In: Radde-Antweiler, Kerstin (Hrsg.): Online – Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet: Vol. 03.1 Being Virtually Real? Virtual Worlds from a Cultural Studies’ Perspective, (2008),

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Abstract

In her article “Another Time, Another Space: Virtual Worlds, Myths and Imagination” Beatrice Bittarello performs a reappraisal of the issue of Virtual Worlds using an interdisciplinary approach. She argues that Virtual Worlds existed before the introduction of the Internet. To back up her argument she outlines a history of literary and visual pre-Internet Virtual Worlds, all of which represent an alternative, mythical, and (often) religious space. She goes on to argue that finding a way of “reaching” Virtual Worlds is the key to the re-conception of (online) Virtual Worlds today. Many elements of literary Virtual Worlds can thus also be linked to contemporary examples of Virtual Worlds on the Internet. She stresses the importance of visual aspects, even though the imagination and the mythopoeic activity of the players play a key (and integral) role in Virtual Worlds on the Internet.