Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are increasingly becoming more attractive to people than our own real world. In fact, virtual reality now has a place in peoples homes for entertainment and in businesses for economic purposes. As a real estate agent in New York City, virtual world technology is something that I have kept a close eye on. Every month, another real estate company is adopting virtual technology to advertise their properties online and save their clients the trouble of having to physically go and see it. Why does this interest me? Because virtual reality technology that is used for this purpose can take jobs away like mine! However, virtual worlds are still in their early stage and in the article, After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get A Reboot the author explains, "No one has been creative enough to think beyond what’s already out there. Some businesses got into virtual worlds early on, at the top of the hype cycle, and got disappointed and left. Virtual worlds still aren’t ready for a full monetization plan, though they’re getting close." While it is undoubtedly a technological break through and something that is intriguing to talk about and ponder, virtual worlds is an unstoppable force that we, as society, should prepare for.

As mentioned previously, virtual worlds/reality can be used for an array of purposes. It is being used in real estate to advertise properties online and by car dealerships to show their show floors with their best cars. Additionally, it is popularly being used in the gaming world and creating a completely immersive experience for gamers. It is being used in the entertainment business such as live concerts being streamed to people online who can use virtual reality goggles to feel like they are right in the middle of all the action! In fact, in the article "I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life" by Dave Itzkoff in The New York Times, the author explains how he decided to leave a concert, go home and watch it in virtual reality! 

Now, the fact that someone can go home and watch a concert or see an apartment in virtual reality is extremely cool and cutting edge, but it is also somewhat concerning. The upside is that it can give people new experiences that they could never get otherwise. The downside, which outweighs the upside in my opinion, is that this has a drastic and direct impact on more businesses than we could even realize. The fact that the person in the article who went home shows that the place he was at was losing money. He could have been there buying drinks and making the club more money, but he went home instead. The fact that people can look online at apartments instead of having a real estate agent show them their options is directly costing the agents money. This is undeniably a con. A pro would be that there will surely be new business created with virtual reality and virtual worlds as any new technology does!  

Virtual worlds brings about creativity in our minds, and that is for sure. It makes us think of the big picture and of a world outside of our own. We can be in space, miles under the ocean, or in the mountains of a country we've never dreamed of ever visiting. Virtual worlds gives us a sense of wonder which leads to some incredible creativity. 

The future of virtual worlds is absolutely terrifying to me. Maybe I have seen one too many sci-fi movies, but I could see virtual worlds completely overrunning our lives. I could see us going into work everyday from home via VR headsets, people hanging out with each other via VR and so on. I think regardless of what extent it gets, virtual worlds/reality is about to see an extreme increase in use. I just hope that we as humanity hold on to the importance of social interaction without any technological interference.