The Virtual World
An aspect of simulacra or simulations that intrigues me in
the post-modern society is the emergence of virtual worlds. Will they continue
to grow? Baudrillard’s theory surrounding simulations had
me thinking about the impact of virtual worlds and reality’s and how this has a
great impact on all our lives. Simulation has become a substitution of the real
for the real, they have converged and people now live their lives through the
simulacrum where mediums such as the internet are central (Felluga 2011).
This is where Howard Rheingold’s theory of virtual
communities becomes central. Virtual worlds create an environment that brings
together people who share common interests, ideas and feelings, allowing them
to collaborate over the internet (Rheingold 1998). Rheingold states that
virtual worlds could never replace a face to face setting as humans have highly
evolved sensitive perceptions allowing for evaluation of tone of voice,
gestures, etc. But virtual worlds allow for communication that wasn’t possible
before, connecting people with common interests that have never met, allowing
for interaction in real time and socialising in a simulated environment (Burgaard
2007).
In my research for this post what I found astounding is the growth
of virtual worlds as a place to conduct tasks and activities that I thought
would always remain in the real world (I guess I never really gave it much
thought till now). One such activity is the use of virtual worlds to conduct
research, to find out what customers like, and create relationships between
customers and organisations through the use of avatars. I also found it amazing
to find that a few businesses have conducted dealings and held forums totally
via the online virtual environment (Second Life 2010).
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(123RF n.d.)
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(Sydney Morning Herald 2011)
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A four corners video (ABC 2007) about the virtual
reality game ‘second life’ describes how there is big money to be made in
creating simulated environments. The purchasing of virtual currency to buy
things for avatars has exploded in recent years. This is apparent not just in
virtual worlds like second life but also across social media platforms and
multitudes of games where you are encouraged to buy currency within that game
to improve characters or participate in game fully. This emergence is
highlighted by Paypal and eBays move to soon allow for the purchase of bitcoins virtual currency in the UK and US (Kerr 2014).
Although there are some values to the use of virtual worlds
to connect we do need to be aware, like Rheingold stated, they cannot truly
replicate the human experience of face to face encounters. In a world that is
continually moving towards dependence upon simulated environments and
illusions, especially when we look at the growth in the use of virtual worlds
for business and individual needs as well as the explosion in the use of
virtual currency, businesses and individuals will need to be aware that this
creates a challenge in managing this against the need for human relations
(Gorry 2010).
References:
ABC
2007, ‘You only live twice’, Four Corners
Broadband Edition, 19 March, viewed 23 January 2014, <http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20070319/default_full.htm>.
‘Bitcoin’
[image], Sydney Morning Herald 2011, Secret
money: ABC virtual currency racket probe, viewer 23 January 2014, <http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/secret-money-abc-virtual-currency-racket-probe-20110623-1ggp6.html>.
Burgaard,
P 2007, ‘Howard Rheingold interview: cooperation in virtual world’s’, Terra Nova, 10 June, viewed 23 January
2014, < http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2007/06/rheingold_inter.html>.
Felluga,
D 2011, ‘Modules on Baudrillard: on Simulation’, Introductory guide to critical theory, viewed 23 January 2014, <http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/postmodernism/modules/baudrillardsimulation.html>.
Gorry,
A 2010, ‘Avatars in the workplace’, The
New Atlantis, viewed 23 January 2014, <http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/avatars-in-the-workplace>.
Kerr,
D 2014, ‘Ebay to allow bitcoin sales in virtual currency catergory’, Cnet News, 20 January, viewed 23 January
2014, < http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57617502-93/ebay-to-allow-bitcoin-sales-in-virtual-currency-category/>.
Rheingold, H 1998, The
Virtual Community, Howard Rheingold, viewed 23 January 2014,
<http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/intro.html>.
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteA post very rich of information. You have identified one of the problems of these virtual realities and I think it is a big one. Not only kids will diminish their ability to have social interactions with real people, but also adults will struggle to build relationships when they’ve being practicing so much with avatars … Scary…
Cheers,
Elisabetta
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post this week, it was fascinating! It is concerning how much money these companies are making from games, apps and virtual communities, it really could become an addiction for certain people. The social world we are living in is definitely changing and I think more and more of these virtual communities and ways for people to escape reality will pop up. It's just a matter of time before we will be strapping on body suits and physically becoming part of the game.......maybe I should market that ;)
Regards,
Frances
I think you may be onto something there Frances!! It seems like this world has potential for so much more growth. The fact that as much as human interaction should always be encouraged there are those out there who would rather go without and thrive in the virtual environment.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael, I loved your post - thanks for covering bitcoins in far more detail than I did, it is so fascinating how this is changing currency as we know it, and business. Other forms of virtual currency are trying to do the same thing now, and I don't know how long it will last, or if it really is the way of the future - but it is crazy to think how far we have come in a few short years. Thanks for a thought provoking read.
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