IF you didn't know now, there is a debate about Internet use when it deals with online gaming. Second Life has taken the online gaming world by storm due to its many new features with creating avatar characters and island communities and conducting business to make your avatar better then someone elses. Lawmakers think that people have gone to far as to manipulate other users during actual game playing and using that against the other user. The arguement presented is the fact that second life creators say that they have safeguards in place where users can decide whether or not to accept friendship invitation with other users or a user that is in the same island community as them. My personal opinion is this, people need to do their homework when it comes to allowing other people to become friends with them while they are playing online in Second Life. Just like in the real world, you should be cautious with other people you do not know very well and stick to the people that you do know. Then the prospects of something happening to you is very minimal. I don't think the government regulators will be able to change how Second Life does their online world. There are too many people that enjoy the day to day interaction with other people. So I think it will be hard to get them to change how the online world is being run from their corporate headquarters where their computer servers are located. For me, I think avatars are fun, but there is always that 10 percent rule that will try to break the system and that is when the troubles always begins. So everyone, what do you think about using avatars in general on the World Wide Web?
Http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue4.steinkuehler.html
6 comments:
Avatars and online gaming are both new to me. It would be wise for anyone to be cautious before making new friends too quickly.
I also do not use avatars or participate in online gaming. However, I feel like people have to know that they have to be so careful who they communicate with online. My husband loves to play counter strike online, but he does not give out information about himself nor does he take the gaming or comments from others too seriously.
I feel that Avatars is fun but when you overdue everything can be deadly, you must use wisdom in everything you do.
“Are Avatars fun or deadly?” is a depends question based on the user’s intent and how well the information exchange between two people in a Second Life is managed. As mentioned in the article, there is the 10 percent of people that more or less abuse or take advantage of information. In this case, an Avatar user should be aware of the “fine print” and should be held accountable to how they are managing this personality or alter-ego within the Second Life. Although there are no regulations around Avatars, it becomes a play at your own risk scenario. Similar to owning a credit card, if people leave themselves open for abuse, do not act responsibly, and do not take the necessary precautions, then the probability of negative consequences increases. My advice, do not get involved without knowing what you are about to get yourself into.
Chris
Avatars are simply a tool to assist you in the virtual world. It can be as fun or as dangerous as you allow them to be. Personally, I have used them in both chat and online roleplaying games like world of warcraft. I rather enjoy them and have yet to encounter a negative aspect of the avatar. It is always the person behind the avatar. :)
Avatars are just a virtual 2d/3d creation of the user to represent themselves in a virtual environment. Can they be fun, sure. Can they be deadly, uh that is a little extreme but if a person or group misrepresents themselves there can be real world consequences.
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