Virtual Worlds

I think the articles for this week’s blog were some of the best. I consider myself a digital native, and looking back, I feel like I was the immigrant to old teaching methods throughout grade school. As a daily YouTube viewer, I can absorb more news and information better through video and interaction than I could by just reading it. When I read articles the information doesn’t stick all the time because my mind floats as I read. If I’m focused on the content of a video I seem to grasp more knowledge on what’s being presented. I remember being in grade school while the teachers would have us use Mavis Beacon to learn keyboard typing, but it wasn’t helpful. I learned typing through instant messaging. I’ll Google and wiki everything throughout the day to stay on top of news, or to learn something new.

The digital age of communication/entertainment will only get bigger in the next 5 – 10 years. I had an online gaming account when I was younger and I remember people paying with real money for virtual goods. I don’t think it will stop; but I do think the government will step in someday so they can tax the companies. I don’t think virtual games like Second Life will explode in popularity, but I do think that other games will offer a lot more in the future. I’ve heard of a man who works for Second Life, has 2 online wives through the game and spends countless hours with his virtual family. He also has a real family that he supports by developing/playing on this game and his wife knows of his virtual family. Virtual game consoles (so you won’t need a physical box in the house) could offer higher end performance and higher end gaming solutions with deeper statistics of how well a user plays, better audio and video, even physical movement to control the character instead of a typical controller. The good news is more developing jobs, digital design jobs, animation jobs, and gaming jobs… the bad news the world will live on a diet of pizza and Neo will have to save us.

Google search National Geographic’s show + Taboo + second life. (my reference)