Virtual Worlds Blogarama

Where will you be in exactly 10 years? Fantasy or reality: no difference here, creativity is all. What role will virtual spaces play in your life where you will be? How will this impact your life?

Who did you become in Webkinz World and why choose this avatar? What did you do in-world? Are worlds like this harming or helping children? What do you think children get out of this kind of play? How can such worlds be used in a positive manner? Or, should they just exist as they are and continue to profit their makers? How would you improve upon Webkinz?

So, whether or not you play WoW, you must have an opinion on it based on what you read and saw on the links. What did you think of the game and the perspectives from South Park and the Cannibal Corpse guy? Why do you think people get so very into Wow and other worlds? Have you ever gotten into a virtual world in an extreme way? What did this do for you?

Be honest: what do you think of Second Life? Why did you like or dislike it? How does it compare to other social Virtual Worlds? Did you find Camp Darfur and Virtual Otis College to be effective? Why or why not? Tell us about a place in Second Life that did engage you and tell us why.

The King of Kong was an amazing film! Who did you identify with, or really, not!? Did you like anyone? Why were they engaging in this competition? Did you see any similarities between the folks in the film and the Mythbusters fans or the Trekkers? What do you think of online communities? Are they real? Well, as real as they can be in virtual reality.

Please discuss where you have found content online that is informed by:
1. Myth
2. Fairy Tale
3. Urban Legend

You are welcome to give us links so that we can check the spaces out as well.
Why are oral narratives so influential in virtual worlds?

Snow Crash is a fascinating, confusing and disturbing novel, at least in my opinion. Stephenson envisioned a world that at times is so close to this one and I repeatedly found myself hoping that some of his fictional predictions do not come to pass! How did you perceive the novel? Did you like or dislike it? Why or why not? What was similar and disimilar to reality as you see it now? What aspect could actually happen? How could this be?

The visions that are created in Exitenz and in The Right to Read are quite harsh. Do you think there is a warning in them that we should pay attention to? Are there any real-life parallels to some of the occurences in either? Is the sick clown in Julian Dibbel’s article a foreshadowing of the frightening things that could occur, creating virtual dytopias that lead into real life dystopias? What are ways that you perceive virtual worlds to currently be both utopian and dystopian?

You have read the article about Billy Sims. What was the author’s main point? Why did he play the Sims and what did he think of it? Can you compare the action within the Sims and the Matrix? Are there similar things going on in both? Also, you can control the Sims in the sims world or even outside of it as evidenced in the Restroom video on youtube. Is this comparable to the Matrix? How?

I’d like you all to write an introductory paragraph to everyone in the class. You should tell us a little bit about yourself. Who you are, what you like to do, or not. Also, what is your experience on the web and with computers? How familiar are you with virtual worlds?