Playing online and between the lines: round-the-world websites as virtual places to play

Since mid-2001, the online travel company Orbitz has been running an advertising campaign with colourful avant-garde graphics depicting various destinations around the world. The advertisements bear the catch phrase ‘Visit Planet Earth’. This inviting slogan raises an interesting question: how can the global become a tourist destination? In other words, in addition to thinking about how particular places to play become global, can we think about how the global itself becomes a place to play?