic Paths in Virtual Worlds

Abstract

I am not the first to discuss the wonders of virtual worlds. A read of Edward Castronova’s Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun is Changing Reality (2007) is a good place to start to understand the potential of such environments and fascination with exploring life in technological microcosms. In 2010, I published Second Life, Media and The Other Society, a book that continues Castronova’s discussion, but with a narrower lens directed at one virtual world. A chapter of that book was dedicated to the role of sound in immersive virtual environments.