Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

               Virtual worlds such as Second Life allow people to overcome the limitation of physical and geographical boundaries to exchange their ideas and communicate about their feelings. Translating their thoughts into computer programs, virtual world allows people to discover more alternate solutions and use these creations to simulate a "real-life" day to day interaction.

For example, in "After second life: can virtual worlds get a reboot? ", the author used Minecraft as an example to illustrate what virtual world is and its capability. Although users are separated, all of them join an online group that encourages open communications and collaborations. By creating an avatar, which is a virtual representation of you in an online world, users can interact and communicate with other people. And virtual reality usage has been extending to many important fields such as medical and military training, such scenario based training and interactions are vital for professionals working in these field. 

Improvement to an existing result could be done by asking the right questions and conducting scenario testing, two key steps in finding viable solutions. However, that capability was bounded by the limits of physical world, as each scene can only host one event at a time, and lacking the power of analyzing results in real time. Virtual Reality solved this issue by allowing users to put multiple scenarios together, and therefore testers can examine their ideas from multiple viewpoints to look out for where improvements are needed, and how could this testing could be improved upon. In "Avatar 2: The hospital", conducting a crisis scenario rescue would be a managerial nightmare. Thanks to virtual reality, administrators can now forget about the logistic troubles that come with it. By clicking a few strokes onto the keyboard, they can carry out the scenario exactly the way they wanted, and as many times as they wish. 

However, I think that lack of person to person interactions presents a major drawback. Even though that virtual reality does foster users to enhance their thoughts and experiences, missing out a face to face communication means we will not get a sense of the other's facial expressions, and leaving out such details, which often are the keys for how to improve the existing challenges.

I think that augmented reality would be an interest area to watch. For example, development such as HoloLens from Microsoft is a great leap towards the next generation virtual reality technology. From a two - dimensional representation to a real, interactive systems that gives instantaneous feedback to users. The HoloLens is different from a Virtual Reality Headset as users can press onto the button and get first person view, instead of an different view.

Mehta, D. (2013, April 30). After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get A Reboot. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/#1a949d4f735a

            Simon, S. (2010, April 13). Avatar II: The Hospital. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204