A virtual world is essentially a place where imaginations come to life. Creating a virtual world enables you to express your opinion and creativity to manifest to society a possible utopia or fantasy. The virtual world already exists in a plethora of children related games and one of the most noticeable one is "Minecraft". Minecraft is a computer game where kids are able to use building block to form a map and create objects to establish a virtual world never seen before. In the Forbes article "After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?" written by Diane Mehta, she explains how "It’s a space for kids to exercise their imagination and to connect with others to also want to build and create things" (Mehta, 1). This allows kids to grow up in a creative and playful environment that can potentially transcend into their future careers as well which is extremely positive. These are just some of the ways that the virtual world can be utilized by kids and adults to establish limitless results.
Now all goods have their pros and cons and for the virtual world, it is not different. To start off, the virtual world has a lot of pros to it because it enables users to create a whole new world, within reality itself. In the article, "VLES - Lower East Side - MTV”, Dave Itzkoff is a New Yorker who lives in the Lower East Side and despises the bar atmosphere around him. In his article, he mentions how by going home and creating a virtual world on his computer, he was able to create an LES where "There were no imperious bouncers or foul odors to contend with, and no fluids of any kind expectorated on my shoes" (Itzkoff, 2). The pros of the virtual world were so that Dave could create a pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere without having to stress with the actual reality environment. This allows users to establish a utopia where you feel comfortable from the presence of your desk at home or on your bed. Without a doubt, the virtual world is able to provide us with an enjoyable experience; however, it does have its cons. The virtual world is a place for creators to hide and establish a virtual world that they specifically can enjoy, but it cuts off all sorts of human interactions with others. Users in this environment are using it as a place to avoid the responsiblity of actually showing up in person to meet someone and talk verbally rather than online. This diminishes the human interaction within the user's life and it could cause potential depression which is a major con of the virtual world.
The virtual world is able to foster creativity because there are no rules, limits, and anyone to stop you from doing and creating what you want. If you really have a liking for dogs, you can essentially create a world where everyone on the street walks around with a dog and these are the beneficiaries of a virtual world. It presents users with limitless ideas and to actually have them pursue something that they want. To me, the virtual world is a place where everything is pixelated. Everywhere where you go and see someone, all of these interactions are premade by the users and so it diminishes as I mentioned the human interactions within life. All of this is great and all; however, I would expect more from the virtual world.
Sources:
Now all goods have their pros and cons and for the virtual world, it is not different. To start off, the virtual world has a lot of pros to it because it enables users to create a whole new world, within reality itself. In the article, "VLES - Lower East Side - MTV”, Dave Itzkoff is a New Yorker who lives in the Lower East Side and despises the bar atmosphere around him. In his article, he mentions how by going home and creating a virtual world on his computer, he was able to create an LES where "There were no imperious bouncers or foul odors to contend with, and no fluids of any kind expectorated on my shoes" (Itzkoff, 2). The pros of the virtual world were so that Dave could create a pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere without having to stress with the actual reality environment. This allows users to establish a utopia where you feel comfortable from the presence of your desk at home or on your bed. Without a doubt, the virtual world is able to provide us with an enjoyable experience; however, it does have its cons. The virtual world is a place for creators to hide and establish a virtual world that they specifically can enjoy, but it cuts off all sorts of human interactions with others. Users in this environment are using it as a place to avoid the responsiblity of actually showing up in person to meet someone and talk verbally rather than online. This diminishes the human interaction within the user's life and it could cause potential depression which is a major con of the virtual world.
The virtual world is able to foster creativity because there are no rules, limits, and anyone to stop you from doing and creating what you want. If you really have a liking for dogs, you can essentially create a world where everyone on the street walks around with a dog and these are the beneficiaries of a virtual world. It presents users with limitless ideas and to actually have them pursue something that they want. To me, the virtual world is a place where everything is pixelated. Everywhere where you go and see someone, all of these interactions are premade by the users and so it diminishes as I mentioned the human interactions within life. All of this is great and all; however, I would expect more from the virtual world.
Sources:
- Itzkoff, Dave. “VLES - Lower East Side - MTV.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Jan. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html.
- Mehta, Diane. “After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 1 May 2013, www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/#aad789d735a4.
Hi Kevin, In my post I also balanced the pros and cons of virtual worlds. It seems companies have slowly started to diminish their offerings of VR products recently, but due to the endless creative aspects, Virtual Worlds seems to still have its place in the future.
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