MMOs Are Becoming More Like Real Life
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Date: 02-23-2010 Views:
KeyWords: real life, Yuliya, virtual reality, Atlantica Online, Nanovor, Webkinz, Second Life
- Summary: How are MMO games different from real life? Not by much, as it turns out. As virtual interaction and web use grows, the line between reality and virtual reality is blurred more and more. We now have websites like Facebook which exist for the sole purpose of extending your real world interaction to the internet. The fact that the site has you put your real name is a sign that your online identity is becoming more like your real identity. The great thing about the internet is that you can be anyone on it... but this is rapidly changing.
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MMOs Are Becoming More Like Real LifeBy Yuliya GeikhmanYuliya Geikhman has a degree in teaching, but would rather teach others about the wonders of MMOs. She (yes, she is really a female gamer and not a guy pretending) has a life and a husband, but spends much of it glued to Atlantica Online (and other ftp MMOs). |
How are MMO games different from real life? Not by much, as it turns out. As virtual interaction and web use grows, the line between reality and virtual reality is blurred more and more. We now have websites like Facebook which exist for the sole purpose of extending your real world interaction to the internet. The fact that the site has you put your real name is a sign that your online identity is becoming more like your real identity. The great thing about the internet is that you can be anyone on it... but this is rapidly changing.
Source: http://uselessrandomness.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/playstation-home-beta-impressions/
This is affecting MMOs too. You would think that on an internet game where you play a fantasy avatar that usually has nothing in common with you (sometimes not even gender) would not be touched by this move to reality. But this is no longer true. MMOs are just another virtual interaction that is becoming more like real interaction.
Source: http://kotaku.com/374970/first-review-of-life-the-mmo
It was once thought that people who play MMOs are social losers, who are generally anti-social and awkward, and don't go out much - a stereotype that, sadly, still exists. However, studies have been done to show that MMOs may actually make players more social. Interacting with other players is not as distances as people might think. Instead, the social community in an MMO might as well be a real one - it teaches social skills just as real life situations would. You could even argue that it does a better job at it. MMOs require you to team up with strangers to work together to complete a task. Teamwork, leadership, social interaction - these are all things that can be learned from MMOs. And from these virtual interactions grow real bonds.
