Although usually refers to a geographically defined area, one could conceive of cyberspace as a different kind of region. Community can be narrowly defined as so as to include persons living in a specific geographical locality, or it can be broadly defined to include those who have similar interests. In fact, the virtual community of the internet was preceded long ago by the scholarly communities of those who shared written texts, but without necessarily ever meeting face to face. In fact, scholarly communities have linked individuals to those who have shared their interests even in past times. And in this community, body and looks are irrelevant.
Scholarly communities can exist across time.
Academic societies and libraries are similar kinds of communities. What virtual communities add to this older notion is interactivity and immediacy within time. VRML worlds seem to be the type of Internet communication wherein ethical responsibility has been completely reworked or has become irrelevant. It is a pure play of detached imagination or consciousness detached from one's body. One might claim that this is the liberation of one's true self from bodily limitation, and is not a kind of deception.