Despite its unconventional geography, cyberspace has proved another frontier for the human animal to expand, meet, create communities, and live. Through Web TV, Internet appliances, and so on, the Virtual Nation is migrating closer to RL communities. The impact of this non-physical world becomes increasingly apparent in our physical lives, bringing the Virtual Nation into closer focus. Unsurprisingly, this community appears no different than other societies we have formed in more conventional locations – it simply takes a different kind of transportation to get there.

This aspect of the Internet – the interactions of individuals who make up the Virtual Nation – provides a rich basis for study both on and off line. Readily accessible observation points with minimal experimental impact allow researchers to study the interactions of their subjects without fear that the observation has altered the interaction. Numerous and varied disciplines have shown an interest in this emergent society. Within this paper, we have seen studies from the fields of Ethonography, Sociology, Communications, Computer Science, Law, Economics, Engineering, Psychology, and more. December (1996) sets forth a proposed set of standards by which Internet communication may be measured. Other researchers (Thomsen, Straubhaar, and Bolyard, 1998) suggest ways to penetrate online communities for better observation. Clearly, as the Virtual Nation develops, it will provide an excellent opportunity to observe human behavior.

However, remaining objective may be a greater challenge since the temptation to "go native" may be much higher than in other settings. We do a disservice to this field of study by idealizing the Virtual Nation, rather than simply studying it as an emergent society with unconventional geography.

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