Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds can be used in many ways and everyday, there's some new invention or way to escape our world to visit a virtual world. Virtual worlds help us escape the real world but it also causes a misconception and in reality, may end up taking more from us. According to a CNN article, "Going to the virtual office in Second Life" by Mark Tutton, he explains how businesses can have meetings or conferences in a virtual world instead of physically being there. The article also states that the "second life" allows for avatars to be created for the employees of the company. Overall, this is beneficial in a sense where businesses can emulate a real world conference by using the avatars to represent each individual, give the company a more interactive and engaging approach versus traditional styles of having a conference. This can also be cost-effective for companies.

On the other hand, the health24 article "Virtual world may impact real-world behaviour" talks about how detrimental a virtual world might be for society. People become very engaged in these virtual worlds, maybe even a little too much. Since humans tend to imitate a character or avatar as they connect with them (role-play as a certain character in a video game - hero and/or villain), it may affect their social behavior. This can lead to people becoming too dependent on virtual worlds, which is harmful to a person's behavior in the real world.

The pros and cons of virtual worlds may include:

Pros:

• Offer experience that doesn't require actually physically being there (medical training simulation or military training simulation)
• Can be used in various fields and not just in business environments (i.e. scientific studies)
• Provide basis for new technology and has a lot of potential for future uses/purposes
• Allow remote connectivity and ease of communication

Cons:

• May be costly (technology advances causes prices and demand to go up) 
• Can cause too much disconnect from reality or the real world 
• May affect social behavior 
• Cause society to be too dependent on technology 

I believe that virtual worlds are a great new technological advancement that can be used for way more than video games and business-related purposes. Virtual worlds foster creativity in the sense where people are free to experiment and try things out. Whether it’s videoconferencing or gaming, the idea that people can interact with one another without physically being in the same room can alter the traditional “9-to-5” lifestyle and perhaps allow it to become more freelance/less stressful. When people are able to collaborate on projects together remotely, it gives them time and space to collect their thoughts and come up with a solution in their own comfortable environment (as opposed to being confined in a cubicle).

I feel that in time, people will be able to work remotely and there will be many restrictions/policies strictly for remote activity (virtual environments/worlds) because of the kinds of interactions that can go on. There can be crime or frauds discussed over virtual environments, and there will eventually be a need to regulate online activity in those worlds — just like what we have in the real world.