Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

The development of virtual worlds has changed society, both positively and negatively affecting how we live. The main advantage to this technology is that since it mimics the real world, it allows for growth in many areas such as gaming, prototypes, military training, medical training, psychological therapy, astronaut training, etc. With the help of virtual reality, advancements in these fields have been made. Another area that is influenced by VR is the classroom setting, namely how it lets students apply what they learn from textbooks to life, as well as experience places and people that they might have not had the chance to otherwise. Ellis Thomas, a social studies teacher, takes his students on a virtual tour, such as that of Versailles when covering King Louis XIV. He explained that it is "pretty cool" because it is cheaper than a class trip would be to France. However, the disadvantage of this technology is that it is challenging to create a realistic virtual environment that accurately reflects our actual world. The article explains that VR is "not something you would teach with every day, it's kind of a supplement."(Earle, 2018) In addition, including and matching all the details takes a lot of time for developers. They might struggle with lag time, missing basic laws of physics, lack of acuity, and tracking systems.

Similarly, virtual reality can be a helpful tool in the workplace setting. A CNN article explains that VR technology is more effective and increases collaboration, as it offers more options than something like video conferencing. This is useful as the engaging environment fosters creativity and encourages "more ideas to come through" to the employees.(Tutton, 2009) A problem with this can be that virtual teams might have differing cultures and would need to make an effort to connect more. Another concern is that human interaction is still important for the workplace setting, so the VR program attempts to recreate those types of experiences.

Considering that the development of virtual worlds has been able to affect various segments of our society, I believe that this industry will only continue to grow. As we can see from these articles, that are almost a decade apart, people are adapting VR into new areas as innovative technologies are increasing.