Online ‘gaming’ has come a long way since the text based Multi User Dungeons (MUDS) of last millenium. Millions of users daily are logging onto hundreds of MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role playing games).
Recently Second Life has received a lot of attention. Second life is more of an online world than a RPG where users interact as they might in the real world. Millions of $USD are spent daily by users who buy content designed by other users of the game. It has received a lot of press, both positive and negative as a host of issues are raised.
Get a first life provides an interesting parody of the concept.
June 6th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
What social responsibility is associated with second life? Are there social codes of behaviour and do they mirror accepted behaviour in the real world? Or are they the precursor to an entirely new code of behaviour which will flow out of Second Life into mainstream society? The sociological questions posed by the dilemma of parallel lives should create a whole new stream of endeavour for the mental health profession. And it’s only just beginning!
June 26th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I read in the Daily Telegraph that generation Y is spending up to six hours a day on the Internet. Has this become their alternative life or are they using the web to plan and plot their real life? It’s about time someone did some useful research into what people really do when they are on the web and how much connected time is just down time. Like leaving the TV on with no-one in the room.