Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

     When the term "virtual world" arises, a majority of people may think of online gaming where gamers interact with each other in the same "world" or server. But these worlds actually started out as not gaming but just a place where people can create their own character and roam around the cities that were created by the programmers. One of the most popular examples of this is Second Life.
     Believe it or not, these Virtual Worlds are actually being used in the work place. According to the CNN article "Going to the virtual office in Second Life", companies now are using services like Second Life to host meetings with members that are not in the same geographic location. This idea "saved travel time" as well as create an "engaging environment" that led to more creative ideas.
     The pros for using these services, especially for companies, are mainly the money saved, time saved, and a fresh new idea that most people are probably interested in. However, cons also exist in using these services. In the same CNN article mentioned above, "Kahai says that lack of human contact can also lead to feelings of isolation". Workers can lose their face-to-face contact experience by using these services extensively.
     These Virtual Worlds foster creativity because every user has to create their own character or avatar. The users are allowed to either make it as close as a depiction to themselves as possible or maybe to something they want to be but cannot in real life. The NYT article "No Budget, No Boundaries: It’s the Real You", even though Vixie Rayna probably could not afford all the clothes that she wants in real life, she can obtain them inside a virtual world for free. This actually led to "an increase in spending during the recession" according to the chief executive of there.com.
    I think the future of virtual worlds is going to be in MMORPG gaming. I believe the non gaming worlds have decreased in popularity. One good example is the Playstation Home service. Users with a Playstation 3 can create their own avatar and roam around in the city Sony has created for them. However, this service is not something most people use everyday. MMORPG games, like World of Warcraft, however, there are many people all around the world using it right at this moment. There are the private servers where players play for free as well as the official servers that charge the players to play. In my opinion, these are much more interesting than something like Second Life where you just walk around a city.