MODELING REALITY WITH VIRTUAL WORLDS

Virtual worlds are considered as a representation of the reality but simpler. It involves creativity, time and space for the most part. People get involve in their "second lives" while being part of different communities, living in different places, meeting other people, and doing other things which sometimes they can't do in real life. Virtual worlds can be used to simulate situations that some people are afraid or won't dare to try. The benefits involved with this technology are that it can help people overcome their fear for social interaction and it could help them to become more open to new situations and experiencing new things on their "second life" which might eventually lead them to try them on real life after experiencing them on a virtual world. I support the points discussed on our asssigned reading and think that it would be great if it was proven that virtual worlds can help people with autism and that these techonologies serve as something good to society such as giving people with autism the opportunity to communicate and socially interact in these way. I actually think that this would be a good therapy for them. iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction by Nicole Saidi, CNN, March 28, 2008. available from: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/28/sl.autism.irpt/index.html#cnnSTCText, “Autism, more precisely the autism spectrum, is a range of brain disorders that can cause difficulties in social interaction, communication and behavior…. Bignell, known in-world as Milton Broome, said Second Life is an uncharted but promising area for new applied psychological research. Virtual reality can be used to simulate new environments for people on the autistic spectrum, he said. "For people with autism, we've found it's a very nice way of setting up situations they might come across in their everyday lives," Bignell said. "For people who have social, emotional, communicational problems ... we can get them familiar with an environment before they actually try it out in real life."