Within the class the other day there was the suggestion that people who play games like “second life” can often loose contact with the boundaries of reality and confuse the two worlds. At first I thought that this was complete BS. How can you confuse the two realities? You are either at the computer or you’re not. There is either physical contact with human or there are words on a screen. But as I thought about it I found that within my experience there has been a blurring of realities.
Although logic will always dictate that there was no actual contact with the person as they are many miles away, there is still some sort of emotional connection. When I talk to people online in real time through msn, skype or facebook chat there is an element of reciprocation on behalf of the other person. They can answer all of the questions in real time and it becomes irrelevant where the person physically is situated in the world. It is the conversation that I remember not the medium. This being said in the ‘real world’ it is the information that is revealed to me by the other person that I remember. I remember that I spoke to someone and I don’t remember if it down the shops or on the phone.
To me I think that the virtual and reality blur when there is only superficial contact. I don’t mean this in a nasty way but simply when there is a general conversation that doesn’t involve any issues or conflict. I believe that this is more my sense of, what I believe to be, proper communication in such an event then a reflection upon the media itself. I prefer the face-to-face contact when resolving a conflict then words on a screen.
Tell me what you think.
2 comments:
I think people should go and watch Brett Leonard's "The Lawnmower Man", Mamoru Oshii's "Ghost In The Shell", Alex Proyas' "Dark City" Peter Chung's Animatrix episode "Matriculated" and David Cronenburg's "eXistenZ". The ninties was all about virtual reality, get into it.
But what's real anyway? I agree with you tom, any kind of real-time communication is "real" and like you said, you remember the conversation not the medium.
I do think that in time the laws governing the real world and the cyber world will come up to speed but they will be different from each other. I think it was in "Hackers" that the main character who was caught hacking was banned from using a computer that had any external connection. I could see forced unplugging as a punishment for cyber crime/abuse. The borders will be set, there will be people who use only the real world, people who use only the cyber and people who use both. I can't tell which the majority will be yet.
Life: The best game around.
I agree, the medium used for communication is irrelevant because the conversation is what lasts not the medium in which you used to deliver it.
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