Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual world can be used in many different ways. Mainly when we think of virtual world we think of escaping reality, the real world. In the article, “After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?” by Diane Mehta, she interviewed Jacki Morie, a virtual world designer in telehealth care. Morie said, “Minecraft is a virtual world. It’s digital LEGOs if you will, but it’s a space for kids to exercise their imagination and to connect with others to also want to build and create things.” Morie is explaining how the game Minecraft is already prepping kids in this generation to want to innovate and network. Another virtual that I can include is the game Pokemon Go that was released this Summer. It was a virtual game on a phone that basically was synced with Google Maps and the player would have to travel outside to catch Pokemons that appeared on their screen. This was an innovated move by the game designer to help people connect both virtual and real world together. Another article that relates to use of virtual world, “In the Room 100, it’s Sid and Nancy All Over Again” by Saki Knafo. In the article Michael Brown, who has fantasized about living in the Chelsea hotel (a hotel where artists use to stay), developed a setting on Second Life replicating the Chelsea hotel before corporate management team took over. In the replica it shows the pigeonhole mailbox, but it was removed in real life. Brown did visit their once and he photograph the arts on the walls and simulated them into the virtual world. In this virtual world it also allows online avatars to meet in the hotel to do poetry reading. This shows that not everyone can accept change. People still want the old and Second Life lets people to relive Chelsea Hotel before they changed.

The pros for virtual world is that people can interact with others without revealing physical self. They dress up as avatar and interact with each other and that eliminates fear and shyness. The cons of a lag time, and lack of acuity. People feel more comfortable when they are in the virtual world that their creativity are endless. When people realize that they are back to reality, they know that they are limited in certain sources. A con is social awkwardness, networking with people in virtual world maybe easier for someone than the real world. I believe with the technology we have today, people would develop reality into the virtual world. There are already head pieces for gaming that brings the users into the setting of the game they are playing!