Oscar-winning film-maker Lord Puttnam gave the opening keynote speech at the Virtual Worlds Forum held in London from 23-26 October. In his speech Lord Puttnam voiced fears about the many game worlds that have sprung up which tie access to the virtual world to the purchase of a toy. Webkinz, Funkeys, BarbieGirls, TyGirlz and many others are all virtual worlds created and run by toy makers. "Are we absolutely sure that this is the very best we can offer young people?" he asked. "Do we really want them to think of themselves as not much more than consumers?". He said: "Might we not prefer to build worlds that encourage those same values and skills we wish them to exercise in the real world?". "The challenge ahead is this - to ensure that virtual worlds are increasingly places that offer real meaning to their lives and in the real world to learn from the sense of community and collaboration that's been experienced in virtual worlds," he said.
My personal opinion on this demonizing of virtual worlds as a researcher involved in the creation and evaluation of these worlds? While there are always potential pitfalls when corporate financial interest gets involved in new technologies, particularly immersive ones, it can't be denied that sometimes it helps to keep perspective on things. It is extremely debatable that virtual gaming and socialising is to blame for anything and this is really at heart an incredibly dated argument taking us back to the 60s when people feared that the television (which let's not forget was considered an immersive technology back then, very much like virtual worlds are now) would demoralise and ruin values in young people.
For more information on the Virtual Worlds Forum check http://virtualworldsforum.com/
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