CLASS 13: Identity in the Context of Virtual Worlds

Identity is innate in people.  Everyone has parents (known or unknown).  Observations in within the Virtual Worlds, identity is sought after and may be personal and impersonal at the same time.  There is flexibility to a certain extent which I will cover in the following paragraphs.  I thoroughly enjoyed this class as it help me further become aware of the details that are needed to plan, create, implement and execute and test - an avatar in a virtual world.

GIMP is a tool that can be used beyond this class for personal use.  I never heard about GIMP before taking this class.  Modifying images to airbrush or add particular elements is powerful and can influence a person's perception on the image.  As it relates to identity there are both angles of being negative by not being what that image is in raw value or positive in that an image may be used to improve one's self esteem.

Entering a virtual world can be an adventure - there is a certain element of unknown that people adhere to.  Virtual worlds may not be for everyone - when entering a cool space like a beach or seaside - the pictures are relaxing and images reflect a sense of calm which may be beneficial for people who have never seen a beach or seaside or maybe not able to get to.  Virtual worlds may create imagination and can on the other side be uncomfortable as well.  As we learned in class, the user has the flexibility to step away or close out the computer program if an uncomfortable situation arises. 

Honing in on the uncomfortable situation - that is where guardrails are not necessarily found and can hinder use of virtual worlds.  There are age appropriate virtual worlds. That is needed when identity is unknown and accountability for behavior may not be easily attainable. Having an unknown identity is somewhat counterintuitive in virtual world because the first step is to create an identity.  The flexibility to modify an identity with a few clicks away and gain a reaction from others can be interesting depending on how drastically the avatar identity has changed.  Possible reactions are that everyone in the room walks away from you or gets closer to interact more.

Learning via online games can be fun.  In class we used Greenfoot to create a game.  The application seemed easy to navigate and there were more topics to read about on how Greenfoot can help with math.  Identity was not a particular focus.  Cloud Party was halted during class.  The virtual world had more areas and easily navigated around with more elements to customize identity.  Meshmoon was more basic and allowed creation of spaces to create for avatar to visit. 

These are samples for class. It is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc