Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

        Sixteen years ago, when I was five, I remember taking turns with my brothers playing Virtual Boy, a Nintendo gaming system that transported you to a world that was not quite as realistic as the headaches it would give you. Today, virtual reality has an entirely different meaning. Instead of just feeling like you're riding alongside Mario in a Nintendo game, virtual reality in our modern society has virtually hundreds of uses. In today's world, virtual reality has allowed millions of people to essentially create alternative lives. Many of these lives, such as the ones created by Second Life, are lived out solely online. Second Life is an online game that allows its users to mold online characters to fit their own real-life characteristics. The game then allows the individual to interact with other people across the world who have also created virtual-characters meant to represent themselves.   According to Diane Mehta, in her article entitled "After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?," virtual reality has seeped into the lives of children especially. She states that Minecraft, another popular game, can be considered virtual reality because it mimics the act of playing with physical LEGOs. She goes on to state that children today experience things online that they would have normally experienced in the physical world in the past. For example, instead of hanging out outside with their friends, they now gather online in virtual communities. Some of the positive aspects associated with virtual reality are that it allows for an enhanced gaming experience, it provides realistic training for army personnel as well as sports players (such as football players), and it allows for people in the medical industry to hone in on their skills through realistic practice and training.However, Guy Posey, Thomas Burgess, Marcus Eason, and Yawna Jones in their essay entitled "The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Virtual Classroom and the Role of the Teacher," highlight some of the negative effects that virtual reality can have when used in lieu of a physical class. One main drawback of such a virtual interaction that they highlight is that virtual classrooms disable students from receiving immediate feedback and critique on their ideas from their professors as well as fellow classmates. Other negatives associated with virtual reality are that its expensive and it lacks accuracy when it comes to perfectly mimicking the real world. Although there are some drawbacks to virtual reality and virtual worlds, they do in fact foster creativity. Virtual worlds allow individuals to explore all the aspects of life that they are unable to explore in their real lives. They are able to look the way they want to look, purchase what they want to purchase, and pretty much do whatever they would want to do in real life. In the future, I believe that virtual worlds will only enhance the creativity of individuals around the world, especially those in the medical field because I believe that it will allow medical personnel to simulate experiments that they would otherwise be unable to conduct on actual people. I would say that one day, there would be virtual worlds that look identical to real life, but those already exist. For example, football players can wear a headset that makes it seem as though they are outside on the field. They have a 360 degree view of the field, meaning that if they look left in real life, they will be able to see what is to the left of them in the virtual world that they are experiencing via their headset.