Week 12 Response

1.  What opportunities might virtual worlds offer advertisers?  If advertisers are able to update their advertisements throughout time on these virtual worlds, might it be beneficial to spend the extra money to do so?

Virtual worlds can be incredibly beneficial to advertisers.  There are many different virtual worlds available for players, and as discussed in class, virtual worlds is one of the fastest growing areas in technology.  The amount of people an advertiser is able to reach is incredibly high.  Also, because of the possibility to continuously update an advertisement in these virtual worlds, an advertiser will not have to worry about the problem of outdated advertisements.  In respect to the fact that there are many people that are using virtual worlds these days, advertisers must be careful about their target audience while advertising.  Although there is a large amount of people using virtual worlds, it does seem to be a specific ‘type’ of person.  It would probably be a waste of money to advertise for a popular woman’s clothing store on most of these virtual worlds.

2.  What possible crimes could take place in these virtual worlds?  How can we as designers find a way to police activity in a virtual world much like it is in the real world?

As stated in class, there are many crimes that have been taking place in the virtual worlds.  There have been examples of players stealing credit cards and using them to buy items on ‘world of warcraft’ and people stealing money or items in the game itself.  There should be some way to control thieves in virtual worlds just like police do in the real world.  One would think that because these games are based on coding that it would be simple to control thievery.  Designers should find a way to make actual virtual police that are able to decipher a bad code from a good one.  When a player is being mischievous and trying to do something ‘illegal’, the police officer will decipher their code as inappropriate and stop them from completing the action.  There should also be a punishment involved with acts like this, such as not allowing that player access to the game for one week.

3.  With the increase of online dependency in young adults, should there be restrictions on how much one person is allowed to partake in virtual world activities?

I definitely think there should be restrictions on how much a person can play on these games.  Online dependency is the fastest growing disease right now, and it is really becoming a problem.  People are spending the majority of their day playing these games that have no positive impact on any aspect of their life (other than the fact that they are having fun).  I know people will be able to have multiple accounts and get around this rule, but I believe there should be a 6-hour daily restriction of play on each account.  Six hours a day is still a ridiculous amount of time to play on these games, but at least it is better than 16 hours, as one parent believes her child is playing every day.  I also believe there should be some sort of law against the amount of time a person can play online games.  It sounds ridiculous, but parents should be punished for allowing their children to play this long.  Until they are 18, children are not responsible for their own actions, and parents should be able to control the amount that they play online.  It is irresponsible and neglectful on the parents part and unhealthy on the child’s part to be playing for so long on these virtual worlds.