Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

 Virtual worlds like "Second Reality" can be viewed as our second lives online. These are in the form of animation of our own characters and do not have to portray our real lives. We can be anyone and anything and can interact in a 3D virtual environment. And as mentioned in the assigned reading "Social Influence and diffusion of user-created content" the current digital age made it all possible for users to interact and share in these worlds.

Like the dynamic nature of social networking sites, these virtual worlds are evolving. Previously their use was limited to gaming , the gaming virtual communities are constantly increasing and it has transformed the whole gaming industry. Not only that most of the business and organizations have adopted the virtual modeling for their business for several purposes like , marketing , internal communication, planning, fashion etc. For example as mention in the New York Times article the example of Chelsea hotel model created on second life that provides a close resemblance to reality. IBM created virtual community for the employees interactions.

Moreover, virtual communities are being created for autistic people, where they can live a second life and do anything possible. Platforms like Second life, Viles etc. have it all possible for user to access where ever they want in virtual reality. These virtual worlds are creative in the sense that they allow us to maintain and perform that we can't possibly achieve in our lives. The 3D aspect also foster creativity, we can create our own worlds.

I think in future we will see more dependence on these virtual communities. Like we are more relying on technology in every field of our lives, these virtual communities are growing at fast pace. It is possible that like facebook and twitter we will see another era of these virtual communities to get that popularity world wide.