Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

The prominence of virtual worlds has enabled several different groups of people to thrive and excel in their respective area of importance. To begin, virtual worlds are online portal where 3D figures exist to represent their human counterparts. On the human side, virtual world users can use technologies to control their virtual consuls and have them perform the necessary acts to communicate with another virtual users. The virtual world I am most familiar with is The Sims franchise's worlds. My younger sister introduced me to Sims through her obsession with creating dozens of characters and controlling each of their interactions.

 

In virtual worlds, people can use this technology to their benefit by assisting with things such as work training. For example, in the Wall Street Journal article, "Avatar II: The Hospital," the author details the how the ER nurses use virtual hospitals to test their abilities in the medical setting. Nurses can administer medicine, shots, and tend to patients in the waiting room and in their hospital rooms. Developer and professor Dr. Laura Grecci has stated that among providing around the clock, life-like training, this program benefits the medical world by being more cost effective than using and rental spaces to reenact ER emergencies.

 

Additionally, virtual resource centers like Naughty Auties, provide safe havens for people on the Autism spectrum. Those on the autism spectrum Autism, a range of brain disorders that can cause difficulties in social interaction, communication and behavior, face more troubles when trying interact and function in social settings. As described in "iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction," the advent of Naughty Auties allows people on the autism spectrum to learn new ways to express themselves - ways that were once not available to them. Researchers may even find methods to alleviate the struggles that autistic disorders cause. 

In terms of my sister's enchantment with Sims, I've seen it foster her creativity in a way that she's been able to create new lifestyles and personalities by including simple differences within each virtual person and world she plays in. And in that sense, that is what creativity is - the making your mind work in different ways to produce unique results. However, virtual worlds can cause a dis-attachment  from the real world that we live in. While many virtual worlds are incredibly similar to the real world that we live in, one cannot replicate the small factors that make humans the most complex creatures in the world. Virtual world cans only ever be a place that aims to copy or capture that unique quality but it can rarely be more than that. In the future, virtual world developers will likely continue attempting to recreate the real world and using virtual worlds to help in the areas that we cannot control such as the treatment of disease or living forever. In virtual reality, virtual characters have no life line, that is one thing that separates virtual reality from true reality. While that is positive for some, it is negative for others as death is what gives life its value.

 

 

 

Sources:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/28/sl.autism.irpt/index.html#cnnSTCText