The Virtual Field Trip

Hello again,

Well today's task, I have to say, was most enjoyable. As a part of the course we were required to participate in one of the online 3d worlds. We all ended up in 'Active Worlds' which appeared to be a precursor to second life with pretty much all the elements that exist in 'Second Life' appearing int 'Active Worlds'. The program provided you with either a first or third person view of your surroundings and a command line into which you could converse with the people in the same area as you. The interface was reasonably intuitive with the cursor keys (arrow keys) being used to navigate around the world, you could enter vehicles and drive them around or teleport off to a different world.

The major differences between an instant messaging (IM) service and 3d programs such as Second Life comes down to providing the user with a point of reference. When using an IM service you usually have a front end which provides the user with a boxed window in which other peoples text is displayed and an other boxed window into which they type their text. The difference in this context between IM and the 3d worlds is that the IM service is usually only between 2 people with the exception of group discussions, but you have to permission to talk to someone you don't know with them deciding whether or not to accept your invitation to a conversation. In Active Worlds the chat window was visible to everyone in the same area as you, so there exists an ability to discover and chat with complete strangers.

Also in regard to the 3d world the ability to create and customize your avatar is a major advantage over the IM programs. While you do have the ability to attach a picture to your profile in most IM services, most IM programs stop there in their ability to customize. This ability to individualize your character to look however you want it to look gives players a much more involved experience with the program, by providing an emotional attachment to the character. This brings up another social problem associated with these types of programs, with some people becoming extremely involved in their online lives to the point that they begin to neglect their physical bodies. As a case in point a South Korean gamer died recently after a three day marathon 50 hour non-stop gaming session, which i found here.

Personally i think that the main difference between IM services and these 3d environments is that people prefer to have a visual point of reference when they are talking to someone, by giving people a point of reference they are able to perform some of the actions they would do in real life, such as looking at the person who is speaking and as demonstrated in the Second Life documentary we watched with the development of sexually based material for adults to enjoy.

What I believe is that these programs and the web in general are simply an extension of our beliefs, fantasies and desires, so because humans have this subconscious in built drive to reproduce, we will inevitably begin to port our sexual fantasies into the virtual worlds. This is already evidenced by the sheer volume of pornography available on the web. The concept of virtual sex is not a new one with what started in the IM services as a thing called 'cybersex', where people got together and had very sexually oriented conversations, the 3d worlds have taking this a step further and have provided you with a graphical representation of the act instead of being an entirely text based interaction.

I feel that while these types of 3d programs will continue to grow and prosper, but I feel given the current trends there will always be a place for quick and simple text based interactions. But who knows this may change as the hardware side of the equation gets faster and we are able to transmit larger and larger amounts of information across computer networks, we may find that the humble IM service fades out in the same way as the written letter and now to a certain extent the venerable email.

That's it for me for today, the time has come to head off as it's now dark outside. : P

Till next time, stay frosty.