Continuing my series on virtual worlds – this time with a broader brush. The internet itself. The extent to which you choose to describe it is up to you, but I think the internet itself and our dealings on it are, for the most part, in themselves virtual. You’re not really in a bookstore when you shop on Amazon and you’re not really in the same room as your friends when you are in a chat room. These are non-persistent virtual experiences.
These experiences exist for us because we all agree on them either consciously or unconsciously. When we are in a chat room we take it for granted that everyone in that room can “hear us” – see our speech typed out. We do this because we “agree” that we are all in the same room together. But it’s not really a room, is it?
Last night I sat on a beach with friends at a bonfire, drinking wine, talking and kicking-back. The waves were rolling in, the night sky was dappled with stars, seagulls flew past and soft, relaxing music played in the background. Before we’d gone to the beach, we had watched a movie together with some of our other friends in a theater. It was a very enjoyable evening for me.
Cue the Naysayers: “But it’s NOT REAL!”
No, the theater and the beach weren’t physically “real”. But the people inhabiting the avatars and screen names were “real” as was the conversation we shared. We were having a shared experience of a being in a theater and later, on a peaceful beach together and it was those EXPERIENCES that were real.
I have many online friends, people who I have never met. They exist in my “reality” as screen names and avatars. Yet I believe that my friendships with them are very “real” because my experience of their friendship feels very “real” to me. Some of them I have “known” for years – we have collaborated on projects together and when times got tough we have shared each others pain. Yet, for the most part, the only access I have to them is when I turn on my computer. So does this mean they are not “real”?
Of course not.
The subtle psychology that exists in my perception of experiences online is at once both extremely delicate and extremely robust. Frankly, until I began writing these articles, I never even thought about it. Writing has forced me to think about it and distill my observations and feelings into clarity for both myself and my readers. It has also forced me to “own” my online experiences rather than passively experience them. There comes with this a feeling of mastery and definition.
The boundaries and lexicon of what we call “Virtual Reality” are not fixed things. They are as varied as the individuals who experience them. From being “in a chat room” to hanging-out “on a beach” the degrees of shared perception are only limited by our imaginations and openness to new experiences.
So, to those Naysayers who tell me “But it’s not real” – all I can say is, “It felt pretty real to me.”
Until next time …
