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The Rundown
- Second Life's official website. Second Life is a free 3D virtual world where users can create, connect, and chat with others from around the world using voice and text.
- Play the best free games, deluxe downloads, puzzle games, word and trivia games, multiplayer card and board games, action and arcade games, poker and casino games, pop culture games and more.
- Best Overall:Minecraft at Minecraft.net, “For both kids and adults alike with its endless amounts of creativity and possibility.”
- Best Humor: Job Simulator at Steampowered.com, “The world you operate in involves micromanaging a job in an interactive play zone.”
- Best for Realistic Graphics: IMVU at Imvu.com, “Has one of the largest virtual goods catalogs out of all the virtual worlds listed with more than 30 million items.”
- Best for Creation: Second Life at Secondlife.com, “Highly realistic graphics that make each of its wide collection of vibrant and imaginative destinations a captivating experience.”
- Best for Cartoons: Toontown Rewritten at Toontownrewritten.com, “A virtual playground where you can finally live out your first-person dream of being a cartoon.”
- Best for Teens: ourWorld at Amazon, “You start off by creating your own custom avatar from head to toe and are given a condo that you can furnish and decorate.”
- Best Classic: Active Worlds at Activeworlds.com, “Purchase worlds up to 4,000,000 square meters in size, having full domain over your universes, and invite people to join in and explore.”
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Our Top Picks
Best Overall: Minecraft
Minecraft strikes the perfect balance of a virtual world game for both kids and adults alike with its endless amounts of creativity and possibility. The open world sandbox game can be played alone or with friends online or offline depending on whether they’re playing on a console, a mobile device, or PC.
The fun of Minecraft begins when you explore its randomly generated worlds of high mountains, thick forests and vast seas, all of which can be manipulated. You can choose a creative mode that allows you full reign of all the in-game materials so you can build a sky-high treehouse, mansions made of gold or deep underwater caverns with secret levers, trapdoors, and escape routes without any interruption. The game’s survival mode (best played with friends) has you forging for tools and crafting materials while fending off nighttime fiends, including giant spiders and zombies with swords, bows, moats, and so much more.
Best Humor: Job Simulator
Job Simulator is a VR-only game that throws you into a virtual world where you partake in four exaggerated and inaccurate job roles in a first-person perspective. You’ll participate in humorous antics of trying your best as an auto mechanic, gourmet chef, store clerk, and office worker, and anything is possible.
Using motion controllers of the PlayStation Move, Oculus Touch, or the HTC Vive, you will interact with a virtual environment and perform various tasks in order to complete your job at hand. You are given massive creative freedom when it comes to how you finish a task (think baking crazy pizzas with bacon and cookies, throwing staplers, eating food from the trash, and manipulating your environment).
Job Simulator may be a little different on the list in terms of how far virtual world simulators go since there are no other players, and the world you operate in involves micromanaging a job in an interactive play zone.
Best for Realistic Graphics: IMVU
IMVU offers more modernized realistic graphics and physics for a virtual world game where you can make and customize your own detailed 3D avatars, content, and rooms. The game has one of the largest virtual goods catalogs out of all the virtual worlds listed with more than 30 million items.
You first start off with a basic apartment room that you can fully customize to your liking as you earn in-game credits to unlock more items.
The options are endless; you will get to meet and chat with new players in various locations like lounges, theme parks, clubs, user created rooms, as well as play games that range in genre from puzzles to action/adventure. IMVU allows content creation so you can sell your products in its catalog as well as participate in user groups and forums to showcase your work. Some parts in the game are not appropriate for kids and this title is recommended for people ages 18 and over.
Virtual World Games No Download
Best for Creation: Second Life
Despite being released in 2003, Second Life still remains one of the most popular virtual world games in existence with over a half million active users still playing today. The cross-platform, multiplayer, online game is highly interactive and allows you to create anything you can imagine.
Multiplayer Virtual Online Games
Second Life boasts highly realistic graphics that make each of its wide collection of vibrant and imaginative destinations a captivating experience. Intended for people ages 16 and older, you can make finely detailed 3D models of yourself in the game then immediately go on to do everything from performing in entertainment events and even start virtual businesses where you can make real profits. You will get to connect with others around the world with options to join thousands of unique groups, partake in contests, workshops, parties, create your own real estate properties, and develop and shape vast landscapes.
Best for Cartoons: Toontown Rewritten
Toontown Rewritten is a free-to-play revival of Disney’s Toontown, a virtual playground where you can finally live out your first-person dream of being a cartoon. The game is suitable for kids and is full of imaginative cities that are bouncy and animated with bright colors and a lot of zany interactivity.
You’ll start off in Toontown Rewritten by creating your own unique identity, choosing one of the multiple animal species such as a trouser-wearing bipedal dog or a dressed up crocodile. The world is filled with plenty of games and activities that are actually part of the city, and you’ll even get to fight off three-piece, pinstripe-suited, invading corporate robots with a collection of upgradeable gags, including throwing pies, dropping anvils, and squirting water to be used against them.
Best for Teens: ourWorld
In ourWorld you start off by creating your own custom avatar from head to toe and are given a condo that you can furnish and decorate. The in-game currency in ourWorld (called “Flow”) can be earned by socializing and going out and talking with other players, dancing, eating and drinking, and playing games.
Flow can be used to earn experience points and level up so you can learn new dance moves, unlock new areas, vehicles, or be exchanged for coins to buy new items for your avatar's clothes, hairstyles, and furniture. The casual games in ourWorld offer a ton of variety, from card games, puzzles, and platformers, and are all easy to pick up and play.
Best Classic: Active Worlds
Active Worlds has been around since 1995, offering a huge online virtual world where you can build your own realities and develop customizable 3D content. You will be able to explore a multitude of different user-created worlds along with replications of actual real-world locations.
The sandbox world of Active Worlds allows you to use hundreds of millions of objects in large interactive environments where you can navigate to cities and towns, play games, ride roller coasters, chat with other players, and much more.
You can purchase worlds up to 4,000,000 square meters in size, having full domain over your universes and invite people to join in and explore. Active Worlds is compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems.
What to Look for in a Virtual World Game
Creativity - One of the best things about playing around in a virtual world is that it can be a fantastic creative outlet. Look for games that really allow you to flex your creative muscle so you won't get bored over time.
Virtual reality - If you have a VR headset, and you’re ready for a truly immersive experience, look for virtual world games that support virtual reality. These games let you chat and play with people from around the world in three-dimensional virtual spaces.
Kid-friendly - When looking for a virtual world game for your kid or teen to enjoy, it’s important to remember that a lot of these games will allow them to interact with strangers in unmoderated situations. Look for a virtual world game that has protections in place to keep your kids safe.