且看上期Science的一篇综述，《虚拟世界之科学研究潜力》，第二人生和魔兽世界真是流行啊
The Scientific Research Potential of Virtual Worlds
William Sims Bainbridge
Online virtual worlds, electronic environments where people can work and interact in a somewhat realistic manner, have great potential as sites for research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences, as well as in human-centered computer science. This article uses Second Life and World of Warcraft as two very different examples of current virtual worlds that foreshadow future developments, introducing a number of research methodologies that scientists are now exploring, including formal experimentation, observational ethnography, and quantitative analysis of economic markets or social networks.
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Science 27 July 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5837, pp. 472 - 476
DOI: 10.1126/science.1146930
