Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds have countless uses. In the article, "iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction",  the author talks about a man names David Savill who has created a virtual reality for those with autism. David Savill said, "he wanted Naughty Auties to serve those with autism spectrum disorders and their friends and family." This is a great example of what virtual reality can be used for. Although, virtual reality has not been proven to improve social skills, it allows those who struggle with social interactions to express themselves on the internet. Some cons of this virtual world can be that, it might encourage people to stay inside the walls of their home and just go on the virtual world instead of going out into the real world. A huge problem corporations are facing are travel budgets and companies are increasingly seeking new ways of bringing employees together for conferences and meetings remotely. Virtual community second life is aiming to help companies save money by allowing employees to virtually have meetings with avatars and collaborate on different ideas. IBM is one of the few companies to introduce this new software to its employees. Rashik Parmar, IBM's CTO, said, "We had a whole range of environments, from auditoriums and collaboration pods to social areas where the avatars could pick up a beer around a log fire, or walk around a sculpture park and talk." This shows that through the software, IBM's employees were able to communicate through their avatars and even have their meetings in different settings. This can save money for companies in the long run but may be expensive to implement. This software may also hinder the ability to get a message across because meetings are no longer face to face. Virtual reality encourages us to portray ourselves in a manner which will accurately represent ourselves. I personally believe that virtual reality is the next big thing and will be used by hundreds of companies.