Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual World has become more popular than ever before. As stated by Ruth La Ferla in her article "No Budget, No Boundaries: It’s the Real You",   they allow you to be creative. An example of it is seen in the Sims, IMVU, and second life, where your virtual character can be whoever you want and they can act and wear whatever you want.  There are different ways in which virtual worlds/reality can be used. Entertainment is one of the most popular ways virtual words can be used. People are able to visit different places through the virtual world you can create a virtual copy of any place in the world (i.e. a virtual field trip) while being in the comfort of your home. They are even Virtual Classrooms. In this classrooms, professors use the virtual platform as a meeting space for students to attend the lecture with embedded videos, illustrations, eBooks, or 3D models.  As demonstrated in the article "The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Virtual Classroom and the Role of the Teacher" ,"The Internet offers such advantages as flexible access and new ways of communicating and assessing for students and teachers" which has never been seen before. Also, even people who are interested in economics can use virtual worlds in order to do so since many of them if not all have their own currency. This and many others are ways in which people use virtual worlds.   

            Still, like everything in new media, there are pros and cons to virtual worlds. The advantages can for virtual worlds are many, as stated previously you can visit different parts of the world while at home, learn economics and how to manage yourself, and even create a virtual you without restrictions. However, even though it’s great some use the virtual world to bully and even commit crimes. One of the major cons of virtual reality is that criminals and pedophiles use this media to trick people and children into doing things they are not supposed to.                                                                         

Even though there are dangers in virtual worlds they also allowed people to be creative. In virtual worlds like the Sims and IMVU users are able to build their houses from scratch and even create custom content by doing so encouraging creativity. Over time the virtual world will become even more important than they are today. Soon people won't have to leave their houses in order to do their jobs because you would be able to do so on virtual reality. There will be no limits into what you can do.