Living With Virtual Worlds

Online worlds at one point in time were known as an escape from reality for the introverted and tech savvy youths that lowed for a connection. As we come to the end of 2013, it is evident that this is clearly no longer the case as popular virtual worlds such as Second Life and WoW have cultivated millions of members. What happened? How could this be?

With increasing amounts of technology being brought into our culture, a new generation has evolved. Divided attention between split screens has become somewhat of a norm and it seems as though people are more isolated than ever before. These are important societal trends to pay attention to because with all this over consumption of technology has created a competitive business place for marketers and strategic businesses looking to find ways in profiting from never-ending online behavior. In “Three Dimensions of iCulture”, Mark Andrejevic discusses interactive marketing as a strategic business function in efforts to keep track of consumer behavior. He discussed that whether your purchasing a shoe from Nike.com or engaging in some other online activity where there is a commerce system involved, there are marketers are observing and examining these behaviors. “Interactive marketing is, as one retail consultant put it, “a great way to insert the consumer into the process of product development.” (Andrejevic, p.25) So as there has been a substantial growth in both online worlds and communities, there has been a strong correlation with an increase in consumer spending online. Second life in particular has stapled its name as the largest virtual world that offers a place of trading and other sorts of transactions. Second life has offered its community a way to interact enabling users to be creative and engaging with one another. “The promise of interactivity is that viewers can be cultural producers as well as consumer—that, furthermore, their participatory consumption can be creative and fulfilling.” Thanks to the Internet and numerous cheap easy-to-use do-it-yourself computer programs becoming increasingly widespread (Andrejevic, p.27).

Personally, what I have found to be the most captivating about virtual worlds is the authenticity of each location. For example, when I visited the Titanic I was amazed to see that all of the avatars were following a formal dress code, and the boat was extremely large (like the real ship). Primarily it was the atmosphere itself, fancy attired avatars slow-dancing to romantic songs with beautiful scenery in the background. I felt ash though a part of  a special community. Later I danced at the front of the boat with another avatar and I felt as though I was Leo Dicaprio, or should I say “Jack Dawson” as my avatar slowly swaying side to side. In “The Business & Culture of Online Games”, Edward Castronova states that “Atmosphere is often critical to a worlds’ success; if it is going to make us happier, the world needs to convince us that its system of human and AI mentors and friends provides legitimate partners for our emotional investments. We need to be immersed in a fantasy lore to pull that off” (Castronova, p.4). Jokes aside, I genuinely enjoyed my experience there and with authentic environment such as the Titantic it is easy to understand why millions indulge on Second Life everyday. Overall, it is imperative to recognize the exponential growth that virtual worlds have made in the past few years and that as our culture becomes more engaged with technology, more businesses are going to compete and invest in marketing online.