Virtual worlds are something that I would say are still relatively new. They are able to bring a sense of realism into an online atmosphere and allow people to interact. According to a CNN article called Going to the virtual office in Second Life, “more than 1,400 organizations -- including large companies, educational institutions, government agencies and even the U.S. military -- use Second Life to hold meetings, conduct training and prototype new technologies more efficiently.” This virtual collaboration allows clients to interact with one another without anyone having to physically travel to a location. This level of convenience is unparalleled, as it not only will save individuals money, but time as well from having to travel to places for meetings. Although there are many positives when it comes to companies using virtual worlds to interact, there are also downsides to using them. One downside that a professor in Binghamton stated was “virtual teams may not share national and organizational cultures, and that virtual workers should make a conscious effort to see things from their colleagues' point of view”. The lack of emotional and physical connection with your fellow colleagues will definitely play a role in the work environment that is being created. Another downside is the lack of “water cooler” conversations that employees will be able to engage in. This is generally a good way for employees to build relationships in the workplace, giving them a brief period of time to interact with their fellow colleagues. In virtual worlds, this can be difficult feat to implement, but companies like Second Life have been trying their best to recreate this interaction.
In order to recreate a place, or even create a new place, it requires people to be creative and be able to stretch their imagination as far as they can. One example of something that does this is Minecraft. As stated in a Forbes article, “… Minecraft is a virtual world. It’s digital LEGOs if you will, but it’s a space for kids to exercise their imagination and to connect with others to also want to build and create things.” It allows for people to be able to recreate anything they can think of as they are provided with all the tools imaginable inside their virtual world. Alongside being something that fosters creativity, creating virtual worlds is also useful for people like Morie, who is a Senior Scientist and Project Director for the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. She was able to use virtual worlds to create a virtual healing space for returning soldiers. Morie achieved this by recreating similar areas to those that soldiers may have visited, and introduced artificial intelligence characters inside the world as well. Since she has the ability to reprogram these AI characters however she wants, she made it so the soldiers are able to in way relive their experiences when in places like Iraq. This provided something known as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
I believe there are still many improvements that can be done to virtual worlds going into the future. Since it is still a new technology that is being worked, it has a lot of potential going forward. Virtual worlds like Second Life may be able to take realism to the next level by trying to mimic details the best that they can. If the creators are able to introduce this, it would help people like Morie who use virtual worlds to provide a healing space for soldiers. Another potential feature in the future could be full recreation of a person including their looks, traits, and personality. This would allow for a more “real” interaction between individuals, which would solve the issues that some clients have with the program.
Citations
After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get A Reboot. April 30, 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/ or Below.
Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life, CNN.com: Nov 5, 2009http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html
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