Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds which are essentially online communities that allow us to interact with one another is a concept that came with this new technology era and is continually progressing as technology advances as well. These virtual worlds can be used for a wide variety of uses such as educational purposes or even entertainment/gaming purposes. An example can be trainings, such as military exercises. On the gaming side, an example can be seen in Dave Itzkoff’s article “I’ve Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life”. Itzkoff talks about the massive amount of time he spent “hanging out” and doing activities such as going to a club in a virtual word from his computer. This is where some will say these virtual worlds have a con which is it may cause an individual to become anti-social. Spending too much time “hanging out” in a virtual world can hinder one’s ability to develop proper social and communicating skill for the real world as their face-to-face interactions decrease. On the other hand, virtual worlds also have some pros. An example can be seen in the Forbes article “After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?” by Diane Mehta. Mehta talks about how Jacki Morie, a virtual world designer discusses how virtual worlds can benefit kids. “Minecraft”, a very popular virtual world game, which can be considered similar to a digital version of Legos, allows kids to exercise their creativity and imagination. This game allows kids to construct/build what they want to (houses, buildings, etc.). This is also an example of how virtual words foster creativity as it allows kids to think outside the box. In conclusion, I personally feel that virtual worlds will become even more common than they already are. I feel that they will develop even more to the point where it becomes a norm. 

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