Differences Between Virtual and Real Worlds

Differences Between practical(prenominal) and Real WorldsThe ne ber the genuinelyistic domain of a function comes to replicating the tangible world the much we bequeath have to question what, if any, the difference continues to be. Discuss.IntroductionThe concept of the virtual(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) has been around for much longer than the engine room which straight makes the virtual while of our lives. In heterogeneous organiseulas, such as that put forward by Descartes, the concept of the virtual has long permeated the thoughts of scholars. However, it is only in very recent times that the concept of the virtual has materially taken flight. For direct, with emerging technologies and a world which is more unstable than ever, the world of the virtual has grown rapidly. Now, the virtual is getting closer and closer to reality, and in short we whitethorn not be able to distinguish these worlds from each different. Whilst it is clear that right now we have some idea of the difference amidst the real world and the virtual world, the differences between the two are much less than before.Traditionally, the difference between the virtual and the real worlds was the concept of identity or tree trunk that in the virtual world your mind was separated from your personate and at that placefore the difference between the virtual and the real was the strong-arm form. However, this view is slowly being eroded a air and there are many who now believe the virtual jakesnot be separated from the real in terms of body or physicality. This is a view that the researcher shares, and this concept shall be one of the main points of focus in the essay.Another area which could measure the distinction between the virtual and the real is the concept of risk. Risk is still one of the few concepts which seems to differ in the virtual and the real worlds, at least in a takings of cases. Although this difference is being reduced, currently it seems possib le to distinguish the virtual and real worlds using the concept of risk.The first part of this essay will look at the way in which the virtual has superseded many aspects of the real world in our lives, and how these areas can no longer be easily distinguished. These normal, everyday events are now both real and virtual simultaneously, and there is no discernible distinction. The second part of the essay will deal with the concept of physicality in the virtual world, and how the evidence now suggests that the virtual and real worlds cannot be distinguished by the identity of the physical body.The final part of the essay will show that despite this convergence between the virtual and the real, there are some distinctions to be made. The way in which the virtual can be distinguished from the real comes shore to the concept of risk, although this distinction is also being reduced and perhaps with the introduction of future technologies this distinguishing feature will also be all t old eroded.Information, branding and the virtualOne area of our lives that has seen a dramatic shift from the real to the virtual over the last ten years is information and branding. Information used to be stored predominantly in real forms such as paper books. However, or so information is now accessed in virtual form, through computers, radio and television and other digital media. Books and music are now accessed as digital facsimiles of the original, and our world in terms of information has shifted from real to virtual (argyll and Shields, 1996). This process has come so far that there can be no real distinction between the real and virtual worlds of information. We see books and music in paper form in the same way we do digital e-books and mp3 music. They are perceptually very similar and contain the same information that we require. Our world has shifted from the real and local to the virtual and the global.The shift from real to virtual has also occurred in terms of brandi ng. Brand concepts for many real objects are now so strong that we no longer think of the real object itself only when in fact associate the virtual brand as the key identity. For example, vacuum cleaners being called Hoovers, tissues being called Kleenex and digital music players being called Ipods(Shields, 2003). The brand stands as a virtual representation of the actual real objects, but is virtually indistinguishable, particularly in linguistic terms. The virtual, as Shields puts it, has moved from being something simply transformative and vague to something banal and common. The virtual has permeated or even superseded the real in some aspects of life, and the virtual is now for all intents and purposes indistinguishable from the real.Whilst it could be argued that these virtual forms differ from their real counterparts by way of physical form (i.e. the virtual item has no physical concrete form, whereas the real form does), in the cases of information and branding this disti nction of physicality is too small to be clear. For example, the virtual or digital form of a book does have physical form, in that the information can be printed out or used in a physical way only when like the real paper book can. This is the same for branding, where the virtual brand names are so synonymous with the real physical objects that they cannot be separated. In these cases ,the virtual has superseded the real, and exclusively destroyed the boundaries between them. Therefore, this is an area where there cannot be said to be any real distinction between the virtual world and the real world.Physical form, identity within the virtual worldThe most commonly argued distinction between the real and virtual worlds is the concept of physical form and identity. It is argued by many that in the virtual world you do not have a complete physical identity and that your mind being removed from the physical body is the distinction between the real and virtual. In other words, in the virtual world you have no real identity or physical interaction, whereas in the real world you do.Although it seems clear that the physical characteristics that identify our physical are not obviously visible in the virtual world, the physical self is not completely left behind and we do in fact beat physical manifestations within the virtual world.As pointed out by Katie Argyle and Rob Shields (1996), who point out that presence doesnt simply vanish in the virtual world, and that the technology simply mediates our physical presence. With technology the way it is today, and the fact it is sure to improve in the future, we can now act holistically through our bodies within the virtual world. Although it might seem that our bodies are not part of the virtual, in truth we cannot actually escape our bodies. In other words, we do not lose our body within the virtual world, but rather experience and interact in the virtual world through our bodies.Argyle points out that the emotions we feel whilst interacting in the virtual world are in fact real and are physical. She gives the example of her online presence Kitty, (Argyle and Shields, 1996, in Kolko, p66) where she says that the interactions she has with people, although in a virtual world the emotions and feeling are real and felt in her body. Argyles online interaction shows no separation from the body, and therefore is a suggestion that the physical body cannot be used as a distinguishing feature between real and virtual.This view is supported by Ellen Ullman, who says how she fell in love via email. She only knew this person via the virtual world of email, and not through physical interaction, heretofore the virtual world elicited real and physical feelings within her. Ullman does differentiate her online body from her real one by saying that the love she felt was through her virtual body, but she does not separate these two bodies, and the physical form is still linked to the online body or persona (Ullman, 1996)It seems that when interacting online, it is extremely difficult or nearly impossible to completely separate your online persona from your real and physical persona. For instance, in online games where people can send messages to each other within character, they may also ask about the person in real life, such as how old they are and where they have come from. People very much get confused about which life the other person is talking about, and so acronyms have been created to stop the confusion such as IC (in character) and IRL (in real life). This confusion is down to the fact that there will always be a part of our persona within the virtual that cannot be separated, and therefore the body cannot be a distinguishing feature between the virtual and the real.Not only does the physical form remain within the virtual world by celibacy of its interaction and emotions experienced in the virtual, but many of the laws and rights that govern the real are now also governing the vi rtual. Even if you want to make a distinction between the virtual body, such as an avatar or image, and the real physical body, many of the outcomes are the same. The laws and rights of the virtual are now mirroring the real, and blurring the lines set ahead between the two worlds.For instance, take the rights of avatars in the virtual world. Whilst avatars cannot have the same basic right as real bodies, namely the right to life (they are not alive after all), they may feel many of the hazards and wish to have the same rights as their real counterparts. For instance, take the example of sexual harassment within the virtual world. Whilst the legal definitions for sexual assault and rape are generally not met by virtual encounters, much of the feelings of intrusion, fear or repel can be the same. Take the example of Julien Dibbells account of Mr Bungles rape on the characters Legba and Starsinger in LambdaMOO (Dibbell, 1996). The rape was virtual and involved an avatar seizing tw o other female avatars and graphically describing the actions performed. Whilst this may not constitute real rape, the trauma for the two controllers of the female avatars was indeed real. This is because the body cannot be separated completely when in the virtual world, and even if the exact actions are not the same it cannot really be said that physicality is a distinguishing mover between the real and the virtual as the body affected similarly in both worlds.The lack of risk within the virtual worldWhilst the traditionally held view of being able to distinguish the real and the virtual by the separation of the mind and the body has been shown to be flawed, there is definite promise in the concept of risk as a distinguishing feature. The reasons for this are that risk is something which can only truly be experienced through the physical without the mediating virtual world. Of course, reliable risks such as monetary risk and emotional risk are possible in the virtual world as th ese risks will have similar, if middling dulled, consequences in the virtual world.However, the notion of risk to the physical body or fear is a feature that separates the virtual and the real. For instance, creating virtual business that has real financial consequences may seem to have the same features as real business, but there are differences. Using the virtual world all products can be tested, mapped and made 100% safe before they are sold on. Experiments can be conducted without the potential risks to human life or to blank space. The concept of risk is in many ways eliminated from the design process, aside from some of the same financial concerns of design costs. Identities and properties can be re-used, re-hashed or completely changed in the virtual world, significance there is less risk of catastrophic failure.However, perhaps the biggest issue in terms of risk is the fact that fear of physical harm is almost completely removed in the virtual world. Emotions are still p revalent and part of our physicality remains in the virtual. However, the risks associated with physical damage or damage to property cannot be properly appreciated within the virtual world. There are no risks in this sense in the virtual world, whereas there are in the real world.For instance, take the example of realistic computer games such as Forza Motorsport (Lockergnome, 2005). Developed as one of the most advanced driving games for console play, an look into was conducted to see the difference in performance and reactions between the virtual and real worlds. Six performance cars were driven round the same Atlanta circuit by drivers on the game and on the real life circuit. The results were startling in that the performances between virtual and real worlds were extremely similar. The braking and turning points were extremely similar and the performances in each car were almost the same whether in virtual or real world (Lockergnome, 2005). However, the times in the real world were slower than on the game much of this attributed to the risk involved in driving the car in the real world. In the game, the drivers could push their cars to the limit in the knowledge that if they crashed there would be no damage to the car. This removed the risk grammatical constituent and allowed them to get better times. However, on the real track they had to be more careful, for crashing at 150mph in a high-powered car would be far too risky. This slowed them down, and showed despite all other factors being seemingly indistinguishable, the major difference between the real and the virtual was the risk factor.It can also be seen in the prevalence of online dating and sexual play from people who would not normally engage in such activities in the real world. In the rapidly growing virtual world called Second Life (Linden Research Inc, 2007), there are many groups of miscellaneous role-players who act out fantasies that they would not do in real life. This is not because it is impossible for them to do in real life (although perhaps some are), but because of the risk factors involved in real life. The feelings they receive from these interactions may be almost identical to the ones they would get in real life interaction, but the life-and-death difference is risk. Whilst for some interactions this will not affect the sensation, it does for others, such as those involved in fantasies of pain or domination. The risk factor is the one which can distinguish the virtual from the real world.ConclusionWhilst we are still living in a world where the real and the virtual seem in most cases to be separate, this is perhaps less true than we think. The real world of information has become indistinguishable from the virtual, and with new technologies the virtual world has become far more expansive and convincing. This change has meant that it is now impossible to separate all of our real physical identity from the virtual representation of ourselves in the virtua l world. However, one factor that still lets us distinguish the virtual from the real is the concept of risk, which is not yet fully realised within the virtual world. However, if in future the technology of the virtual increases to the point where physical sensations can be experienced fully in the virtual world, then physical risk to the body and other items of prise will be possible. If risk can be fully replicated in the virtual world, then it seems the two worlds would be very close to being completely indistinguishable.BibliographyArgyle, K., and Shields, R. (1996) Is there a body in the net?, Living Bodies Chapter 4, SAGE publications Ltd, London.Dibbell, J. (1996) ( My Dinner With Catharine MacKinnon and Other Hazards of Theorizing Virtual Rape, available online at http//www.juliandibbell.com/texts/mydinner.htmlKolko, B.E. 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