Understanding web realities
June 3, 2008 at 1:13 pm | Posted in Virtual Worlds | 5 CommentsAs an aspiring communications practitioner, I have a good grasp on social networks and the role they play in the PR industry and in every day life. Even though I may not be as active in them as I should be, I understand why others are. The ability to connect and share information with people around the world is an alluring feature of these networks and the Internet as a whole. They allow us to explore and share experiences with a tap of a key and the click of a mouse.
On that note, I see no harm in participating in on-line social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, though I do have my reservations about Second Life.
From a business perspective, I’m excited to explore Second Life. I see a tremendous amount of potential and a wealth of opportunities in communities like it. The ability to communicate and network is endless. The potential for organizations to speak to their publics is priceless. Second Life alone has 13,868,639 users or “residents” in its virtual world.
With that being said, from a personal viewpoint, I worry about a world where we pay money to own non-existent virtual property. I worry about our youth and how they will cope with real world situations, if their lives are lived in virtual societies based on fiction. I’m concerned that they will spend more time and effort creating a fictional life rather than living the ones they have .
“I’ve become fascinated with the fact that more and more people are spending increasing dollars and hours in the virtual world. And I’m very interested from a public policy perspective about the impact it is going to have on our physical reality.”
I would really enjoy hearing feedback on your own virtual experiences and why or why not you choose to participate in virtual worlds.
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I wholeheartedly agree with you on social networking’s ability to bring global communication down to a more personal (and attainable) level. However, like you, I also have my reservations about signing up for all of these mediums. So far, Facebook is as far as I have gone, and even then I have my profile set with some heavy limitations on who can view what and what gets broadcast where. Initially I was intimidated by the ability for anyone in the world to be able to look me up, view my embarrassing photos and comment on my publicly displayed wall. The invasion of my personal life creeped me out. And with each new medium that was introduced (i.e. Twitter, Second Life etc.), the whole public display of “me” thing sent me shriveling into a corner while everyone else signed up without a thought. For some of us (myself included) it’s about control. I want to know where I am online and how to monitor it. I have reservations about leaping into the world of global communication and worry about strangers surfing to my Facebook page to comment on my latest profile picture.
I think when it comes to social networking, it is something that the reserved will take one teeny, tiny step at a time. Even though we are growing up in generation next, the internet remains overwhelming and more widespread than one can possibly grasp. And as the internet expands with more and more means of networking and communicating with our global counterparts, the expanse of it all is enough to keep reservists like myself hiding in the shadows. But we will come out of our shells soon enough. Much like with Facebook, it will only take a healthy array of privacy settings and a few more baby steps before we catch up with the rest of the class.
Comment by noviellim— June 3, 2008 #
Alot of the people I work with would rather spend many hours on their phones, sending text messages, chatting over Windows Live Messenger, Google chat and the like.
Yet, they consistently find time to hang out on a near daily basis with their peers, albeit their closest of the closest.
Reserve the worry for the secluded people to recuse themselves to the virtual world. They will be the ones of the minority, who will represent the people you should truly be concerned for.
Even those on Second Life and the like will generally make their offline presence felt, but those living Second Life to the fullest are who I truly worry for.
Comment by Me llamo Pablo— June 4, 2008 #
I participated in a “virtual world” back in 1995. It was played out entirely by text (eg. “You come to a river and find a magical axe.” or “You meet a dwarf. Attack?”) and the novelty wore out fast.
I do see the attraction in Second Life. It may provide an escape for some people who can’t deal with reality. For others, it is a mere hobby. But for me, I’d rather read a book.
Which begs the question: how different is Second Life from immersing yourself in a Harry Potter or Narnia book? Don’t these books allow you to escape into a world of fiction, just like Second Life? Yes, but you probably wouldn’t have someone looking like Sirius Snipe trying to have virtual sex with you.
I’m not sure there are many young people on Second Life. I think they’re all hanging out in Liberty City.*
*The city featured in Grand Theft Auto.
Comment by Bonnie— June 4, 2008 #
I am in the same boat Christina! I participate in various social networks (although I am still a newbie in most of them outside of facebook and MSN). Second Life is a bit out of my league though.
I do see vast potential for it, however, the whole idea of Second Life is very overwhelming.
From a communications technology perspective, however, our fears of new technologies are actually nothing new at all! History repeats itself. Every time a new technology is introduced in society a natural reaction is to doubt it and fear it. When the telephone was introduced in the 19th Century, there were rampant fears about people losing touch with the real world, not being able to speak to each other face-to-face on the telephone.
I think that the reason we are more comfortable with other forms of social media is because these media are more like formats that we have interacted with before. We graduated from ICQ to MSN messenger to Facebook to Twitter. Second Life is vastly different than what we are used to.
Perhaps using Second Life will be more natural to the generation that grows up with it?
Comment by juliadyck— June 5, 2008 #
Hi Christina,
Excellent blog post. Well I’ve been in virtual worlds since I was in my early 20s. I’ve had experiences with the text based ‘you enter a cave’ type. I originally started with Mirc and graduated through a bevy of IM systems and now am firmly entrenched in Second Life and soon to be World of Warcraft.
I think of these virtual worlds as the ultimate equalizers. Imagine a place where you are based on your words and actions instead of your appearance, education or social standing? The free flow of ideas and relationships becomes easier because a lot of the social and physical barriers that exist in the real world (e.g. geography) simply don’t exist.
Not to mention its fun. Meeting people online and then meeting them in real life is always a great experience. I think there’s a lot of question about people losing touch with reality. It’s important to remember that while we are in a virtual world the people on the other side of those avatars are also very real.
Great post
Brett
Comment by Brett— June 9, 2008 #