The Better Life

The idea of being some one else has existed to all time. We have all had ideas like that, but that is briefly. Most of us are pleased with their self and life. But there are some that feel life isn’t too good. It is a way to escape from your self into another world, where you can become the person that you always wanted to be. There are role-plays and virtual worlds on the Internet.

The predecessors to the virtual worlds are role-plays. Role-plays there are no simple escapes from the real to the unreal. It operates between the non-real life and the real life. The virtual worlds, also called MUD’s (Multi-User Dungeons), builds on the same principles but are more intense in a way. The game never stops, continuing around the clock. You can decent into another and better world.

For many people this can become a rescue from a cruel and hard world. But is this all good? It can become an obsession, which they do not want to log out from the virtual world. Then you give up your real world and emerge completely to a face world that does not exist. By using all you time in a virtual game you may loose the grip on the real social world. By using all your time in the cyber world I see it as giving up the real world. “Virtual worlds provide environments for experiences that may be hard to come by in the real”. (Turkle 1994)
But on another hand, if you are able to control the use it can be a good way to build you self up. Becoming more confident on your self or working on different problems. It can be seen as an alternative therapy.


Herman

(Sherry Turkle_ Construction and Reconstructions of the Self in Virtual Reality_ 1994)