Virtual Worlds

Traveling is tricky right now and, for most, the boundaries of our worlds have shrunk dramatically. So a lot of people are spending a lot more time in virtual places, like Sea of Thieves, Fortnite, Ultima Online and more. Explore how these online worlds help us push past real-world boundaries and have vastly new experiences, even become new versions of ourselves—all without leaving the comfort of home.

Check out guest Wes Locher’s book, Braving Britannia: Tales of Melancholy, Malice, and Peril in Ultima Online. You can learn more about Russell Quinn’s computer game, Linda & Joan, at lindajoan.com. Huge thanks to Lee Yancy, whose conversations were invaluable for contextualizing the world of video games, and to Raph Koster for his insight into the virtual world. The computer-y music in this episode was created by musician Phil Cook. Our unsung hero for this episode is Emma Taubner, our super-star encoder who makes episodes of Pindrop available to listen on TED.com.

Pindrop is produced by Jesse Baker and Eric Nuzum of Magnificent Noise. This episode was produced by Kim Nederveen Pieterse along with Elyse Blennerhassett, Hiwote Getaneh and Sabrina Farhi, Angela Cheng and Michelle Quint and with the guidance of Roxanne Hai Lash and Colin Helms. Our fact checkers are Nicole Bode, Abbey White and Paul Durbin. This episode was mixed and sound designed by Kristin Mueller.

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