Thanks to replies to my last post. I didn't even realize I had comments until I started clicking around the pages. It seems I didn't spend as much time as I thought getting to know my way around the site. Another thing I haven't figured out is the first post that I made, I can see it from the Google Reader listings, but not from the blog site. hmmmm. I wonder what happened. If you by chance didn't read it, and can't see it on Goggle reader like I can, it was about a book I had finished that day. I am a huge reader and make it a point to read every day, some days I read more than I do anything else.
But anyway, I feel that reading a good story puts you in the original virtual world. When you read fiction, you are in essence being put into the story--the thoughts and the feelings. If you are into the story, you experience the emotions your characters are feeling, your physical being responds, your respiration increases, your natural hormones kick in. Fear, anger, sorrow, happiness, arousal, they all become real to YOU, even though all you are doing is reading a story about a fictional person that someone else wrote.
Today people talk about playing online and virtual games. Aren't they the same thing except instead of having words on a page that your mind uses to create that virtual world, you are looking at a screen and your eyes transmit those images to your brain and then you become immersed in that virtual world? Except its less work for your brain because all the sensory input has already been created for you. Its much easier to accept the created world when the colors are chosen for you, the placement of object are pre-selected and the look of everything is done for you.
This has opened up virtual worlds to a whole new group of people who would never have bothered to open up a book, or who have difficulting reading with fluency. I think this is a great thing. But... and you had to know there was a but in there somewhere. LOL But I think many people have lost sight of the fact that someone still had to write the programming and create and write the characters and possiblities that online virtual worlds contain. The ideas and the work had to come from someone's mind. As long as we have people who are creative and can express thoughts and ideas to people in different ways, we are going to see the virtual world continue to expand and evolve in different ways in years and generations to come.
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5 comments:
Great point, Carol. I love being able to escape with a good book - to really embody the text and characters. When I used to play online games I would get into my characters, but not like I do with a book. It really is the original virtual world!
While I don't disagree with the idea of a book as the original virtual world, I think there's a caveat - in a book, the only place you can escape is where the author of the book has taken you.
Sure, you can visualize the scenes, feel the character's personalities, feel empathy, pity, sympathy, sorrow, etc. and the ability to do so becomes virtual in a sense, except these are all what the author has predetermined for his/her readers through the creation of his/her characters and the description of his/her scenes.
In contrast to the predetermined nature of linear texts, virtual worlds (in the true sense) are organic and recursive; the storyline is constantly changing and growing with each new personality who enters the world.
Most importantly, in a virtual world, the reader becomes the author. The reader is the one who determines the scene, character and outcome. The reader has complete control over the narrative.
Virtual worlds also contrast with linear texts in the interpretation of meaning. With a linear text, meaning-making is done in solitude by the reader.
Virtual worlds require the reader to communicate and negotiate meaning with other readers constantly; otherwise, the world would not survive and there would be no world.
Isn't this what is asked of students every day in the classroom, and what we hope they do well as adults? Communicate and negotiate meaning?
I'm not sure if I agree that it's less work for your brain to immerse yourself into a virtual world via an online game than to simply read a piece of fiction. Sure, in the game the visual and audio are given to you, but oftentimes the story itself is entirely up to you. Many online games have servers devoted especially to roleplaying, which is where the players only speak in character, create entire backstories for their characters and clans, and even sometimes blog as their character outside of the game. That sounds like a heck of a lot of work to me.
I'm not saying that makes it better or worse than fiction, but I am saying that it's no small task to involve yourself in a virtual world.
Your mention of video games immediately made me think of my newest "toy". Nintendo Wii FIT! I understand what you are saying about reading a good work of fiction and how it transports you, but the thing about video games is they are highly interactive. The video games of today are nothing like the games of the "old" days like Mario where you are playing on a 2-D environment and have limited abilities. Games today do actually, in my opinion, work so improve motor skills, brain power, and even physical fitness. The possibilities for the future are endless. I have seen many educational video games too that children love to play because they are fun, not even realizing they are learning something along the way.
Anyway, back to the Wii Fit. You have to try it. The worst part is the beginning where you step on the small scale-like platform and test your balance, weight, and get your BMI. My height, weight, and balance were normal but it still said my "Wii age was 10 years older than I am!! But, after that you can play games where you simulate skiing, dancing, and even hula hoop. It then tells you how many calories you have burned and keeps a fitness plan going for you. I love it!!
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