I had no idea Second Life existed. I remember watching an episode of Law and Order SVU which dealt with crimes happening in virtual worlds but I thought it was made up and not based of reality. I have signed up for second life just to see what its all about but have not had the time to fully get into it.
Virtual worlds are great for people who do not have the ability to socialize as they would because of a phobia of the outside world. The CNN article entitled, Naughty Auties battle Autism with Virtual Interaction, Simon Bignell says," For people who have social, emotional, communicational problems ... we can get them familiar with an environment before they actually try it out in real life. Also, Diseases such as autism, multiple sclerosis all prevent individuals from living a normal life. This is a great use for a virtual world because its gives people a sense of a normal life because they are able to interact with people and do things they will not be able to do in their real lives.
While virtual worlds help people who cannot socialize freely I believe they also hinder socializing. I believe some individuals will use the virtual world as a crutch to support the reasoning behind why they are not out and about living life. In the article,"I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life" by Dave Itzkoff, he says, "Despite knowing that its real-life inspiration exists right outside my door, I have spent the last few months making such visits to the Virtual Lower East Side"
In virtual worlds you are able to visit places you may never get to in your life, you meet people from all over the world and have conversations and I believe this fosters creativity. Also I believe the future of virtual worlds is going to be huge in that students will be able to attend classes from the comfort of their home, using their avatars, grocery shopping will also be done from the home, going to the post office and a lot of errands that are done daily will soon be able to do from home
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