Collaborative virtual environments: from birth to standardization

Collaborative virtual environments have been around since the early ´90s, and some even before as hardware-only systems; now their communication structures are being standardized by the Moving Picture Experts Group. This article provides a global overview of the most significant contributions to CVE communication and improved data transfer for these systems over the past 13 years, discussing some of the most significant methodologies used and whether their standardization is feasible.