CYBERSPACE IS A VIRTUAL REALITY that can be accessed via networked computers and occupied by multiple users. Drawing its name from the global computer network in William Gibson's genre-defining 1986 cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer, cyberspace refers to any of a variety of technologies that allow users to enter spaces that exist only electronically. Cyberspace possess the ability to shrink vast distances that separate people around the world and allow them to interact in increasingly realistic environments.

Cyberspace is a branch of virtual reality (VR), a group of related technologies that have been developing over the past four decades aimed at delivering immersive, computer generated environments. During the eighties and early nineties movies such as Lawn Mower Man piqued public interest in virtual reality. However, the prohibitive cost of the hardware necessary to deliver a fully immersive, virtual environment has made development of most VR technology disappointingly slow. In contrast, the expansion of the Internet and the emergence of the World Wide Web have driven the rapid growth of cyberspace technologies.

The first iterations of cyberspace included text-based multi-user dungeons (MUD) and multi-user simulated environments (MUSE). Cyberion City was one of the first MUSEs dedicated to constructivist learning. It was a virtual cylindrical space station in which the inhabitants, mostly children, built everything from museums to shopping malls.

Early attempts at integrating computer graphics into the cyberspace experience included Habitat, a commercial venture by Lucasfilm, and ExploreNet, which was developed by the University of South Florida for use in public education. ExploreNet teams up players on a quest through a virtual environment. Progress in the quest is made when students work together to solve mathematical puzzles. 

The emergence of the World Wide Web in the early nineties has had the most significant impact on the development of cyberspace technologies. Web browsers have eliminated the need for a separate, proprietary piece of software to connect to virtual spaces. The ubiquity technologies such as bulletin boards and chat rooms have expanded cyberspace significantly over the past ten tears. Nowhere is this expansion more evident than in the availability of distance learning.

Online gaming represents one of the largest and most dynamic segments of cyberspace expansion. Most PC games and many console (XBox, Playstation) games sold today include an online component. Online play allows gamers from different geographical locations to come together to cooperate and compete. Players can fight it out on a virtual World War II battlefield or join together to complete a virtual medieval quest.

Massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) like Ultima Online have evolved sophisticated cyber-cultures. Players in role-playing games work to accumulate wealth and power for their characters. In the case of Ultima Online this actually resulted in the creation of a market outside the confines of the game. Players began to sell their characters' possessions and the characters themselves on eBay.

Today virtual gold miners run sweatshops in third world countries where their employees spend hours online mining virtual gold which can then be sold to players in the real world. Computer Gaming World estimates that this new industry grossed $500 million in 2004.

Most PC and many console games include the capacity to compete with other players in Cyberspace.
The growth of cyberspace technologies is not limited to the entertainment industry. The military has embraced cyberspace as a medium for training with solutions such as the Experience Learning System and SIMNET. The U.S. Army's SIMNET system allows tank simulators to be networked and participate in virtual battles in a variety of replicated terrains and conditions. 

Most PC and many console games include the capacity to compete with other players in Cyberspace.

The U.S. Army has also turned to cyberspace for recruitment. America's Army is a video game with an online component developed and distributed by the U.S. Army. The game is available free via download or CD-ROM available at you local Army recruiter. Although most segements of VR have never lived up to the promise of Hollywood, Cyberspace has proven to be an exception.

David Ragsdale
EDTEC Graduate Student
San Diego State University

Ragsdale, D. (2005). Cyberspace. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. Retrieved July 16, 2010