videoludica. game culture 

Mondi Virtuali is a survey about the MMOG phenomenon and the communities that are growing in the virtual worlds on the web. The authors examines this new universe for their potential in providing new economic models and new notions of tourism. In fact, in these worlds some people, like David Storey, the famous owner of virtual Treasure Island, have discovered new exciting forms of business, and economist Edward Castronova has studied this great potential in depth.

But there is still much to do. For example, tourism offers a big deal, and in these worlds there are many lands to be "discovered". That is the reason for Mario Gerosa, co-author of the book is trying to open a travel agency to travel into virtual worlds.

Here, in these brand new worlds, people are creating new jobs and sometimes they make work their own avatars. And sometimes there is also a need to organize these communities, a need for political organizations, and also a need of dedicated legal theories, as states co-author Aurélien Pfeffer.

Mondi Virtuali, that also describes the historical evolution of MMOGs, considers these new worlds as real worlds, not only as games.

Richly illustrated, the book has a preface by J.C. Herz, a chapter written by Mia Consalvo, another by Delphine Grellier, and interviews to the most prominent people in the MMOGs world, including Wagner James Au, Edward Castronova, Peter Ludlow, David Storey, T.L. Taylor, Andrew Tepper.

About the authors
Mario Gerosa (1963) is an italian journalist working for Condé Nast. He has been editor in chief for Condé Nast Traveller Italy and now he covers the same position for Architectural Digest Italy.

Aurélien Pfeffer (1979) is a French lawman who specialized in law theories related to new technologies. He is co-founder of the site Jeux On Line, entirely dedicated to MMOGs.

Link: Mondi Virtuali