Tobey Crockett is a critic, theorist and virtual worlds practitioner. A candidate in UC Irvine’s PhD Program in Visual Studies, she applies critical theory tools to the problems of interactivity, specifically focusing on ‘fun’ and the ‘aesthetics of play and empathy in avatar worlds'. With over 80 published reviews and essays in such journals as ArtForum and Art in America, she has been writing criticism since 1988. A speaker at numerous museums and conferences, recent highlights include the Bremen based exhibition and symposium "Virtual Minds – A Congress of Fictitious Figures", Siggraph 2004 and Siggraph 2002, and the 2003 exhibition and symposium 'Life By Design: Everyday Digital Culture' at UC Irvine for which she was the conference coordinator. Her virtual world, Tobey Crockett's Wild Frontier (TCWF), is located in the Eduverse browser of ActiveWorlds, and has received generous financial support from the New York Foundation for the Arts.