The Virtual World: What Is A Virtual World?

I took a look at the store and people pay money to customize everything about their avatars. Some people use their avatars as extensions of their personality or to show parts of themselves that they would not show in real life; while others make their avatars completely different from themselves. The choices are endless and people seem to spend a lot of time trying to make their avatar perfect. In Tom Boellstorff’s “Personhood”chapter of his book Coming of Age in Second Life Boellstorff describes how people make avatars that are completely different from themselves. He notes that one Second Life player remarked that in real life they are weak while in Second Life they appear strong. Along with this there is an option to pay a monthly fee and you are able to build rooms. People can create what they want their life to look like verses what their life is actually like. But, it is not just the fact that people can customize their own avatar but they people can create their own worlds along with their own rooms. What this reminds me of is The Sims where you could create your own world and people would spend days doing so. I spent some time looking at the different landscapes that people created for people to chat in. It made me think about how much time people spent planning out what they wanted their world to look like. Much like with software that lets people design buildings and rooms online the building part of Second Life lets people bring their ideas to virtual life. The builders are bringing their own material culture into their own virtual world. However, unlike the programs used to design jewelry, buildings, and rooms on computers now these landscapes will never be brought into the real world. But as Mike Press explains in his article “Handmade Futures: The Emerging Role of Craft Knowledge in Our Digital Culture” the use of computers to design is becoming a craft itself.

I noticed that the reason people played them was because of the freedom they had, who wouldn’t want freedom after working a boring job for the day, you want to be able to come home and relax from your boring, hard life. I noticed however, that the popularity of a game was determined by the degree of control one had over their “virtual life.” There are games where you can control your character, and make it seem realistic. There are games where you can even control every aspect of that character’s life. I wanted to do better. I wanted to be able to control the entire world.

Although this specific program will likely not become available to average consumers, the same foundations for the simulation will be available on the marketplace while being affordable at the same time. In time, applied use of virtual reality such as the Oculus Rift will become mainstream and accepted in everyday life not only due its entertainment value, but also due to its affordability for consumers everywhere. Thoughts of virtual reality often resemble fantastical scenarios reminiscent of scenes in movies with similar themes like Gamer, The Matrix, Total Recall, and Inception. After one delves into the VR technology in products such as the Oculus Rift, one will begin to believe, and he or she will brace themselves for the tidal wave that is the paradigm shift of virtual reality.

Synthetic, pretend, mock, fake, these are all synonyms to the word virtual. “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline shows the positives and negatives to living entirely in a virtual world. Although there are favorable aspects to developing and nurturing online friendships or even relationships there are fallible aspects as well that seem to outnumber what may appear harmless at first. In this book we are shown 3 different sets of online relationships, that of best friends, a couple and “brothers”. Aech and Wade are the first real relationship shown in this book and they model best friends. These two have been best friends for the past 4 years and have spent countless hours together playing video games, watching movies and just talking. Because

“Warcross” focuses on a world where virtual reality dominates society, although the world is different from any other

As the visuals of games continue to become more realistic and engaging gameplay created by the companies, it presents simulated worlds where the player will get lost in. Real life becomes non-existent, sinking

Chapter 9: Interacting One of the major ways in which technology has shaped our contemporary society is the means of interaction. We are now able to talk to anyone, anywhere in the world as long as we have the internet. Throughout this chapter, Kelly focuses on the interactions offered by virtual reality. There are two benefits that will continue VR’s increasing production: presence and interaction. However, according to Kelly, the two benefits that come from VR is that it “enhances realness” and “encourages unrealness” (p.234).

More and more people in society are turning to virtual realities as a way to escape their lives or the body they’re in. Several games and software have been released allowing people to do so, such as Sims, IMVU, and Cityville. In these online worlds people can have virtually whatever they want, from the biggest house on the block to the nicest cars. “The first

The examples indicate the state that the virtual world became possible to do economy activities which is the core of real world and to satisfy the psychological needs that could not be fulfilled in the real world. She states this is creating a new state of self in virtual life. Second, virtual life makes people lose their personal time. The author suggests a question to consider, “Are we leaving enough time to take our time on the things that matter?” (507).

And are these games really just simulations of real-life? This would make sense since games now have real-life applications and implications. But all things considered, the difference between a “game” and a “simulation” is arbitrary and based strictly on one’s definition of each term. If the difference relies on how realistic the game is in its mechanics and play style, then Call of Duty might as well be called a combat simulator. Does a VR set such as the Oculus Rift—along with the still-in-development rifle-shaped controller and multi-direction gaming treadmill—automatically turn a game into a simulation? Perhaps every game is a low-stakes simulation of its real life counterparts. Pit, then, is a non-digital, non-profit simulation of stock market trading…that is, of course, unless one started playing for money. Then, does the inclusion of money turn a game into a simulation, or even into work? These terms are debatable. What is clear is the driving factor behind why games are made—beyond artistic expression, though not mutually exclusive of it, is the desire for profit.

Online multiplayer games which run at real-time encapsulate the majority of gaming to-day. With most games on PC and console having competitive matchmaking, and co-operative gameplay. Both cases will involve players interacting with the world. These so

Today's technology no longer allows video games to consist of simple characters of simple colors doing simple things. The technology of today's video games has gone beyond the older generation's wildest imagination. The older generation of video gamers would not have thought that the characters could stop to smell the flowers or have a conversation with a dinosaur. However, the children of today cannot imagine their video games without these virtual-reality worlds that provide them with a different experience every time they play. Children are lured into these games because of the look and feel of the lifelike characters that have movie screen qualities. These high-tech three-dimensional games allow children to experience the virtual characters as if the child were really inside the game (Moltenbery 1-2). Children who become addicted to video games do so because of the feel of being in a virtual-reality world, which allows them to be one of two kinds of viewers. The first one is a third-person viewer, where the player sees the acts performed by the character. The other kind is the first-person viewer, which allows the player to see through the eyes of the character. Some of the top selling first-person games are: Star Fox Adventure, Top Gun, and Mortal Combat. These first-person games are the most sought after because the children love the feel

Imagine a world, that is anything and everything. Race a dream car. Meet a superstar. Go to Paris, New York, London, or even see the Great Pyramids. A virtual reality - an idea that is coming to life, an idea that will change the world, whether it be good or bad. Ernest Cline, the author of Ready Player One, warned us that virtual reality is going to change the world. Ready Player One is a story about a teen named Wade, in a world where video games are everything. A virtual reality world called the OASIS changed the world into a place where people are antisocial and don’t care about the world anymore. Change with VR can already be seen with the invention of the TV, the phone, the iPhone, and numerous other inventions, It’s already happening - the world is blowing up over Vive, Oculus, Hololens, and more, and VR is going to make things happen: such as solving problems. Is change happening? Are problems going to be solved? Yes, we can already see change.

Virtual reality defined as to produce and create the effect of an interactive 3D world in which the objects have a sense of spatial presence by using computer technologies. Our perceptual and cognitive system will be presented by precise clues in order for our brain to interpret and understand those clues as outside object in 3D world. In addition, virtual reality suggest a lot of benefits and advantages to education of technical such as delivery information through multiple active channels, addressing of dissimilar learning styles, experiential-based learning and so on ( Bell & Fogler, 2004, p 217).

Virtual worlds have solved many of the challenges faced by educational institutions. Today, hundreds of colleges, universities and other learning organizations are either augmenting their current traditional classroom curriculum with a virtual learning component or are holding classes and entire programs exclusively in immersive learning environments in Second Life. Second Life’s persistent virtual environments give students an opportunity to work together synchronously and then return, individually or as a team. The learning space is always equally available, for geographically dispersed groups as well as for those who meet regularly in the physical world. This is especially useful when students require more flexible schedules or need to work asynchronously on the same project.