This document discusses communication in virtual environments and computer-mediated communication (CMC). It covers several key topics:
1) Factors that can affect communication in virtual environments, including grounding, constraints and affordances, gender, and cultural variances.
2) Research on the effects of a lack of social cues, anonymity, gender, and culture in CMC.
3) The Shannon-Weaver model of communication and how it applies to virtual worlds. Variables like culture, language, and gender can influence message encoding and transmission through an avatar.