Virtual or unreal worlds were studied in iconology: the idea of the choice of Hercules was one of Panofsky's earliest iconological analyses; it implies that Hercules, by choosing one of two options, will make it real and relegate the other option to the world of the unreal.

Imaginary buildings, or unbuilt buildings, spurred the imagination of architects, as shown in the present section.

The idea of "possible worlds" has been studied in connection with narrative structures.

The question of the path followed by the eye in looking at landscapes has long been studied; it implies that the eye is permanently in motion, selecting new cuircuits among those which are available.

Hypermedia navigation creates such a world in which the user is faced with a series of options, selecting to activate one of them at each crossroads.

The timeline behaviour in the software materialises a path followed by an object, creating a new imaginative world by shifting its position and context.