Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual reality (VR) is a technological advancement that enables us to experience things we never thought we could. For instance, many people don’t have the opportunity to travel and visit new places across the world. Through the use of virtual worlds, one can visit anywhere on the globe and experience how it feels to live there. In addition to this, virtual reality has enhanced the online gaming world too. It has done so by allowing gamers to play in a more realistic and interactive setting. 

In these cases, virtual reality can be used recreationally. On the contrary, it can also be used to educate. In his article “The virtual world moves into the classroom”, Joe Earle explained how VR is becoming a significant tool within schools. In some areas teachers allow their students to use this technology and it has proved to be beneficial. Educators noticed how VR does an incredible job capturing the attention of the students. In addition to that, the article highlighted how students began to show more empathy for those they learned about through their use of VR. Virtual reality has also affected the lives of those with various disorders. In her article, Nicole Saidi explains how people with Asperger’s syndrome or autism have used VR as an outlet to communicate with others. The individuals who were mentioned in the article had difficulty interacting with others face-to-face due to their disorders. Through their use of second life simulations they were able to find others similar to themselves and foster healthy relationships with them online. 

The aforementioned cases are just a few of the many positive aspects of VR. There are some negatives. One bad aspect of virtual worlds is how tedious it is to create an online environment that mirrors the real world. Each virtual simulation takes extremely long to develop and there is no guarantee that people will use it. Another con that comes with VR use is that people may prioritize their virtual interactions over their real-life ones. It’s not likely that VR users will find it hard to differentiate their online actions from their actual ones. There is an obvious distinction between what is real and what isn’t. However, there have been cases where people love their online lives so much that it hinders their lives outside of the virtual simulations. 

All- in all, the positives of VR outweigh the negatives many times over. Nowadays virtual worlds are well known but it isn’t used so frequently. The area where it is heavily used is in the gaming community. I’m excited for the future because I believe VR will be used more to educate. In the near future it would be nice to see VR incorporated in most schools/universities nationwide. At the rate we are moving at, I’m certain that’s attainable.

Works Cited:

iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction by Nicole Saidi, CNN, March 28, 2008

The virtual world moves into the classroom Posted by Joe Earle | Sep 14, 2008