Identity in the Context of Virtual Worlds

I thought that the CNN article was very interesting in its approach of explaining how people interact within virtual realities. Virtual realities give people a way to escape from the social constraints that are places in the physical world. People are able to better further express themselves in ways they aren't easily able to in real life. Further, you can explore so many types of personalities or sides to yourself without even knowing. This is easily capable through being able to pick your physical appearance, physique, job, economic status, and even gender.

I believe that virtual realities genuinely provides a unique experience to all types of people. There's a common perception that only introverts and nerdy people play these types of games but that isn't true at all. People enjoy having a way to freely express themselves in whatever way they chose without being judged. I think this is most commonly seen in Robbie Cooper's photographic book. He got pictures of people who play in virtual environments and the avatars in which they chose to see if there was a common trend in appearances. It turns out that people in fact generally don't look anything like they do in real life, magnifying the fact that people enjoy the freedom of expression in these games.

As someone who has played games for a long time, I also am exposed to the negative impact that virtual worlds have on people's lives. People sometimes get so lost in these virtual worlds that they lose traction of the real world. This is where gaming and virtual realities can become a problem. Although it is a great escape from the world, people have to ensure that it is merely a temporary escape for personal enjoyment. With anything there is a problem of addiction, namely for games such as World of Warcraft.

Virtual environments are further being used for educational purposes such as that of Second Life. It is exciting because it also allows for students to chose and personalize their avatars to their liking. In addition, it also allows for chat histories to be saved which is a great tool for learning environments. Also people can interact just as easily as they can in the physical world.

They have been using Second Life to explore the topics of gender, race, and identity. Something that I think is fascinating. However, there are also drawbacks of using virtual programs like Second Life for educational purposes. The instructor is not able to see how well people are interacting with each other and the experience that the person is having because the instructor can only merely see a virtual avatar of the person sitting behind their computer. However, despite drawbacks this is exciting for education purposes in the future.