I will be keeping this list of virtual worlds, social VR apps, and metaverse platforms up-to-date as I cover both old and new products, as a sort of comprehensive index to my website (you can find definitions of these terms here).
You might also be interested in my new list of non-combat, open-world exploration and/or puzzle and/or life simulation games.
Platforms marked with an asterisk (*) support users in VR headsets. In some cases, VR support is experimental or still in beta.
Platforms marked with a dagger (†) support users in augmented reality (AR) headsets, such as the Microsoft Hololens or the Magic Leap One. Please note that I do not consider cellphone-based “AR” (e.g. Pokémon Go) to be true augmented reality.
- Active Worlds (the granddaddy of all virtual worlds, launched on June 28th, 1995, and now 24 years old)
- Aether City
- AltspaceVR*
- Anyland*
- Apertus VR*
- Atom Universe
- AvaCon
- Avakin Life
- Avatar Chat† (formerly called Social; the first social augmented reality app, for the Magic Leap One headset)
- AviLife (not yet available)
- Bean VR* (which appears to have closed down)
- Bigscreen*
- Blue Mars (now closed, as far as I know)
- Capsa*
- Ceek*
- Cisco Spark in VR*
- Cloud Party (officially closed in 2014 after they were bought out by Yahoo!)
- Community Garden* (now closed; as of Oct. 30th, 2018, this platform has been merged into Somnium Space)
- Cryptovoxels*
- Dance Central*
- Decentraland (not yet available)
- The Deep (not yet available)
- DiveReal*
- Dual Universe (I would classify this as an MMO/MMORPG instead of a virtual world)
- Edorble*
- Elysium VR (not yet available)
- EmbodyMe*
- Endless Riff*
- Engage*
- Ethernia (a very funny parody of a blockchain-based virtual world)
- Eventual VR*
- Ever, Jane
- The Expanse*
- Facebook Spaces*
- Galaxity *
- Geekzonia* (which appears to have closed down)
- Guru Gedara*
- High Fidelity*
- Hypatia*
- Hyperfair VR*
- IMVU
- Inlight Spark*
- InWorldz (This grid closed on July 27th, 2018.)
- Islandz Virtual World (the successor to InWorldz; closed in February 2019)
- JanusVR*
- Kitely
- Lavender*
- LearnBrite*
- LivCloser (intended to be an adult virtual world, from what I can tell)
- LiveLike*
- Mark Space
- MATERIA.ONE (formerly called Staramba Spaces; not yet available)
- meetingRoom*
- MeetinVR* (not yet available)
- MetaWorld* (not yet available)
- Mozilla Hubs*
- Museum of Other Realities*
- Myst Online: Uru Live (although I would classify this as an MMO/MMORPG rather than a virtual world)
- NeosVR*
- NeoWorld
- Neutrans*
- Oasis* (an adult virtual world)
- Occupy White Walls
- Oculus Home* (this one is only for Oculus Rift users)
- Oculus Rooms* (this one is only for Gear VR and the Oculus Go)
- OpenSim based virtual worlds (e.g. OSGrid); here’s a list of active OpenSim grids
- Pararea*
- Pluto VR*
- PokerStars VR*
- Rec Room*
- Rumii*
- Sansar*
- Second Life (Now 16 years old, the most commercially successful and popular virtual world to date. Note: If you are looking for the Second Life freebies section of this blog, please scroll down and select “Second Life Steals, Deals and Freebies” from the Categories section, or just click here.)
- Seed (an MMORPG/virtual world hybrid)
- Sinespace*
- Somnium Space*
- Spatial† (a social augmented reality app for work collaboration)
- STYLY*
- SurrealVR*
- Teleporter*
- Terra Virtua (not yet available)
- There.com
- TheWaveVR*
- Topik*
- Twinity
- Utherverse/Red Light Center (an adult virtual world)
- VIBEHub
- VirBELA
- Virtual Paradise
- Virtual Universe* (a social VR/MMO hybrid)
- VR Triber*
- VR Trivia Battle* (formerly known as Kiss or Kill)
- VRChat*
- vTime XR* (formerly known as just vTime)
- Worlds Adrift (I would classify this as an MMO/MMORPG instead of a virtual world; they announced they are closing in July 2019)
- Zepeto (more of a social networking app than a virtual world)
- 3DX Chat* (an adult virtual world)
Well, I figure this is pretty much the canonical listing of social VR/virtual world platforms. Have I missed any? It’s like Pokémon, “gotta catch ’em all”…if you have heard of one that I haven’t covered yet, please let me know in the comments, thanks!
