Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds can be used in many ways.One way and a very special way one internet site Naughty Auties is using its virtual world is to allow people with autism and their friends, families, co-workers and others to interact with each other in a way that is comforting to those on the spectrum of Autism and allows them to become informed on the subject of autism and helps those with the diagnoses. "The graphical representations of real people create a "comfort zone" that can coax users out of their shells and get them communicating with others, he said. "You're on your own computer, in your own room, your own space," Savill said."( iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction by Nicole Saidi, CNN, March 28, 2008. available from: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/28/sl.autism.irpt/index.html#cnnSTCText). Another way virtual worlds can be used is the way MTV uses the virtual world of VLES (Virtual Lower East Side), where you can go to clubs and walk the streets of the lower east side without having to leave your house. You have a chance to feel the texture of the space without ever being there a chance to know what the inside of a bar that you only heard of looks like. You don't need to be famous or know someone who knows someone you only need a computer and you are right there with the action just without all the action. This is very impressive but is not what everyone wants. For example what about the people who actually live there or own the places that are replicated? “It takes something that was a neighborhood, and now it belongs to everybody else,” said Clayton Patterson, a photographer who has been shooting in downtown Manhattan for more than 25 years. “It’s the complete denial of your space, a complete theft of what it was that you lived in for years.” ("I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life" by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, January 6, 2008, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html*) 
Virtual worlds are also used for game playing such as PS3's Home a virtual world I myself sometimes reside. It is a community of PlayStation 3 users where you can interact with other users and play games or just chat and even compete in competitions. You can go dancing and purchase clothing, apartments, etc. In many virtual worlds you are almost forced to be creative in your own way by creating your avatar piece by piece (from head to toe). You are the designer of your space and have the ability to be as creative as you want. These Virtual worlds create a space or being creative.
Now the pros of Virtual worlds are many but some of them are simple and very cut and clear: it is a place where people can interact and do things they normally would not be able to do or experience. It is a way for people to take a break from everyday life and stress and also a way for our big world to become a little smaller and more accessible. These worlds allow you to be everywhere and anywhere you want to be but also nowhere at all in some senses. You can have friends and feel comfortable even if that is not what your everyday life consists of. For those who are shy it gives them a place to be friendly and outgoing. They are a place where people can be creative and expressive, share ideas and enjoy the ideas of others.
The cons are that as many good people there are out there there are just as many people who do not have good intentions and Virtual worlds just as other spaces on the Internet are a place where they can exploit others and even cause harm to the infrastructure of the site with user created content, they can be a place where bullying and harassing can happen with or without monitoring. They can cause people to forget about the real world they live in by spending too much time in the virtual world and allowing it to consume them in many ways. Spending too much real money in the virtual worlds can become a problem as well as the content is not always free. ( I found myself spending 150-200 dollars on clothes for my avatar in PlayStation 3's Home per month before I stopped spending money in the Virtual World). It can also become stressful as in some virtual worlds especially gaming ones if you are not actively in the virtual world you can somewhat lose out on the rewards/ perks and you can find yourself feeling obligated to be there more often. 
Virtual worlds will continue to grow and will continue to look like the actual world we live in until it surpasses the world we live in or the world we live in will move on and find another way to live without having to actually go through the motions. I expect to see more than virtual worlds for fun and entertainment but more sophisticated ones where you reality and virtue-ality are inseparable.