Virtual Worlds and Their Inhabitants

I found Robbie Cooper’s Alter Ego interesting having just recently become aware of how the amount of time that people devote to these online virtual “games.” Prior to starting Pratt these game had been pretty much entirely off the radar for me with the exception World of Warcraft which seemed to be lampooned occasionally on television shows such as the Simpsons and South Park. When I started at Pratt many professors seemed to firmly believe that Second Life was the next big thing and used regularly by young people. I never really paid much attention to it until I had to do a presentation and tried it out for myself. I found myself wandering around unpopulated areas failing to find the reason that so many such as the media were hyping it up as the next big thing. I soon realized that this was not as popular as it seemed and failed to really attract the everyday average person.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to watch two brothers one 9 and the other 12. I found out that they spent a large portion of their day playing World of Warcraft. It was interesting to see how involved they were in it and how passionate they became if anything happened. They would even call up on the phone friends from school who were playing with them to talk or yell depending on what they were doing. I was intrigued that they spent so much time playing and how popular it was among there friends. I realized that it was extremely similar to going over to people’s houses to play videogames when I was younger except it could be done on a much larger scale. Alter Ego was great for showing not only the different types of games that people played but also the wide array of people that enjoy them. Reading about the Korean “PC Bangs” made me think about how library computers would be a perfect for this type of group gaming with the exception of the noise that would be produced by yelling teenage boys. Though I have found this type of gaming is not nearly as common as those who play Wii or XBOX 360 the people who are into them are extremely into this type of gaming. There are even tons of fiction books and graphic novels produced about World of Warcraft.