It is the universal cry of parents the world over, driven mad by the persistent sight of their children investing hours and hours in mastering the many layers of a video game. To the parent, video games are the enemy, the nemesis of homework and learning. But the child sees something of value, something engaging enough to fill a weekend, to the exclusion of all other activities. Some innovative educators think they know the answer: reduced absenteeism, increased concentration, enhanced learning, faster development of the skills that are needed in today's high-tech society--and students eager for more. On the internet and in school classrooms, students, teachers, and administrators are beginning to discover that what looks like a video game--a "MUVE" (multi-user virtual environment)--can offer much more than just entertainment. A MUVE is an interactive computer simulation of a geographical area, perhaps a town, where features of the environment-- buildings, rivers, stairways, people--are represented by computer graphics. In an educational MUVE, these characters are used to answer questions or give information about a location. Therein is the critical difference between video games and MUVEs: Both take their avatars on explorations, but they have different notions of success. With MUVEs, instead of warding off opponents, searching for gold, or racking up points, players have only one goal: learning.