Dear Mr. Sanchez
Your chapter on the social history of virtual worlds was
very informative. I wouldn’t consider
myself to be a gamer much at all so this was very interesting to see how and
why some of these online worlds exist.
I thought the part where you discussed the five common features Betsy
Book provided are key in understanding why so many people participate in things
like WoW and Second Life. The fact
that these games are “played” in shared spaces allow people to actually buy
into the fact that their avatar or character is in this world. They don’t see random villains like a
video game would provide, but fellow users playing at the same time. Another key feature is that everything
is in real time. If something is
done in the game, they notice it right there and then giving the perception
that this world they’re in is actually occurring. A key component to that is the interactive environment these
games deliver. Users feel that
they’re actually apart of the environment and society around them since aspects
of the map aren’t just static and unchanging. Lastly, I think the coolest part of these virtual worlds is
that they are persistent worlds.
After people log off, the world they just left is still there being
consistently affected by the other users.
This is such an important aspect.
Instead of logging on a game just to beat the next level and to beat the
game, these virtual worlds offer so much more. People can spend so much time playing because there is no main
objective, just an entertaining, ever-changing world.
Thanks,
Chris Imperiale
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