{"id":1242,"date":"2016-11-24T13:29:36","date_gmt":"2016-11-24T13:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/virtualactivism.org\/education\/?p=1242"},"modified":"2016-11-24T13:29:36","modified_gmt":"2016-11-24T13:29:36","slug":"virtual-realities-a-moral-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/virtualactivism.org\/education\/virtual-realities-a-moral-question\/","title":{"rendered":"virtual realities – a moral question"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"oculus\"Metaverses or online worlds such as Second Life and Active Worlds had great potential when they first started. Indeed many had adopted them – and other emerging platforms as either classroom technology and\/or for business and corporate meetings. They were precursors to virtual or augmented reality as we now know it, and had their own language – the VRML – which is a\u00a0scripting language that allows for the creation of three-dimensional “worlds” that the user can explore. It was basically an internet standard for rendering 3D graphics.\u00a0The problem is that this never developed into more robust platforms that catered to their target audience and users’ needs.<\/p>\n

As Virtual Reality progressed and developed, it has become more real. The question now is, should there be limits on what can be done in a virtual reality world as Angela Buckingham suggests in her thought-provoking article Murder in Virtual Reality\u00a0shoud be illegal\u00a0<\/a>? How much reality is too much? Buckingham says<\/p>\n

The impact of immersive virtual violence must be questioned, studied and controlled. Before it becomes possible to realistically simulate the experience of killing someone, murder in VR should be made illegal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While aware of violence in Hollywood movies Buckingham notes that<\/p>\n

\n

By hijacking our capacity for proprioception \u2013 that is, our ability to discern states of the body and perceive it as our own \u2013 VR can increase our identification with the character we\u2019re playing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

She concludes<\/p>\n

\n

In an immersive virtual environment, what will it be like to kill? Surely a terrifying, electrifying, even thrilling experience. But by embodying killers, we risk making violence more tantalising, training ourselves in cruelty and normalising aggression. The possibility of building fantasy worlds excites me as a filmmaker \u2013 but, as a human being, I think we must be wary. We must study the psychological impacts, consider the moral and legal implications, even establish a code of conduct<\/a>. Virtual reality promises to expand the range of forms we can inhabit and what we can do with those bodies. But what we physically feel shapes our minds. Until we understand the consequences of how violence in virtual reality might change\u00a0us, virtual murder should be illegal.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The question is, by being online, does violence become less real? is it a way to distance oneself from violence and yet commit it in a ‘safe’ environment? what impact would this have on people’s perceptions of reality? will it desensitize people to the extent that violence – and murder – will have no emotional impact?<\/p>\n

It is an issue worth discussing further and I certainly agree that as we are releasing this unknown beast, we need to study it further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Metaverses or online worlds such as Second Life and Active Worlds had great potential when they first started. Indeed many had adopted them – and other emerging platforms as either classroom technology and\/or for business and corporate meetings. 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