Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds allow users to live in a dimension that their imagination create but with the help of the gaming companies of course. Gaming site such as Maple Story of Nexon helps many teenagers and pre-teens live in a 2D virtual world that allows them to dress up their character and level up their account to the point that they can afford all the expensive clothing. Many of my friends use this game to meet new people and "hang-out" during their free times. The game allow them to mask who they really are and portray and identity that they want to have. 

Other games such as Mindcraft, created by Mojang a Swedish company. "Minecraft, [a] digital LEGOs if you will, but it's a space for kids to excercis their imagination and to connect with others to also want to build and create things." This is very similar to what Maple Story has to offer, but Maple Story is more focusing on killing monsters and leveling up their accounts. Overall it is like a process of getting stronger to become more powerful. Server games such as Maple Story allows you create the character that you imagine and create virtually. You can have your very own personality online without anyone judging you. The virtual world is used for connecting with people around the world and creating the world that is different from reality.

The virtual world may seem awesome and fun but there are definitely cons. The cons relating to anything that is world wide web can be dangerous. Young children are talking and connecting with strangers who can be masking their actual identity such as age and gender in order to get close to the target they are aiming for. Another con is that when people spend a large amount of time in their virtual world, they disconnect from reality. I had a friend who was addicted to Maple Story, when Maple Story was still popular. She rather spend her day on that game instead of being around her friends in reality. Therefore, the virtual world has its way of disconnecting you from the actual world. 

I think the future of virtual world will be very limited, depending on which age segmentation you are speaking about. Pre-teens and teenagers will be the biggest part of the virtual world because they will be more interested in the world that they imagine but adults are more focused on building their life. Older generations spend their time going to college, working and preparing for their future. The virtual world, in my opinion will be very popular in the future. As gaming wise I think the virtual world will have more features and more realistic (graphic wise). 

1. After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Robot. April 30, 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/

2. Social Influence and the Diffusion of User-Created Content by Eytan Bakshy, Brain Karrer, and Lada A. Adamic. Proceedings of the 10th ACM Conference on Electronic commerce, July 6-10, Stanford CA. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ladamic/papers/SecondLife/SocialInfluenceEC.pdf