Virtual World vs. Real World-Response

After the discussion on the emergence of particular types of games and in general the emergence of the virtual world, it can be said the virtual world takes the place of a “real” world for many people, or does it? By the 1980’s, some social MUD’s focused on a social aspect and for a text based game, that could be difficult to convey but when the shift from MUD’s to Massively Multi-player games, it was evident that the growth of the virtual world would expand to many walks of life. The introduction of graphical games has contributed to physically seeing what they could not before and as human beings, seeing is believing. The popularity of World of Warcraft is an example of this visualization emergence because in our society, war is a prominent issue that is discussed in the news. Nonetheless, I do not believe World of Warcraft correlates to the war our country is currently fighting, it provides a path and opportunity to know and understand war. I have never played this game so I am not going to speak on its behalf when it comes to the emotion it conveys but just the title provides some what of an interesting visual stimulus.

In our reading for Monday, the authors state it is “shared interests that provide a reason for people to come together on the internet, while networks of practice provide the technological means to share and create practices,” could this be a definition of media convergence and how the virtual world has contributed in many ways to the perceptions of reality? I think the virtual world has undoubtedly contributed to the “idea” or concept of media convergence. I think what the author said is a great way to describe the design process of certain video game types. The shared interests of the users is imperative but who is designing the technology is imperative as well. The games are carefully analyzed, studied, played, scored, rated, etc before they even hit the market. Why this false reality people?

My second question was: are the visual mediums that provide a sense of place, space and physiological embodiment only hindering users from experiencing actual reality because users find comfort in their own home from the “real life” virtual world they see on a computer screen or television?

I think there are some cases where many people find comfort in a game and facing everyday life becomes a chore and a task. These extreme cases hinder the individual from interacting through interpersonal , face-face communication which many psychologists say contribute to a healthier professional atmosphere. I am not saying it is necessarily unhealthy to play these games but it walks a fine line when it comes to actually helping with communication growth but yet again, or does it? I also think this is a tough area to study and study effectively because there are some things that games contribute positively but does the bad outweigh the good here? Addiction to technology is becoming the fastest growing illness in todays era and although technology is a broad term, the virtual world is a large chunk of that term.

3. Due to the virtual world, is there a separation from imagination and reality anymore? Are these games “just games” anymore? I do not think these games are “just” games nowadays. There has been an increase in crimes of passion relating to virtual worlds and there is little separation between reality and imagination. These games are consuming the lives of people of all ages and it’s not letting up. The popularity of these crime games has seen an all time high during the past few years and when will it stop or when will there be another route established in relation to this issue? There are many things involved with the virtual world that makes it hard to fix the problem. It is a worldwide phenomenon and I do not see any deviance in the future.

Tags: media convergence, reality, virtual worlds