Guest editorial: Intelligent virtual environments

From time to time, the convergence of new technologies and research communi ties at key points in their development provides a renewed impetus to furth er progress in their separate fields, to cross-fertilization of ideas and t echniques with one inspiring the other, and to the emergence of new areas f or research and new application areas. This is exactly what has happened wi th the fields of virtual environments (ol virtual reality) and artificial i ntelligence (and artificial life), which have recently begun to come togeth er in a valuable and effective way.