The Phenomena of Virtual Worlds
Throughout my short years of studying e-learning at university, Information Technologies have become increasingly advanced at an unbelievable rate. When I first started my university studies, the craze of MySpace and Facebook had not started, Youtube and other social networking online sites did not exist.
One of the most popular of these online social networking phenoma are Virtual Worlds such as World of Warcraft, Second Life and SIMS online. These virtual worlds allow users to explore computer simulated environments, filled with thousands of other users from all around the world. In such an environment, people can interact through their own characters in the virtual world platforms called ‘avatars’. Your Avatar can take on a number of forms, depending upon the platform that you are using.
These virtual worlds are so popular that even some educational instituations are using such platforms to promote themselves. Even now, some educational institutions are conducting elearning games and tools in various fields to aid students to learn, create and share new ideas. An example of this can be see with the Imperial College in London developing virtual hospitals in Second Life to demonstrate what healthcare in the future could look like, allowing them to observe current and possible future procedures.
