Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are becoming more and more common as technology continues to advance and as more people are connecting into the internet.  Businesses are looking for innovative ways to connect their employees.  They have have many offices around the world and are looking for an innovative way to connect the offices.  Live chat  and e-mail have been here for a long time now.  They are effective ways of communication but imagine a form of communication that uses digital avatars to represent you.  In the article "Going to the virtual office in Second Life",  Tutton tells us that over 1400 companies are using the virtual world "Second Life" as a form of communication.  Not only do companies benefit from virtual worlds.  Individuals with disabilities can benefit because they are put into an alternative reality where they can do anything they can imagine.  In the article "Naughty Auties battle autism with virtual interaction" Saidi shows us how virtual worlds help battle autism within children.  The article states  "For people with autism, we've found it's a very nice way of setting up situations they might come across in their everyday lives.  For people who have social, emotional, communication problems we can get them familiar with an environment before they actually try it out in real life." This alternate world can be an amazing stress reliever removing yourself from the real world and into the digital world where you can relax and have fun.  With less responsibility and consequences in a virtual world, users imagination can run wild and creativity explodes.  Minecraft is a sandbox type game that is basically a huge digital lego box.  Within days, users are creating amazing structures.  Virtual Worlds and MMORPG's are not just all fun and games though.  Addiction can become a big problem as well.  People are sucked into these worlds that they forget that it is just an alternate reality.  They become extremely engulfed in their virtual world and avatar that some people even begin to have health problems. 

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

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