What are different ways these virtual worlds can be used?
One way to use virtual worlds is in hospitals, schools, entertainment, and other organizations. The article, "Avatar II: The Hospital," it describes how a hospital simulation is built and used by hospital staff for patients. Disaster simulations for the hospital are created to test the responses of the staff and their efficiency to the disasters created. This helps hospital staff stay alert for any future occurrences and prepare them for stress management in these situations.
In "After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds get a reboot?"helps children express themselves and use their imagination when interact and communicate with others. This creates a comfort zone for them and help them interact with other people more easily than face-to-face interaction. This can help ease the shyness these children may have regarding face-to-face interactions. This article describes how virtuality can be a great asset to various businesses and help people that feel isolated feel connected to someone in the comfort of their own surroundings - be it at home, at a cafe, at school, or even at a mall.
In "No Budget, No Boundaries: It's the Real You," this virtual world allows people to be and themselves by acting out in their alter ego. This virtual world allows people to create the person they would like to be but can't in the real world. They get to live out their inner true lifestyle through the Avatar. For example, a woman who works as a Nurse in real life does not buy the things her Avatar bought and live the lifestyle of the Avatar because it is not practical. Reality keeps us grounded to what we truly need to focus on and what we need to do to live; the Avatar allows us to get away from all the harshness of reality and escape into the lifestyle we would love to live.
In iReport: 'Naughty Auties' Battle Autism with Virtual Interaction," this is an example of how people can help people with the same or similar condition. This article describes how a man living in London, England created a virtual world for people with autism. This virtual world helps them communicate and interact with others without feeling isolated, ashamed, or embarrassed about who they are with their condition. The communicate in the comfort and ease of their own surroundings.
What are the pros and cons? Be specific.
The pros are that people can converse with each other comfortably and conveniently through Avatars. We can live out out inhibitions and be comfortable living it out. Also, virtual worlds can help improve our sense of awareness and alertness through simulations set up by our peers or administrators.
The cons are that it can take people more into isolation and not prepare them for real world interaction with others as required. It can create very unrealistic situations that may cause complex, challenging resolutions for people. A balance of virtual world and reality is needed to help people with shyness and other conditions that limits their abilities to communicate and interact with other people.
How do virtual worlds foster creativity?
Virtual worlds create many different simulations designed to enhance and benefit the organization's specific needs. While doing this, the organization can enjoy the benefits of convenience and learning for staff and customers alike. A couple of benefits are raising awareness and alertness for staff, comfort of communicating with others freely, and convenience of their environment or setting while communicating or interacting with others. Companies can create many scenarios to help employees and customers feel good about the use of virtual worlds. For example, in the article, "In Room 100, It's Sid and Nancy All Over Again," Michael Brown recreated Hotel Chelsea that was beloved by many in the real and now the virtual world. People now have the chance to revisit the hotel without feeling like they lost a favorite or landmark.
What do you think the future of virtual worlds will look like?
The future of virtual worlds can become endless with imaginative ideas that help others in a variety of ways. Recreating famous places and buildings, recreating simulated emergency situations for employees to stay alert and creating virtual worlds for people with disabilities is just a few ideas that the virtual world can continue to build upon. They can continue to build greater more futuristic creations in the future such as bridges, cities, and vacation spots for people to visit without having to pay the price. The future for virtual worlds is endless.
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