A confession: I'm not admitting to currently having an Avatar or an online representation of myself, because I don't, but, I used to... And it was amusing.
In my early years at high school, I would use a website, aimed to be used by young people, called "Habbo Hotel" (for anyone who knows is familiar of this site, yes, I'm very embarrassed to admit it). This particular website allowed me to create a cartoon version of myself, visit an online hotel/resort and chat with other 'Habbo's'. I found it entertaining to sit behind a computer screen and talk to people I didn't know. I didn't have to think on the spot about what to say next, I could walk away when I got bored and best of all, I didn't have to bother getting dressed to 'socialise'.
Thankfully, I came to my senses and no longer use the website.
This is just one version of a digital world that people can become addicted to. I found myself logging onto my Habbo account every single night to maintain my social status with fellow users. It became an obsession.
'Second Life' is an online virtual world where users have the opportunity to live their life as in it were reality. Users can buy items we typically need in our real lives (a house and clothes in particular) for real money and communicate with other users, not by talking, but by typing (ABC net, 2012).
Some people are so reliant on their virtual life that it can become a source of income for their real life. Anshe Chung is a perfect and very successful example. She is one user who found herself to become a millionaire property developer after selling prestigious houses on Second Life (ABC net, 2012).
However, it's not all fun and games (no pun intended) in the virtual world. There was a horrific incident in South Korea where a couple starved their three-month-old daughter to death after devoting their time to raise a virtual child (Tran, 2010). Incidences such as these make me feel sick. Individuals that begin to deprive their own lives to live in a virtual world are kidding themselves. Do they forget that THESE WORLDS AREN'T REAL?!?! Not only are players putting other lives at risk but their own well fair is surely suffering too. It wouldn't surprise me if some users forget to feed themselves or even go to the bathroom!
I quit using Habbo Hotel because I found it was becoming an obsession. I had my own friends (who I actually knew!), I am comfortable with my own appearance and I don't need to think for 20 seconds before typing a continuation of a conversation. As much as I was attached to my virtual self and found it amusing, I was not prepared, especially as a teenager, to swap my perfectly normal life for some time-wasting virtual one.
References:
ABC net: Four Corners (2012) You Only Live Twice. [video online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20070319/default_full.htm [Accessed: 28 January 2013].
Tran, M (2010) "Girl starved to death while parents raised virtual child in online game", The Guardian UK, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/korean-girl-starved-online-game> accessed: Jan 28 2013
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