Since ancient times, Greeks talked about Plato’s “Allegory of the cave” and the Romans spoke about ‘perceptual illusions’, this is not a new concept.
D&D and role-playing games and these activities continued to evolve into MUDs which showcase the evolution of virtual worlds.
‍Maze War is one of the first technological games to feature virtual worlds in 1974, which predates the internet! The internet after its inception, started with 9 websites, then 20,000, then millions. The scaling was unprecedented and right now we’re at the beginning of that cycle for virtual worlds. Our team has been tracking virtual worlds and noticed that there's no central hub where users can learn about these technologies.
There are lists and spreadsheets, but no immersive experiences that explore the differences between VR applications, blockchain, and WebXR platforms. We are charting these beginnings, as AI generated worlds will exponentially expand the virtual world landscape.

The digital museum is for everyone - from seasoned XR enthusiasts to those interested in learning more about the expanding technology.

It will be accessible to all as part of a growing community and as a resource for XR event hosting. It will be a valuable resource for researchers and universities, Worldbuilders, 3D platforms, Metaverse professionals, and anyone interested in the evolution of immersive worlds.

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Reach out to learn about Volunteer opportunities.

The digital museum will be hosted on various Metaverse platforms, we are currently partnering and curating several 3D platforms. Please reach out if you want to become a partner.

The WebXR exhibit launched in 2024 and is still a work in progress; it can be found on Arrival.Space.

To track the progress of our exhibits, please visit our Exhibits.

Attending the virtual museum will be free. There will be a cost associated with private tours for groups and executive teams.

A software platform is an environment in which a piece of software is executed. It may be the hardware or the operating system (OS), even a web browser and associated application programming interfaces, or other underlying software, as long as the program code is executed with it. Computing platforms have different abstraction levels, including a computer architecture, an OS, or runtime libraries. A computing platform is the stage on which computer programs can run. There can be millions of worlds inside a platform.

A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities and communicate with others.

The term "Virtual World" is often mistaken to only mean "VR" or "Video Game" or movies like "The Matrix." In fact, the concept goes back to the time of Plato's “The Allegory of the Cave” and the Romans' "perceptual illusions. "Fast forward to role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, the subsequent evolution into multi-user dungeons (MUDs), and the creation of computer games such as “MAZE WAR” (1974) which pre-dates the Internet!

More on wikipedia.

We believe that Metaverse mapping efforts have not worked in the past because past lists or spreadsheets are not parsed or categorized with scrutiny.

Many game platforms’ core mission is NOT interoperability or the affordance for participants to build their own worlds (some are). Most games prioritize the procurement/retention of users, revenue, and fun as their primary drivers... therefore “open world” features are not a priority.

We believe that the future of an open Metaverse allows users to engage in building community experiences, events, etc. (including games).

Many Metaverse platforms do allow game creation. Ie. Action Island in Horizon Worlds. Our Director Julian Reyes played a small part in co-creating this world in Horizon which is coming up to 600K+ visits! We will map the platform as long as there is an "Open" component to the world.

We would like to keep our Virtual Worlds research curated and have added games as their own exhibit:

The WebXR exhibit will be built in several platforms, so that you can join via web browser, hand-held devices, or VR.

Here's a partial list of the worlds that we are currently tracking. 
‍Arrival.Space, FrameVR, Nowhere, Oncyber, Ozone Metaverse.
‍Active Worlds, AnimalJam, Avakin Life, Breakroom, ChilloutVR, Cluster, Engage, Fortnite, Habbo,  Hiberworld, Horizon Worlds (Meta), IMVU, Manova, MetaCity, Metahype, Minecraft, Mozilla Hubs, Nowhere, PartyOn, Rec Room, Resonite (former Neos VR), Roblox, Sansar (Relaunching), Scapin, Second Life, Sinespace, Somnium Space, Utherverse, VirBela, Viveverse,  VR Chat, vTime XR*, w3rlds, Wonda VR, Wooorld, Zenith, Zepeto.‍
Afflantium, Alphaverse, Axie Infinity, Bloktopia, Chain of Alliance, Decentraland, Everdome, Highstreet, Hyperfly, JanusXR, journee, Juicyverse, Kalao, Lighthouse, MegaCryptoPolis, MetaCity, Metahero, Metaverser, Metaversus, MetaVRse,  Mona, monaverse, netvrk, Oasis*, Otherside, Red Fox, Revomon, Sandbox, Sensorium Galaxy (not yet launched), Shuna, Inuverse, Solice, Stage 11, The Nemesis, The Parallel, TOPIA, Town Star, Vatom, Victoria, VR Voxels, (formerly Cryptovoxels), VoxVerse, VRLand*, Wilder World Worldwide, Webb Land, Xclusiverse, Yabal, and more to be added.

The Sunset Exhibit will feature the virtual world platforms of the past.
Platforms subject to change.

Julian Reyes' speaker bio and Keyframe-Entertainment.

KEYFRAME’s DNA is a passion for electronic music, art, regenerative culture, technology, and XR, with a commitment to helping others and the betterment of our planet. We’ve helped artists, authors, filmmakers, producers, DJs, and other professionals in a range of ways, such as: Managing crowdfunding campaigns, Executive Producing their projects, mentoring, Marketing, Partnerships, etc. CEO and Founder Julian Reyes completed the “Visions of the Future: Artificial Intelligence, Cryptocurrency, the Metaverse, and Beyond” online class at Stanford, and worked at Meta as AR Producer in 2022. Julian also trained with Republic Realm Academy.

In 2023, Julian presented at AWE in Santa Clara on “Mapping the Web3 Immersive Platforms.” He is a member of OMI Group, an open source community of industry professionals, independent creators, and passionate enthusiasts building interoperable technology together, in the open. He is also part of the XR Guild, an association of professionals in the field of XR, Spatial Computing, Metaverse and web3 (and related) who support a common set of ethical principles.


With a lifelong passion for 3D animation, Julian Reyes has worked for notable companies such as Meta, Cisco Systems, Juris Corporation, Jacobs Associates, and Exponent over the past 20 years. His professional experience applying 3D animation ranges from areas such as demonstrative evidence (e.g. accident recreations, forensics, failure analysis) to engineering and medical prototypes.
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Julian also has an extensive track record in media and entertainment, including executive production, brand strategy, and new technology leadership. He is the Executive Producer of Andrew Johner’s “Electronic Awakening,” “The Bloom Series” (Episode 3), and the community book project, “ReInhabiting the Village” by Jamaica Stevens.