Virtual Worlds Benefit Social Development

On March 5, 2010 the authorities in South KoreaFor a writer looking to network and collaborate
arrested a married couple for criminal negligencewith other writers from around the world, there is
causing the death of their infant daughter. The 41no better place to begin than Second Life, a
year old husband and 25 year old wife had metvirtual world that allows you to move in a realistic
online and spent the majority of their time in antwo dimensional environment where you can host
Internet Cafe playing a game which ironicallylive spoken word performances, original theater
involved nurturing and protecting a child avatar,productions, writers workshops and much more.
while their own infant was left unattended for upFree Universities offering a variety of educational
to twelve hours per day. The infant succumbedopportunities and classes in photography or
to malnutrition and the highly publicized arrest leadlanguages are frequently offered and provide an
to open discussion in South Korea over theexcellent opportunity to turn online time into a
growing problem of internet addiction.beneficial learning outcome.
What is interesting is how quickly the culprit isVirtual worlds offer the ultimate social media
sought out and blamed for the tragedy. Theexperiences allowing the user to emote (express
couple is only marginally vilified compared to theemotions digitally) by using animation gestures
revelation that a virtual world was to blame forsuch as hugs, kisses and even dancing. Some
the death of a child. The couple's emotionalpeople acknowledge that dating online can be
stability is assessed only in relation to the ability ofdifficult and wrought with risks while meeting
the internet to detach individuals from theirsomeone in a virtual world environment and given
primary reality allowing the misfortune to occur.the opportunity to speak in real time, dance,
There is no personal liability in this approach. Noexplore and learn together might offer an
blame for the parents who chose to engageenhanced opportunity to know the potential
themselves to excessive and unreasonablepartner in a safe but emotionally intimate
amounts of recreation at the expense of caringenvironment.
for their child. Why not? If the recreation hadMost citizens of these online communities are
been anything other than a virtual world or onlinemore than happy to assist new comers to
gaming, the blame would have squarely landed onorientate themselves to the platform and the
the irresponsibility of the adults.majority of users you will encounter are of the
This is the dark kind of story that sells to thesame social cross section as in real life. The
public en mass. But where is the personalpopulation online mirrors the population offline.
accountability for this? Does the internet haveThere is no difference in the cross section with
some mysterious power to remove free choicethe exception that citizens of virtual worlds tend
from the equation?to be highly computer literate and proficient.
To those who have never ventured into a virtualWhen it comes to virtual worlds the best advice
world these kind of stories can create a degreeoffered is simply "don't believe the hype". Find out
of fear that might permanently inhibit their desirefor yourself. If Facebook and other social media
to explore any online social platform. But inplatforms stimulate you chances are you will
defense of online communities there is a greatsimply love Second Life as the ultimate culturally
deal of good that occurs on line in virtual worldsdiverse intellectually rich online environment.
such as Second Life.