Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds have a lot of potential for practical uses. For one, they can simulate a environment someone could explore. One example is shown in the virtual class tour in the article "The virtual world moves into the classroom", by Joe Earle. Teachers use virtual reality to show/ give students a tour of either history or a tour through someone else's life. Teachers used VR to allow students to follow a migrant family journey or visit a historical battlefield to foster kids learning and understanding. these experience can change their understanding and view of the world.  While some claim this learning is more distracting, others are hopeful the potential VR has on learning. this type of immersion has also been used to improve gaming experience as VR creates a new level of immersion for players to experience and explore as they can see their surroundings in real time. This type of immersion is also practical for training professionals for stressful situation in a safe environment. Whether doing military training or surgery practice,  practicing in a virtual environment has certainly a lot of potential and hype to live up to.

However, this are some disadvantages for virtual worlds, in both practicality and effects it has on its users. One disadvantage is that its pretty expensive to create this virtual worlds. It also doesn't help that with the limited capacity the technology has, some may not feel as immersed in the program as others are. While it certainly does have the potential be great, as it is right now, some people may not satisfied with it. Some people may not even have access to the basic setup needed to run all these equipment to set up a virtual world. There are some potential bad effects virtual worlds may have on individuals as well. in the article "Virtual world may impact real world behavior" post on Health24, A study was conducted to see how individuals act when playing as a hero, villain or neutral. The study showed that those who acted like heroes showed more compassion when given the option of giving chocolate or chili sauce to their "future participant" (giving them more chocolate.) However, those who were villains chose to give more chili sauce than chocolate. This shows that participants who role-played certain characters may act more like them in the real world. This could be an issue should someone take the role they are portraying too seriously and do something dangerous in the real world, hurting others or themselves. 

The potential virtual worlds can foster a lot of creativity. whether it is exploring new worlds or role-playing as someone else, Virtual worlds can really drive people to immersing themselves into these new experiences, making it their own. By being a part of something new, users can increase their creativity and potential for what they can think imagine. While the technology is very limited in their capabilities right now, in the future virtual worlds may as well become something we can barely distinguish from reality. This can create a lot of concern, as some may feel the technology is going a bit too far. This is because users may lose themselves in the virtual world, and may start doing things they normally would not do. This could cause the users to hurt themselves or others. this may also severely affect their mental state as they would start to believe they are the person they are role-playing as. With this, users should be more conscious and aware of what they are doing and experiencing in a virtual world as to not hurt themselves physically or psychologically.


Sources:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxiYXJ1Y2huZXdtZWRpYXxneDoyOWIwYjc5ZTNlZjBhMTU4

https://www.reporternewspapers.net/2018/09/14/the-virtual-world-moves-into-the-classroom/

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