Wednesday, September 29, 2010
For Discussion: Live a Second Life
Well, this video in YouTube have open up to me more about what avatars in the Virtual Worlds can do. In this video, it talks about what are the pros and cons of the virtual world. As you can see in the video, avatars can be use as a simultaneous connection between two or more people where you can communicate by voice or text in the virtual worlds. Also, one of the beauty of having an avatar in the virtual world is that, people around the world can come together for business meetings and have discussion even when they are from different parts of the world. This makes it easier for communication. For an example, in the virtual world called Second Life, a person can come to a place in Malaysia of the virtual world to meet with another person who is already in Malaysia of the virtual world even though they are not from the same country in the real world.
Besides that, in the virtual worlds there are virtual pets you could take care without having to spend money to buy foods for the pets itself. It can be seen that, in the virtual world, pets can be fed and play with as what can be done in the real world. Also, toys can be bought in the virtual world for the virtual pets to play with and the pets can even dress up.
However, the video also states that by using these virtual worlds, will it somehow replace the real world relationship? Will it replace the person to person interaction in real life? One example that could be seen is that, parents and kids would have not as much time to interact between each other as technologies like the virtual worlds have used up most of their time and they would have less time to interact with each other. This would then distant the relationship between both parents and children.
Here's some question for you to think about, is having an avatar in the virtual world a good thing? Will it reduce the time spend in the real world to interact with friends and family? What would you say?
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Hi Godric, I dont think having an avatar in the virtual world is a bad thing. It may be fun and interesting to be some other identity in the virtual world other than being your real self in the real world. Besides that, you can also interact with people in the virtual world (the avatars) and make more friends. You can also do something you might not have the ability to do in the present world, for example, purchasing vehicles, buildings, house lots and so on.
ReplyDeleteFrom my personal experience, I do have an avatar in Sony's very own Playstation Network. The virtual world is named Playstation Home. So whats Playstation Home? Its generally a virtual world designed for Sony Playstation 3 users. You can dress up as you like, design your home, create your own character and many more. Being in Playstation Home, you will be able to communicate with other Playstation 3 users around the world which is quite entertaining I must say.
Although being involved in Playstation Home, I still do spend time with my friends and families. I do not think such virtual life will replace my real life. Therefore, I personally do think that being involved in the virtual world is fun and entertaining but it will not affect my real life. :)
reference: Playstation Home, http://www.qj.net/qjnet/playstation-3/playstation-home-now-has-12-million-users.html
I agree to Lionel and Poon on the point that having an avatar in virtual world is not a bad thing. In the virtual world we can choose to be anyone we want, for example, I have always admire the foreigners for their heights and nice body figure, so I can still be someone as tall as possible and owns a nice body figure in the virtual world where the real actual me would be short and skinny.
ReplyDeleteBesides, having an avatar is really good for the disabled. One might be deaf after accident or natural but with the virtual world, he can read can communicate with the others or even some well known guild leader in some online games. He/She can have their own avatar created according to their own preferences.
I once come across a guy in one of the cyber cafe in Kuching city, he got into an accident and lose his fingers. He played his online games using toes. I know it might sounds ridiculous but I witnessed it with my own eyes, he is controlling the mouse with his toes. Everyone was surrounding him and there are some who discriminates him, some who admire him. He may be look down in the real world but inside Chibi Online, he is a strong guild's member.
I do have my own avatar too in several online games, but it did not stop me from interacting with my friends or families. Furthermore it strengthen our relationship as we talked more about the games and share common interests. So, I don't think virtual life can replace one's real life.
I agree to Godric that avatar can make people easier to communicate with each other as their can avoid the awkward feel when facing each other. Besides that, having an avatar in the virtual world can also widen out our social network as you can meet people from around the world as there is no bounder in the internet.
ReplyDeleteIn Japan, player of the Nintendo game, Love Plus+ can now take photo and put in their virtual girlfriend into the photo using apps from their smartphone. This apps give the player a feel that their virtual girlfriend can be exist in the reality world!
The existence of avatar can help those with low self esteem as their can gain confident through the internet by having a good looking avatar in the virtual world.
I disagree with the point that owning avatar in the virtual life will cause a person to stay away from the real life as life in virtual life is better as i myself own an avatar too before, but it does not make me feel to stay away from the real world as i still hang out with friend and become more friendly as i dare to approach and talk with stranger.
References:
Japan's Taking Its Virtual Girlfriend on a Real Date, viewed 8 October 2010 http://singularityhub.com/2010/09/15/japans-taking-its-virtual-girlfriend-on-a-real-date/
I disagree with the fact that having avatar is a good thing because it will turn into a bad thing when it is misused. There are more and more spending time on virtual world and this has become their original life. Virtual world tend to be a second life but reality is really different from virtual. People participate in virtual world because they can have what they dream for and it is much better than reality. When time flies, people tend to live in the virtual world and this can be serious.
ReplyDeleteIt will definitely affect the time u spend with family depends on their personality. People tend to be emotional are easily influenced to become mental problem. The issues or problems you wanted to share with your family may be rejected by them but virtual world is making life wonderful because anyting you do is accepted.
I would like to share one thing that I just read from an article. It is really interesting that there is virtual rape in virtual world but is it a crime? This seems to be scary because this thing can be traumatic. However, this thing has no right and wrong because there is not such law that virtual rape or cybersex is a crime. This is quite dangerous when this become a culture that many teenagers tend to have virtual sex all the time because there are not satisfied in reality. Some of the opinion from the article said that the best way is to ignore and sign in as another user. Another thing is the virtual world created cops that patrol for such virtual sex.
Nice discussion. I share you the link for the article.
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/sexdrive/2007/05/sexdrive_0504
http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/04/21/belgian-police-patrols-second-life-to-prevent-rape/
http://cherrythian.com/going-virtualis-it-good-or-bad/
Thank you all for the comments that you've given. I would have to say that yes Avatars do have their advantages as well as their disadvantages. What I could say is that its up to you to use these avatar as what you want it to be. There may be cyber crimes in the virtual world but there are still crimes happening in the real world as well. However, there's a point I would like to bring up. Lets say you would to have an avatar in the virtual world, would spend your real world money to accessories your avatar? For an example, in the virtual world, I would see many avatars having different clothes and other accessories which then influences me to purchase these accessories for my own avatar. Would you feel pressured especially in the virtual world to have a better accessories than others to equip on your avatar? Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteAnother point that interest me is about meeting avatars. As you all have use avatars in the virtual world, would you personally meet another avatar which you met online in the real world? Example, I met a few friends who plays the same online game with me through the virtual world. All of us first met using our avatars and we got closer as we have the same interest between us. To our surprise, some of use come from the same town in Kuching. So we plan to have a meet outside in the real world. That's how I know most of my online friends through avatars. How about you?
A research done in New Delhi, April 19 about Virtual world addictions can often lead to behavioral problems which may require professional help. Based on the article if parent found their child hooked on to social networking sites or online gaming sites and exhibiting worrying behavioral changes, then maybe it's time for them to intervene and consulted a doctor. Addiction of social networking and gaming sites cases have rapidly increasing. According to the research, Vidushi Gupta age 16, used to spend hours on Facebook religiously following her friends and connecting to new people. In the beginning it was fun but slowly it started taking a toll on her health and her parents witnessed drastic changes in her behaviour. She became completely cut down on socializing and used to remain in her room. This was the time when we approached ta doctor, who told us that her addiction to social networking sites was behind the change in her behavourial pattern, said the teen's mother. Excessive involvement in virtual world eventually will draw a person away from its daily rountine such as interaction with their parent. For example, I use to addict to this online gaming call dota. I spend most of my time sitting in front the computer from morning 8 a.m to 12 midnight. I normally have my lunch and dinner on my computer table where i was eating and gaming at the same time. At that time i found that I wasn't really noticing things happen around me cause i was too focusing on the game etc even my mum wen out I don't realist it. I was too busy controlling my avatar in the game and afraid of losing the game, every time my mum talked to me i just ignore or answer in a short form which makes my mum fell so annoyed and scolded me that she feels like she was talking to the walk. I notice that my relationship with my parent is not so well that time. " The dazzling splendor of virtual worlds makes the youth succumb easily. Websites like second life.com, farmville, where they are introduces in a panorama of the animated world affects their mental health to a great extent," Parikh told IANS. They ten to cut off fro the real world and get engrossed into their avatar in virtual gaming websites. Eventually they tend to lose interest in their daily normal activities, start losing interest in curricular and co-curricular activities and studies appear secondary to them, and winning games or having the best avatar becomes of primary importance,he said. I also found that spending too much time in front computer will eventually causes health problem. I often suffer frequent headaches, eyes strain, and burning sensation in the eyes when i sit in front computer for a long time. Also because I became less active in outdoor activity and sports i started to gain weight.
ReplyDeletereferences:http://calcuttatube.com/addicts-of-the-virtual-world-could-have-behavioural-problems/81902/
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a129290.html
A research done in New Delhi, April 19 about Virtual world addictions can often lead to behavioural problems which may require professional help. Based on the article if parent found their child hooked on to social networking sites or online gaming sites and exhibiting worrying behavioural changes, then maybe it’s time for them to intervene and consulted a doctor. Cases where addiction to social networking and gaming sites that will affect the health of people is increasing. According to the research, Vidushi Gupta age 16, used to spend hours on Facebook religiously following her friends and connecting to new people. In the beginning it was fun but slowly it started taking a toll on her health and her parents witnessed drastic changes in her behaviour.”She completely cut down on socialising and used to remain in her room. This was the time when we approached a doctor, who told us that her addiction to social networking sites was behind the change in her behavioural pattern,’ “said the teen’s mother. Excessive involvement in virtual world eventually will draw a person away from its daily routine such as interaction with their parent. For example, I use to addict to this online gaming call dota. I spend most of my time sitting in front the computer from morning 8a.m. when I woke up till 12 midnight. I normally have my lunch and dinner on my computer table where I was eating and gaming at the same time. At that time I found that I wasn’t noticing things that happens beside me cause I was too focusing on the game etc even my mum is out I don’t realise it. Because I was too focusing controlling my avatar in the game and afraid of losing the game, every time my mum talked to me I just ignore it or answer in short form which makes my mum feel so annoyed and scolded me that she feels like she was talking to the wall every time she talks to me. I noticed that my relationship with my parent is not so well that time. “The dazzling splendour of the virtual world makes the youth succumb easily. Websites like secondlife.com, gojiyo.com, Farmville, where they are introduced into a panorama of the animated world affects their mental health to a great extent,’ Parikh told IANS.They tend to cut off from the real world and get engrossed into their avatar in the virtual gaming websites. Eventually they tend to lose interest in their daily normal activities, start losing interest in curricular and co-curricular activities and studies appear secondary to them, and winning these games or have the best avatar becomes of primary importance,’ he said. I also found that spending too much time in front computer will eventually causes health problem too. I often suffer frequent headaches, eyes strain, and burning sensation in the eyes when I sit in front computer for a long time. Also I became less active in outdoor activity and doesn’t interest in doing sports anymore and started to gain weight.
ReplyDeleteHi Godric
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, how people value about the avatar in the virtual world is depend on how it motivates people to involve themselves to it. Take second life as an example which recently has approximate 20 million of users all over the world. Second Life not only allow the users to meet and communicate with other users in the game, it helps users to make money.
How to gain the money through Second Life?
The main income resource from the second life is depend on the skills that users have in their disposal such as computer programming or 3D modelling to create certain things which required by other users to have a good real- life. By the way, it creates opportunity for users to earn the profit if they can make outstanding creation in virtual life.
Will Second Life reduce the time spend in the real world especially to interact with friends and friends?
My answer is depending on the situation. Sometimes people feel that they can’t find the care or love in the real world which cause them have the mindset that they can only experience it in the virtual world. If they value that time spending at the virtual world is more worth than in the real world, how we can judge that it’s not valuable.
References:
Making money playing second life online, viewed on 10 October 2010, http://www.paid2review.co.uk/make-money-playing-second-life.html
Nice discussions here! :)
ReplyDelete