"It’s a space for kids to exercise their imagination and to connect with others to also want to build and create things." This is a quote from the article written by Diane Mehta as she tries to sell the virtual world to the rest of the world.
For those of you who have no idea what I'm saying when i say "virtual world," a virtual world is an online social gaming site to be short. On there you can literally create your own world, your own avatar, and more. Some use it for the gaming, others for only the social part, and most of the time people love both of these aspects of the virtual world. Just like Mehta said, the great part about it is it's an outlet for those who wish to express their imagination and creativity. However, just as with any social networking site, there are some dangers behind children connecting with strangers on the internet. Kid's can be very gullible and believe that the avatar they play with online whom they are about to meet in person is also a child, when in fact they could be an adult planning to cause them harm.
While these virtual worlds seem to be all make believe, there is a component believed to be reflected the avatar of the player. For example, if a villainous avatar causes harm to another avatar, it is believed by some that that action reflects the true behavior of the player. "People are prone to be unaware of
the influence of their virtual representations on their behavioral responses," said Yoon and Vargas, who are researchers about this topic.
I can only assume that these virtual worlds will continue to grow despite the problems they have brought about with strangers and behavioral issues. I hope these issues can somehow be fixed in the future.
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