Second Life's Hype Cycle

This picture shows the Gartner Hype Cycle graph for 2008. I wanted to point out the position Second Life (and other public virtual worlds) is at in the cycle. This was the most recent depiction that I found with virtual worlds. It shows VWs (Virtual Worlds- not Volkswagens) past the Peak and heading into the Trough of Disillusionment. The basic idea is that VWs are at the make-or-break point right now. The near future will tell whether or not Second Life and other VWs will find their niche in the public sector. I'm curious to see what Linden and other VW companies will do to market their products as effective tools in order to be productive technologies/applications of technology.

Virtual Worlds

I have been doing a lot of research for my Centra presentation, The Dangers of Virtual Worlds, and I found a few things that really surprised me. I had no idea there were so many real dangers in a make-believe world. I won't go into detail because you'll have to hear it again in November, but I wanted to give you all some links that I found really interesting/disturbing regarding the virtual world, Second Life. It was really hard to create my presentation because I don't exactly agree with the view in which I had to write. I really think virtual worlds are what you make of them and if you have half a brain I think most people can avoid dangerous situations. I found a story online about a woman who was raped in Second Life and tried to sue Linden Labs for allowing something like this to happen. Couldn't she just log off? I think that's taking it a little too far. I mean, I don't really understand what exactly happened to the woman's avatar, but she was in no physical danger herself so how could she be emotionally scarred? It may be that she was a rape victim in real life, but like I said before..why not walk away from the computer? The research for this project was a great experience and I learned some things that really opened my eyes to the dangers of virtual reality. Check out the videos I found, you might be surprised.

Virtual Relationships
Virtual Child Predators
Children & Second Life