Massively multiplayer online role playing games (or MMORPGs) is a video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously and they allow you to interact with others around the world. An avatar, wich is a character that you can personalize and use when interacting with friends online. You can change hairstyles, clothes, accessories, and backgrounds, you can create your own unique persona.
One of the popular sites is Second Life. The site is set up so that it is simple to create an avatar and begin finding friends. "Second Life is a free online virtual world imagined and created by its Residents. From the moment you enter Second Life, you'll discover a fast-growing digital world filled with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity."
When creating an avatar you can choose a unique name for your new digital persona (i.e. avatar). Some people create an identity that is similar to their real lives, while many others create alternative personas that are unlike their "real world" existence. The choice is up to the individual. That makes the virtual reality different from "reality." In reality you cannot hide your identity as much. Most of the time you are who you are. If you are skinny or fat, tall or skinny, pretty or ugly you cannot change that. People see what they see. In the virtual reality world you can make your character how you would like to be portrayed. You can choose nice clothes, even designer clothes, for them and make them look how ever you want. In the real world you cannot just get nice clothes for free, and if you are not in a high social economic class then it is not even a possibility. So you can create a life seperate from who you are.
Like real life, you may encounter people in Second Life that you wish to ignore. Unlike real life, in the Second Life virtual world there is a simple button that you can click to mute them. If only real life were that easy. In reality you cannot just mute your friend when there is a problem in your relationship.
If people become to involved in their virtual life then it can cause problems with their relationships. If you are spending too much time in your virtual world then you begin to put that life before others in your reality life, such as a spouse or family member. Also your perception on how relationships work is distorted. Because of the way that you can mute those you do not wish to talk to or how you can be someone opposite of who you are in your real world.
However virtual reality worlds also help connect relationships and society.
Many businesses conduct meetings through reality worlds. Some use virtual reality worlds such as second life, but an there is an increasing amount of companies creating customized virtual reality worlds. According to an article, "Life After Second Life," on businessweek.com many businesses are creating their own worlds so they can increase flexibility in terms of designing a branded enviornment. Also because other virtual worlds are open to anyone who wants to open an account and create an avatar, it is open to uplanned cyber-jacking of corporate events. Many companies want to avoid the intruders who can turn up in virtual meetings. Virtual reality worlds have created a unique ways for people to conduct meetings.
Also they help those with certain disabilities conduct a life free of their disabilites. It allows someone who is handicap manuvere a persona like everyone else. It is somewhere for them to go where they can feel "normal."
Also like social networking sites, virtual reality worlds help those who are shy conduct conversations and meet people without having to be face to face.
I set up my own avatar on secondlife.com. It was pretty simple. It took me about an hour to set it up and explore the land. When I first began logging into my account with second life a box popped up saying that I would not be able to access everything because my computer did not have the applications to do so. That right there led me to think of the digital divide. If someone who is educated and in the middel soical economic class is having troubles accessing secondlife then I cannot help but think there are many people who cannot. Therefore these sites do not involve all different types of people because they are restrained due to some of the issues that I talked about with the digital divide.
As I was playing around on secondlife I found that I was having a hard time figuring out how to do some things. I could not figure out how to go to a different city or area or how to view the maps. I do feel that they would be things that I could figure out how to do as I got more comfortable in the site.
I did not find it very entertaining to be on the site. It just seemed like everyone around me was standing around (as an avatar, I took the photo above). I do not have any friends that participate in any virtual worlds and I do not feel the desire to talk with strangers. I would rather talk to my friends in person, phone, or on facebook.
I liked trying out the technology. It was interesting to see how it works and learn more about it. However, I don't think that I will access the account.
I think virtual reality type games where people create avatars a way for someone to become someone else.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree that if someone were to spend too much time there could be problems. I think one of the biggest other than ignoring those around you physically is that most of these people start to believe that they are that character. And they make friends on the site and assume that they are who they say they are, which has shown to be untrue most times and can lead to problems.
I also created an avatar on second life and I had the same problem happen to me because I didn't have the neccessary applications. And I agree with you that the digital divide is heavily present. Not having the right applications makes it so you can't access everything, so like you stated, those who don't have it can't experience second life the same way.
But think of the name of the site itself for a minute, Second Life. This name perfectly states what the site is for, to be your second self, that person in your head who you wish you were or imagine yourself to be. For those who for one reason or another don't socialize with many people this is a way to get intteraction. The site is marketed as "a digital world filled with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity." Now in my opinion the real world is full of opportunity and experiences. What I find odd is that it advertises that the digital world is full of entertainment, well wouldn't playing this game be entertainment? Are people that bored that their entertainment needs entertainment.