The JVWR, Volume 8, No. 2
Published: November 5, 2015

Issue editor:
Yesha Sivan, Coller Institute of Venture, Tel Aviv University, Israel; School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HK.
This issue presents six papers each reflecting on one angle to the future of virtual worlds: Four concrete views relating to bots, head mounted displays (HMD), neuroscience and meditation, and eSports; as well as two theoretical views relating to the focus of virtual worlds research and looking at virtual worlds as a mediator between “technology trends” and the “digital transformation of society and business.”
From the 2015 point of view: The virtual is becoming the real and the real is becoming the virtual.
Original Call: CfP: Futures
Editor in Chief Corner
Toward the Futures of Real AND Virtual Worlds
Yesha Y. Sivan
Essays
Three Real Futures for Virtual Worlds
Tom Boellstorff
Is a Technological Singularity Near Also for Bots in MMOGs?
Stefano De Paoli
Ibrahim Halil Yucel, Robert Anthony Edgell
Being There: Implications of Neuroscience and Meditation for Self-Presence in Virtual Worlds
Carrie Heeter, Marcel Allbritton
The eSports Trojan Horse: Twitch and Streaming Futures
Benjamin Burroughs, Paul Rama
Sven-Volker Rehm, Lakshmi Goel, Mattia Crespi