Week Five - Tutorial Task

The internet, the doorway to another world, literally. You'd have to be living under a technological rock to not have heard of MSN or any other IM programs but I wouldn't blame you if you hadn't heard of some of these online 3D worlds. World of War Craft, IMVU, Habbo Hotel or Second Life, just to name a few. Basically the idea is a chatroom where you can make your own character, or 'avatar' and interact with other characters. It's like a real person, only not. Personally they are not my forte` but I realize that some people prefer to socialise through an animated elf named 'Burog'.

So what is my point? Well an interesting idea struck me yesterday during the lecture. Is it possible that the different interactive programs (ie. MSN, IMVU, Google Chat) change the way in which we socialise via the net? I mean besides the obvious differences like the absence of supernatural creatures in your MSN conversations. Through MSN, Google Chat, Facebook Chat, Skype or AOL your probably speaking to someone you know and have met in real life and you are speaking to them without the aid of elborate characterizations and fantastical worlds.

Someone once said to me that the whole thrill of the internet is that you can be anyone, anywhere at anytime. And yes this can take a sinister turn but most of the time it is innocent online fun. 3D worlds like Active Worlds (http://www.activeworlds.com/) is giving not only stimulating conversation but also the visual stimulation of colourful characters, it encourages embelleshment of character and living status, in fact I would say if you wanted factually based interaction go somewhere else. And that's the difference between the two. This is how the qualitative differences between the sites alter the way in which we interact over the internet. Sites and programs like Livejournal, MSN, Skype etc. encourage true interaction, it is dialogue based (rather than visual) and would typically be used between people who know each other already. Whereas virtual online worlds like Habbo Hotel(http://www.habbohotel.com.au/), Active Worlds are visually based and I would say really aimed at people who have never met face to face. But that's part of the thrill.