Dear Mr. Joe Sanchez,
It is so crazy to read through your
article about the history of virtual worlds and see how far we've
come in technology. It's so funny to think that the first MUDs were
text-based and that the interactions, environments, and communication
all occurred without graphics. I am using Second Life for my Digital
Communication, Information, and Media minor class called Self and
Society in Virtual Contexts, and I would have never imagined that I
would be using an avatar to meet with my classmates in a virtual
classroom.
The difference between World of
Warcraft and Second Life is that in Second Life, players, or
residents, of these worlds tend to build, socialize, collaborate, and
design as opposed to participating in quests or engaging in combat,
and I think the interest of Second Life continues to prevail because
humans can relate so well to the way avatars live in the virtual
world. And in Second Life there is an entrepreneurial essence within
the game, and many residents run virtual businesses selling clothing,
vehicles, homes, or furniture, and that hits us really close because
it's so relevant to humans. My cousin owns a company called Makatto
which is a site where you can create your own virtual 3D store to
sell your items, and there's no posting fees. It's like your own
e-bay/consignment store but you get to virtually create and design
your own store online.
The thing about virtual worlds I think
is the fact that it's a manipulation of a world according to time.
Interaction occurs in real time and users experience immediacy, but
it's also a persistent world because we can log out or quit any time
and still have the world right there for us. We can emerge in the
fantasy world depending on our schedule. Your mirror affect theory of
how “what were once fantasy worlds over time became mirrored
worlds: worlds complete with social and financial dynamics that
seeped out from cyberspace into real space” truly demonstrates how
Second Life is the prime example of the co-evolution of virtual world
technology and user experiences.
Sincerely,
Clara
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