Sense of Space
When reading Ryan's section on virtual space, I immediately thought of Second Life, a virtual world in which space can be purchased with real world money. In some way, Second-Life has unlimited space, and yet the confines of the Internet must give some limitation. Ryan states that "virtual worlds can given precise 'physical' measurements ... even though they only exist as code whose inscription takes an infinitesimal amount of real-world space" (119). Second Life thus brings an entire world of people, connects them and charges money for this socialization, without having to occupy a real-life office space in some downtown city.
According to the Second Life website, there are MILLIONS inhabiting this virtual world. Wait a minute, there are virtual homes and properties in this game (if you could call it a game), that people pay money for, and we have a homeless problem in America... I find this whole phenomenon rather strange. This concept of virtual space and its existence in parallel to real life space is rather intriguing and perplexing to me. I understand the fun of god-role games like the Sims and creating avatars, but when does it go too far? When could money being purchased for virtual space be put to good use in the real world? Just a thought.
PS- Even museums exist in this virtual world! Virtual exhibits on a whole other level! Below is video that explains SecondLife if you haven't heard about it before.
According to the Second Life website, there are MILLIONS inhabiting this virtual world. Wait a minute, there are virtual homes and properties in this game (if you could call it a game), that people pay money for, and we have a homeless problem in America... I find this whole phenomenon rather strange. This concept of virtual space and its existence in parallel to real life space is rather intriguing and perplexing to me. I understand the fun of god-role games like the Sims and creating avatars, but when does it go too far? When could money being purchased for virtual space be put to good use in the real world? Just a thought.
PS- Even museums exist in this virtual world! Virtual exhibits on a whole other level! Below is video that explains SecondLife if you haven't heard about it before.
Click to view