Hi All,
My name is Linda Chu. I’m a junior in the
When Time announced that the 2007 Time person of the year was all of us, I realized the huge impact of the information age and web 2.0. I admit my daily routine relies heavily on the internet: I check my email, check the weather, check facebook, read news, listen to music, google stuff, watch movies, check foruma, read postsecret, webcam, check my bank account, talk on AIM, etc. Seeing how so much of my life is online, I can understand why virtual worlds such as Second Life are a huge phenomenon. I suspect that the popularity of virtual life is also perpetuated by the similar world of video games and our generation’s addiction to instant messaging and social networking sites. All of these involve much time commitment and online interaction, but virtual worlds have evolved into something much more.
You, as your avatar, are able to meet friends, attend concerts, travel, shop, date, have sex, eat, buy real estate, own and operate a business, and everything else you do in real life. But why do people choose to spend more time doing these things virtually when they can do them in reality? Are we all that busy or just too reliant on the internet? Are our lives so boring that we find more excitement to live vicariously through a digital version of ourselves? Will we eventually become zombies stuck in front of computers, living through mouse clicks and keyboard strokes? Before I’m able to answer these questions, the world has moved on without me to embrace second lives. A guest speaker in my strategic information systems class recently convinced his travel company to invest $13 million in Second Life. What did $13 million buy? A small piece of virtual land on which they will build a virtual airport/travel center (Virtual architect to be hired and paid separately). This center is where avatars can come get advice and book tickets to travel to virtual locations, owned by other companies.
Virtual worlds would fit into the synchronous chat category because avatars can chat in real time. MUD also applies because of the online community although virtual worlds communicate with actions and microphones as well as text.
3 comments:
Linda,
I found your post extraordinarily interesting because I know close to nothing about such “virtual worlds”. I had never even heard of Second Life until reading about it in your entry. In a sense I suppose I am behind the times. I basically use the computer exclusively to check my e-mail and facebook. Rarely do I do my shopping online, I had never written in a blog before this class, I prefer to read my news in print rather than on a screen, and I have never explored the world of online dating. I therefore found your description of Second Life fascinating!
I think the recent infatuation with virtual worlds will continue to exert a large influence in all of our lives. As a communication major, I look forward to studying such phenomena in the future, when we can better observe the long term effects of virtual worlds on those who are actively involved in them. For instance, will the world of virtual communication via applications such as Second Life replace our need to experience Face-to-Face communication entirely? Will such phenomena have an effect on future generations who never experienced a life prior to the infatuation with virtual worlds?
Great post!
Alright, i find second life to be one of the most bizarre concepts ever. Its a little to Matrix-like for me. I just cant seem to find the appeal of living in a virtual world when you have the real one to experience. Even more perplexing to me is the idea behind "buying" stuff in second life. Is this program really capable of generating significant revenue to warrant such an investment? Sorry the AEM major in me questions such matters. But i feel that everyone i know has never heard of second life. So whos on it? I have no idea. In a class i took, Comm 349, we did this whole thing with second life and we kept joking that the only people on it where social researchers like us trying to experiment. I'm dying to see where the program will be 20 years from now. Strange concept.
Hi Linda. I really liked reading your post. The research you mentioned about the online social networking sites sounds like it would be so interesting! I also had a similar experience in high school; everyone knew everyone somehow even if only through their internet personality. I also have noticed that sometimes chatting with an acquaintance online would be totally different than talking to them in class. Sometimes they were a lot more outgoing online. Second Life sounds really interesting and your post motivated me to wikipedia it (another internet phenomenon I suppose!), and I liked the questions you posed about people's motivations to play such games. Great post!
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