Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

What are different ways these virtual worlds can be used? What are the pros and cons? Be specific. How do virtual worlds foster creativity? What do you think the future of virtual worlds will look like?

There are many different ways where virtual worlds can be used. Some could be for work and others for leisure. One of the pros is membership is free as stated in Ruth La Ferla's NY Times article, "No Budget, No Boundaries: It's the Real You." When membership is free it brings more people to try. An example would be if someone that enjoys playing fps gaming and has a free membership, it would bring more people into this game. This brings to a second pro which builds a special bond with the online community. With this special bond, it relieves stress from the persons daily life. A con would be online bullying which could lead to depression and other mental illnesses. Another con would be some free memberships virtual worlds have in game currencies. This leads a person to use real world funding to the virtual world.

Many virtual worlds do foster creativity. It is shown in games like Second Life, Spores, Minecraft and others. It gives a person creativity to personalize their avatar in Second Life. Spores let people and children create monsters and they run around in a virtual world. This is also the same concept of Minecraft. Many has favored Minecraft and created virtual worlds that are like the real world as a challenge.

The future of virtual world will have more people coming into the virtual world. As in Mark Tutton's article "Going to the virtual office in Second Life," states that many companies are using the virtual world in the work place. This gives a place where people can be in the virtual world to have business meetings and collaborate on work. It doesn't matter where the person is but still be in the same place. Many companies let families that have young children work at home. There is many requirements for working at home which include a specific location which has access to equipment and internet connection.

An example of a virtual world would be when I play Combat Arms. I'm a fan of FPS gaming and it does relieve stress after a long day after work. I am not a person that would want to use real world funding to the virtual work. I come back most nights for the game because of the special bond i have with people in the online community. I was in a clan in the game and had a group of over 10 people. Sometimes all of us would come online and we would pack the room since its only 8 people can come into a room. While in game, everyone has their own character and can be anything you want it to look like which gives me a way to be creative.