Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

There are several different ways in which virtual worlds can be used. As mentioned in the the CNN article, it can be used for work purposes. For example, Second Life enabled IBM and other companies to hold meetings virtually. Another way in which virtual words can be used is in toys. An article published in BusinessWeek recently mentioned how toys such as Webkinz allow for the new generation of tech-savvy children to also enjoy the existence of the virtual world. Aside from these two examples, virtual worlds can be used as social tools in order to met new people and/or maintain relationships and interact with family and friends.

The benefits of a virtual world in a professional sense include decreasing costs associated with work travel and thus saving money, making the communication platform more engaging to professionals, and building and maintaining relationships more easier in the professional sense. The negative aspects would be that by using virtual worlds people lose the "human affect", where people spontaneously interact and build relationships. Virtual worlds can also make people anti-social in real-life situations.

Virtual worlds foster creativity because they allow people to open up and not hold their ideas inside. By being comfortable inside their home they feel freer to speak their mind and all social boundaries are lifted. It also allows for people to look up information and bring in facts into conversations that were not readily available before.

I think in the future, people will rely on virtual worlds much more in the professional sense than in the social sense. I think people still enjoy going our for a real beer more than just sitting in front of a computer and pretending to sip a beer over the internet. But in terms of getting work done and communicating with professionals all over the world, I think virtual worlds will be very prominent in this aspect. We already use so much digital technology in order to connect with people all over the world and I think in the future it will be cheaper and more convenient to have a virtual conference than to fly to Europe and have a face-to-face meeting.