Virtual worlds can be used in many ways such as in online gaming, teaching, and developing cost effective ways of products and services in various businesses. In online gaming, it provides a space where one can take a break from reality and enjoy themselves in a world where they can change their identity. Online players enjoy the virtual world because it is a fantasy that you are in control of. The virtual world can also be used for education purposes such as teaching medical students how to perform medical procedures or teaching students in a classroom how to carry out an activity. Additionally. it can provide business benefits in that the virtual world can be used to give virtual tours of a business, a 360 view of a product, and it can be used to train employees easily. The pros of the virtual world are that it gives users a chance to build new experiences through their online gaming, many people can be educated at once regarding a medical procedure for more efficiency, and businesses can excel in building virtual prototypes to further develop goods and services. Some cons are that this resource is time consuming, it can be hard to put all aspects of the real world into an online system, and the virtual world can become addicting for online users that play games. Other disadvantages are that developers can face challenges when building the virtual technology such as lag time and lack sharpness of thought, vision, or hearing.
In the article, "Avatar II: The Hospital", Stephanie Simon mentions, "In addition to disaster drills, Second life is increasingly being used to train medical and nursing students in clinical skills." This shows the advantages of virtual reality in that it aids many students in having a visual learning experience. The virtual world allows for many students to learn at once which is cost effective. In another article, "I've Been in that Club, Just Not in Real Life" , Itzkoff says, "The result is an experience that feels like a mash-up of Facebook and Grand Theft Auto, with a dash of the indie-rock Web site Pitchfork thrown in for good measure." The author expresses that the virtual world gives you an experience like never before in that you can do anything and explore the online world without having to go outside to the actual places shown online. For example, you can visit a place you never went to in the virtual world and it can persuade you to actually go there in real life.
On the other hand, virtual worlds can foster creativity in that it can lead to innovation of products. As mentioned before, many companies use this system to build prototypes so it can help in the creation of better products and services for customers. In the future, virtual worlds will probably engulf the world ,since technology is advancing day by day. More and more education systems and businesses will use it to enhance learning experiences.
References:
"Avatar II: The Hospital" by Stephanie Simon, The Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2010
"I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life" by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, January 6, 2008
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