Lab 4 - Virtual Worlds

Introduction to Second Life... a Virtual World.


I'd say these virtual world games can benefit you as a player by providing some leisurely entertainment, just walking around and talking to people. It's a fairly relaxing activity, and you can talk to people from pretty much anywhere in real-time. The purpose of the virtual worlds is to connect people in an animated, fictional environment.


People are addicted to these games because of the social interaction element I think. It's a bit like what first draws a user to Facebook. It's like an open environment where you can suddenly can connect with all these different people. In a way, it's exciting talking to different people without worrying what they think of you, because it's all so anonymous (if you do it safely). There's also the feature of creating your own avatar, which gives you a way to imagine what it could be like to look differently. This can be addictive, as it's like creating a virtual representation of yourself, which can be quite fun.


The big risks in virtual world games are security and the possibility that playing in such environments, will negatively impact your real life interactions. It's important to stay safe and realize that the players controlling the avatars may not have you best interests in mind. Also, because of the addictive nature of the games, you should ensure that you do not spend too much time on them and withdraw from real life interactions.


Second Life makes money by offering a free version of Second Life, with the option to upgrade and pay for things with real money. It can be difficult to understand why people would pay for features in a virtual environment when there's very little tangible benefit. However, it is guessed that because of the addictive nature of Second Life, users see it as worthwhile to spend that money. This could link back to the idea of negatively impacting your real life interactions though, as there is the question of why one would want to invest money into virtual interactions, over investing that money into real life social interactions.