Technology is it a gift or curse? The question still remains to be answered as technology is the best of both worlds. Technology has given military personnel a variety of unique but remarkably deadly weapons of war that has brought devastating effects like the nuclear bomb as well as providing us with new alternatives for things ranging from movies, medicine, and transportation to games however I feel that one of technology greatest milestone is a step towards virtual reality. Many doctors or engineers create a real virtual setting by using the technology they have now to further understand the problems they will face in their work as well as creating measures to prevent it from happening in reality. This virtual reality however, has one major downside. Certain computer and video games have created a virtual reality or a world that is filled with intensity and brutal violent images like the Grand Theft Auto series.
The computer and video games have become one of the dominant entertainment media for audience in a very short span of time as well: , it is considered an industry that is currently so much greater than the movie industry. With today’s high-end technology, computer and video game developers can create a virtual world that has an economy, society and even an artificial marriage. Games like the Grand Theft Auto series put players in virtual locations that are similar to real life locations like Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami. The series allows players to cause havoc, steal vehicles, create gangs as well as fight other gangs in order to enlarge the player’s territory in their own virtual world and in the process getting more income to buy weapons, houses or mansions. The concept of allowing players to act out crimes and reward the player for doing so has been a controversial issue lately.
The game has is also linked to a number of incidents like the case of 18 year old Devin Moore who apparently got inspired to kill three police officers that came to arrest him for stealing a car. According to an article in CNN that was published in 2003 the game has also been link to the case of a 246 million dollar lawsuit that was filled against the developer, marketer and retailer of the Grand Theft Auto series by the families of two people who were shot by teenagers apparently inspired by the game. Much of this computer and video games are correlate to an increase in game addiction especially in massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that has a virtual world, society, economy, and its ability to create the players ultimate main character that will be used throughout the entire game.
According to Eurogamer a Korean husband and wife are facing criminal charges after their baby daughter died when they left her alone in order to play World of Warcraft. Police say the parents left their four month-old child alone in a bedroom while they went to play the MMORPG at a local Internet cafe. Even with all these controversy virtual realities has also helped us to further understand certain things as well as provide useful information and advice to us. One good example is the corrupted blood plague in the popular online game World of Warcraft which was one of the events that affect entire servers.
The article said that disease spread rapidly within the popular online game killing off thousands of players in an uncontrolled plague. The infection raged, wreaking social chaos, despite quarantine measures. The disease closely resembled the outbreak of real-world epidemics that scientists are currently looking at ways MMORPGs or other massively-distributed systems can model human behavior during outbreaks. Scientist suggests, an outbreak of a deadly disease in a virtual world can offer insights into real life epidemics.
Today much of virtual reality is actually seen more in games and certain scientific studies like how engineer’s creates a virtual oil platform to study real life situation as well as making safety precautions to prevent horrible incident from happening. In the end with today’s technology, virtual reality is a very useful and informative tool to be used if used properly and for the right reasons just like the BBC article stated above. As technology advances which make virtual reality become more sophisticated, only time will tell if virtual reality will prove to be a boon or a curse.
Leave Your Comments