With the advent of virtual environments and communities, the metaverse has been rapidly expanding in recent years as businesses and industries have begun to see the value and opportunities this technology provides. In order to ensure this technology is utilized to its full potential, further study on the best practices, challenges, and future directions is required. The Research Anthology on Virtual Environments and Building the Metaverse considers the latest research regarding the metaverse and discusses potential issues and benefits of the technology. The book also examines strategies and tactics businesses and companies can use when implementing the metaverse into their operations. Covering key topics such as immersion, augmented reality, and virtual worlds, this major reference work is ideal for computer scientists, business owners, managers, industry professionals, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

"This book presents foundational research, models, case studies and research results that researchers and scholars can port to their own environments to evolve their own research processes and studies, covering scenarios of intellectual disciplines and technological endeavors in which metaverse platforms are currently being used and will be used"--Provided by publisher.

Originally printed online in 2009. Special Issue on Technology, Economy and Standards The editorial team for this issue includes: Yesha Sivan, Metaverse Labs and the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Israel Robert Bloomfield, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, USA Jean H.A. Gelissen, Philips Research, Netherlands This issue is part of an effort to explore the fields of standards for virtual worlds. Working on such standards is both technical and conceptual. This issue endeavors to enhance, explicate, and analyze various aspects of standards and virtual worlds, and was designed to give a voice to the leading theoretical and practical players within this arena. The issue specifically emphasizes the disciplines of economy and technology as critical harbingers to the endeavor of standards.