1. Computer simulations that use 3-D
graphics and devices such as the Dataglove to allow the user to
interact with the simulation. See cyberspace. 2. A form of
network interaction incorporating aspects of role-playing games,
interactive theater, improvisational comedy, and `true
confessions' magazines. In a virtual reality forum (such as
Usenet's alt.callahans newsgroup or the MUD experiments on
Internet), interaction between the participants is written like a
shared novel complete with scenery, `foreground characters' that
may be personae utterly unlike the people who write them, and
common `background characters' manipulable by all parties. The
one iron law is that you may not write irreversible changes to a
character without the consent of the person who `owns' it.
Otherwise anything goes. See bamf, cyberspace,
teledildonics.
