This screenshot from May 2008 shows a Blood Elf dancing with a Night Elf to celebrate the successful conclusion of a scientific conference held in World of Warcraft: Convergence of the Real and the Virtual  Both were my own avatars, "multiboxing" with two computers.

Very recent virtual world studies are in the WRSP online encyclopedia:

https://wrldrels.org/2019/09/18/world-of-warcraft/

https://wrldrels.org/2019/10/04/everquest/

https://wrldrels.org/2020/01/21/conan/

https://wrldrels.org/2022/06/16/new-world/

WSB information:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sims_Bainbridge

Curriculum Vitae   -  Online Datasets   -  NSF Connection

Recent Books: 

2020 Cultural Science: Applications of Artificial Social Intelligence.   New York: Business Expert Press.

2020 The Social Structure of Online Communities.  Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Recent Articles: 

2022 “Dimensions of Online Role-Playing: Anchored in the Tolkien Mythos,” Social Science Computer Review, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/08944393211072268

2021 “Nemesis in Mordor: The Possibility of Posthuman Savagery,” Journal of Posthuman Studies, 5(2): 169-189.

2021 “World of Hackcraft,” Communications of the ACM, 64(11): 144-ff

2020 “Walden Three,”  Communications of the ACM, 63(12): 104-ff.