Comparing Virtual Reality to Actuality
Today almost everyone has an activity or outlet they use to take a break from the real world. That could range from reading a book, playing a sport, exercising, smoking a cigarette, calling a friend, etc. But with technology rapidly evolving every year we have come so far as to now having virtual reality being a real thing. Why spend thousands of dollars traveling to Paris when you can use virtual reality at your fingertips and experience the simulated environment? Or maybe you would like to create your own fantasy and a live a second life. I speak of course of virtual online worlds or massively multiplayer online role-playing games or MMORPG’s. These “virtual reality” games allow you to create an avatar or character and have the ability to interact with other players within a virtual world. The majority of virtual online worlds allow users to interact with places, objects, build, create, shop, and even trade in-game. As a former gamer who used to play these types of games I can honestly say there a lot of fun but there are repercussions. Nevertheless, these fantasy online worlds allow individuals to be “free” and be allowed to escape the real world and it’s problems.
Author and Anthropologist Tom Boellstorff has studied and conducted two years of field work on this subject. He wrote the book, Coming Of Age In Second Life, an ethnography of the virtual online world Second Life. He registered completely to the online world and started to befriend and observe other Second Life’s residents. He conducted participant observations, interviews, and even joined various groups to help him understand how everyone interacted with one another. Second Life not only allows you to interact with other users, you can also take on any profession, own or build property, have virtual “sex” with another user (18 and older), fly, drive a car, role play if you really wanted to. It truly is a second life but whats more interesting is to know the relationship between the virtual and real. Someone may create an avatar that is a man but in real life be woman. Or in real life an individual could be a full-time janitor but in the virtual world they’re a Doctor. What makes these worlds real is that relationships, romance, economic transactions, and community take place within them are the human culture (Boellstorff, 245). Professor Boellstorff mentions such linkages from the virtual back to the actual sometimes manifested themselves to residents in terms of “blurring” or “bleed-through.”(Boellstorff, 246). For example in the text, Professor Boellstorff mentioned one resident in the real world spent minutes finding a favorite shirt only realizing the shirt was only located in Second Life. Sometimes residents are so engulfed in Second Life they may accidentally sign the name of their avatar to an actual-world check (Boellstorff, 246).
Another virtual reality game that is closely related to Second Life and it’s model is the MMORPG called Everquest. I’ve actually had history with Everquest about ten years ago when I was a little younger. I’ve never played the game but I knew multiple players who enjoyed that game a lot and informed me so much about it. Everquest, much like Second Life, is a 3-D fantasy themed world that focuses more on a “medieval” environment with magic. You can create an avatar and pick a specific classes such as warriors, knights, monks, wizards, healers all with special abilities that may suit your play style. You can role play with others, go on special quests, trade or craft unique items, and can host events if you wish. You can also PVP(player versus player) other users or PVE(player versus environment) the environment or in this case fight a high level boss in which to retrieve a special item or “loot”. In all honesty, I think what I love most about this community is their online forums. During my research I stumbled upon a “virtual and real” topic discussion, in which an administrator on the forums asked players about their stories: why do they play the game and how it affects their lives.
It seems that in a virtual online world like Second Life and Everquest people use these gaming platforms to escape and essentially live another life. That’s the beauty of going back and forth between virtual and real worlds. Someone may be an open-minded person in a virtual world but be closed minded in real life. Others have no idea of how to communicate to people in real life but in the virtual world there is already a common interest shared so there is no need for an ice-breaker conversation. People with a disability may never have the chance to drive a car, attend college, or be a wizard in real life — but in a virtual world anything is possible.
