Advantages of Virtual Worlds
1. Socializing- Sometimes people join virtual worlds not only to play games but to meet new people and socialize online.
2. Education- Some virtual worlds have been created for educational purposes. In most cases, educational worlds are sponsored by academic institutions or nonprofit organizations, although some educational worlds are sponsored by corporations. In the 3D world recreations of museums, computer programming tutorials, virtual libraries, and meeting spaces for online university courses are for education purposes.
3. Political Expression- Virtual worlds can serve as forums for political expression and debate. While real-world political issues can show up in gaming, there are a few times where separate virtual worlds have been built for the purpose of political debate or even experiments in various types of self- governing online communities.
4. Military Training- The U.S. Military is also using virtual worlds to the best of their advantage. They use it to recruit potential soldiers, and work with military groups to develop training simulations.
2. Education- Some virtual worlds have been created for educational purposes. In most cases, educational worlds are sponsored by academic institutions or nonprofit organizations, although some educational worlds are sponsored by corporations. In the 3D world recreations of museums, computer programming tutorials, virtual libraries, and meeting spaces for online university courses are for education purposes.
3. Political Expression- Virtual worlds can serve as forums for political expression and debate. While real-world political issues can show up in gaming, there are a few times where separate virtual worlds have been built for the purpose of political debate or even experiments in various types of self- governing online communities.
4. Military Training- The U.S. Military is also using virtual worlds to the best of their advantage. They use it to recruit potential soldiers, and work with military groups to develop training simulations.
Disadvantages of Virtual Worlds
1. Hardware- The hardware needed to create a fully immersed virtual world experience is still cost prohibitive. The technology for such an experience is still new and experimental.
2. Training- Training with a virtual world environment does not have the same consequences as training and working in the real world. This means that even if someone does well with tasks in a virtual wold environment, that person might not do well in the real world.
3. Escaping the Real World- The idea of escaping the real world is common among those that use virtual environments and people often live in the virtual world instead of dealing with the real one.
Created by: Karolina, G; January 2013
2. Training- Training with a virtual world environment does not have the same consequences as training and working in the real world. This means that even if someone does well with tasks in a virtual wold environment, that person might not do well in the real world.
3. Escaping the Real World- The idea of escaping the real world is common among those that use virtual environments and people often live in the virtual world instead of dealing with the real one.
Created by: Karolina, G; January 2013