Virtually Yours: Desire And Fulfilment In Virtual Worlds Essay Example

This paper is a critical analysis of the issues brought out in Anastasia Salter’s article titled ‘Virtually Yours: Desire in virtual worlds’, it discusses the main issues brought out in the text.
Much of the text on the article virtually yours; desire and fulfilment in virtual worlds by Anastasia Salter revolves around the relationship between virtual realms and reality. These two aspects are such that virtual and real world perceptions are intertwined such that it becomes quite difficult to draw the line between them. Notably, virtual perceptions of reality are not new to humanity as Salter explains human beings through history have perfected the art of virtual worlds which they incorporate and borrow from their real life experiences. It follows that the aspect of virtual world perceptions date back to the invention of the practice of writing. People in the past would decode messages encoded in writings to derive meanings which in turn drove their imagination in painting virtual pictures in their minds regarding the contents of the message. Lovers for instance would exchange love letters that incorporated passionate words which evoked emotions when read. Despite the distance between lovers it was and still is possible for the reader and the writer of the letter to imagine and experience emotional fulfillment from the wordings encoded in the love letter. In essence, the lovers create a virtual world that they create by borrowing from actualities of their real life experiences. Here they create mental picture through imagination of being with their loved ones.
Anastasia reasons that the ancient art of writing is not any different from nowadays creation of virtual reality through the use of technology. For instance, text messaging is one avenue through which couples can dirty text where they use sexually explicit language and in so doing entice one another’s imagination into creating a virtual reality of their affection. Similarly, through social media; the use of Facebook has enabled people to exchange messages and engage in conversations that entice their emotions whether of affection, anger or otherwise individuals in communications through digital texts are in a position to create virtual realities without actually having met the individual on the other end of the communication platform. The only difference between today’s virtual world creations through texts and that of the past according to Salter is the fact that today; these virtual realities can be experienced instantaneously and simultaneously as opposed to the case in the past where there was a considerable duration of travel that hand delivered letters consumed.
The text presents several other virtual reality constructs that the advancements in the world of technology has brought with it. From video games, to internet live video streaming, to animation of avatars etc. where in all of these concepts, the use of technology allows the mind of the individual to transfer from his or her reality to a completely virtual reality that is entirely computer generated. Video games for example can allow the player to kill or have sexual relations within the virtual construct of the computer generated images on the screen. Likewise, through the use of Avatars the mind of the individual controlling the Avatar is embodied in the bodily and physical nature of the Avatar allowing them to feel as if they are an embodiment of the Avatar in real life whereas their bodies are immobile in a static location. Likewise, the use of live video streaming also creates a virtual reality where individuals separated by time and space can share in conversations that are both visual and audio enabled creating the illusion of the two parties being in the same room subconscious of the barrier of time and space separating them.
Perhaps the greatest dangers that virtual reality pauses as discussed in the article is the unclear distinction between real and virtual worlds. More often than not virtual worlds become so incorporated in the real life experiences that it becomes difficult to draw a line between the two. Notwithstanding, the text also argues that virtual realities do not in any case pause real life threats mainly because the actions happening say on a computer game cannot be equated to real life experiences. For instance, an individual who kills an opponent in a bloody game does not necessarily become a killer in real life. The same goes for the use of Avatars for sexual arousal, stimulation and pleasure. For instance scenes from the famous movie Avatar where Avatars engage in sexual fantasies do not actually mean that the individuals in control of the Avatar are having sex although they experience all emotion and aspects of the sexual encounter only through the embodiment of their Avatar.
Much of the concern about virtual reality is that it stimulates the mind to perceive experiences that are not real which may in turn push the individual to experiment by actualizing their virtual worlds in reality. For example a flirtation message through e-mail or Facebook messaging is not actual cheating but is considered as an intention to cheat. Ultimately flirting may actually lead up to cheating in cases where individual’s engaged in such flirting decide to actually meet in reality and actualize their infidelity. Equally, the embodiment of Avatars to fulfill sexual experiences may have the effect of increasing instances of bestialities among people exposed to such experiences. The morality of such embodiment of the mind to avatars especially in the case of children avatars is a matter of concern as it places the society in a predicament where it is becomes difficult to protect minors from sexual exploitation.
In conclusion, the text generalizes that the creation of virtual reality has over the past few decades focused toward the physical actualization of fantasies through which the imagination of the mind is brought into physical real life. The futuristic technology of virtual reality is therefore focused on improving details such as sense of touch, smell and sight. Arguably, inventors have not yet matched the mind of the human being in imagination where virtual worlds can be detailed with precision despite the immense investments put into the development of virtual reality.
Conspicuously, it is the observation of skeptics that the actualization of virtual reality is pointless since there is no need of bringing physical reality to a mental fantasy arguing that since time in memorial imagination has always been the epitome of pleasure and the spur of delight. Hence, to replace this with virtual reality is worthless since no known technology discovered by man thus far can fully and successfully replicate the sensual experiences and perceptions of sight, smell and touch etc. that imagination of the mind can do with almost no effort at all.