Introduction
Each every one of us has two sets of life, the real life and the virtual life. Virtual life may give us the abundance of life in all aspects for it will be us, who can control whatever we want to be in the virtual world. Real life is what we normally do in our everyday or living with our own responsibilities; like doing our chores, completing your projects, living our life with the societies, or even interacting with our families and friends. This is the real world we live in. On the other hand, a person can have his virtual life as well. This life is where you can live your life as fullest as possible. It is great to imagine how the virtual world is being adopted by people nowadays where they can be what they want to be without hurting anyone, nor violating any rules. This world is created by our own selves, no responsibilities nor duties to fulfill. This is all about a living in a fantasy. In short, virtual world can give you the benefit of freedom of living your life. These thoughts will be included in this writing. And, last, this essay will show the advantages that the virtual life can give to this generation especially in education. We will discuss how this new world helps people in making a better life in the real world.
Virtual Living as a Worthwhile Activity
- Virtual World as Part of Education
Virtual living is not just for fun and enjoyment; it can be used to improve processes in terms of educational system. One of the best examples is the use of virtual machines in a school. Brett Shavers says that there are more operating systems that can be installed on a student’s computer which doesn’t require more time to in setting up the entire system. That is why some schools are using a virtual machine to teach more information technology lessons and courses (3). Imagine how educational this kind of activity would be, it is a worthwhile one as it will be an entertaining way of education, hence it will help the students to spend their time on the same educational activity at home which make your time worth spending in virtual world.
Another educational benefit of virtual living is having a virtual classroom. This new system has been developed in 2002. Cisco says that virtual classroom provides the quality session by the instructor or teacher without the hassle of traveling or spending for facility expenses (1). In addition, Cisco says that with virtual classroom, it will provide interactive experiences among students which eventually enhance their satisfaction and comprehension (1). Many students and teachers are now taking advantage of this technology because of its convenience and effectiveness. That is why I believe that this activity is a worthwhile activity.
- Virtual World as a Real Life Experience
Computer games and education video games were also introduced in some schools. Martha Garcia-Murillo and Ian MacInnes claim that these video games allowed the students to react and realize whatever consequences that may occur with their decisions (2). This means that without being harmed in reality, students will be aware of what possible outcome may arise if they incorrectly decide on one thing. This is another advantage of virtual gaming in virtual life. Some people say that a child that is being exposed to violent virtual video game may lead a child to be violent in the future as well. This thought is wrong. In fact, Murillo and MacInnes added that in an experiment, it showed that a child who normally plays violent video games frequently experience an increase of states of arousal than a child who plays pencil-and-paper games, and their violence tendency did not increase (2). Murillo and MacInnes said that video and computer games can provide and has the potential to give more satisfying experiences including the informative and learning experience (2). This can be very advantageous towards a child’s growth for a child becomes aware of real life problems and solutions at an early stage.
Murillo and MacInnes also claim that playing is children’s activity wherein they develop their imagination, experimentation, and exploration. Let us think of this way, a child playing the normal games with his friends will teach him lessons about friendship what more if a child would play a virtual reality game that will the almost real life experience and help him find his own way of deciding things? It makes sense that these video games would definitely mold these children and it would serve as a training to be a better decision maker on the future. That is why playing a virtual reality game is another worthwhile activity that we can spend our time with. However, as person gets older these processes within playing activities become limited due to intellectual change. This is where the virtual life comes in to play its part. Virtual life can provide an opportunity for the educators and teachers to help a student to explore and imagine again. Since it is a form of entertainment as well, virtual gaming or virtual life is appealing to students even at far for educational purposes (3), and this is another reason of why I would choose to spend my time with virtual activity.
- Virtual World as an Avatar
Raymond Papp emphasized that in a virtual world, you can also create your own avatar, or alter-ego which can be used in communicating with other people. Its either you can create an animal avatar, robotic or cartooned avatar of yourself. This will give the person to be unidentifiable if he chooses to be one (3). It is fun being anonymous in the virtual world, especially if you’re communicating with another anonymous person discussing interesting things. It is a special way of not revealing your identity using avatar. It’s fun and entertaining as it will allow you to say whatever you want to say and be vocal of everything without them knowing who you are. Virtual activity is a worthwhile as telling the world how you think as an independent person.
Numerous advantages are in virtual world, educational, entertainment, professional and a lot more. One of the most remarkable advantages of virtual world is using it in a therapy. Hunter Hoffman says that he was working with David Paterson, an expert to pain at School of Medicine in Washington University and they studied that the virtual-reality program helped relieve pain when a burned patient undergoes a treatment (60).
Conclusions
In this research, I included three reasons why I believe that virtual living is a worthwhile activity. First was the virtual machine in schools that serves as a support for the children’s learning process, second is the involvement of children with virtual reality games or video games, and third is using a virtual version of ourselves or creating our own avatar. With these three reasons I included, it clearly sows that I believe in virtual living as a worthwhile activity, and in fact, I believe that it can be considered as an essential part of our lives. Virtual world is an advantage for us, educational, entertaining, a reflection of our lives, and that is why it is a worthwhile activity.
Works Cited
"Cisco Virtual Classroom Instruction Certification." Cisco Systems, Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2013.
Garcia-Murillo, Martha, and Ian MacInnes. "An Exploration of the Use of Games in Virtual Worlds for Online Education." N.p., Web. 3 May 2013.
Hoffman, Hunter G. "Virtual-Reality Therapy." Human Interface Technology Laboratory. Scientific American, Inc, Aug. 2004. Web. 3 May 2013.
Papp, Raymond. "Virtual Worlds and social networking: reaching the millenials." Academic and Business Research Institute. Journal of Technology Research, n.d. Web. 3 May 2013.
Shavers, Brett. "Virtual Forensics." A discussion of virtual machines related to forensic analysis. N.p., 2008. Web. 3 May 2013.
