“Shared experiences create a sense of reality”

Video games like Second Life can create an alternate reality in which people can escape their normal lives and be someone else in a virtual world, but I believe the vast majority of people are able to distinguish the game world from the real world. As technology improves however, it may be hard for people to make this distinction.

Online gaming addiction has seen people engross themselves in online communities while alienating themselves from the real world. The attraction comes from the experiences online games like Second Life can offer players. People that may be unhappy with their life can log onto online worlds and create an avatar that can embody every characteristic the player wishes they had. This has ensured that these game worlds are usually filled with avatars who conform to the beauty ideals generated by popular media in society. Its no wonder people would rather be logged on to a game such as Second Life and feel what it is like to be somebody they are not.
>As many online games offer crude graphics compared to console games and PC games, their ability to addict people may be inhibited, but as the graphics improve, games such as Second Life may draw in bigger audiences with more people becoming addicted and neglecting the real world. This is due to the increased realism that improved graphics can deliver. New technologies including 3d can increase realism and therefore immersion. To accept an online game as an extension of reality rather then just a game, allowances have to be made by players so they can immerse themselves in these online games. Allowances such as ignoring the many aspects in which the games cannot simulate reality or even a believable alternate reality.
>As the technology behind video games is rapidly advancing, In the future people may find it harder to leave the virtual worlds created by their video games to function in the real world. It is possible that video games will be able to stimulate all of the senses in such a way that gives people the ability to have an experience that seems completely real. So why would people want to leave the virtual world where they could do extraordinary things, for the real world which is full of problems.
>The statement 'the suspension of disbelief has become a grounding of belief' is true in the sense that many people wish that they could become either similar or identical to their Avatar, however I do not see it becoming a problem to technology reaches a level where games can simulate real life effectively enough for people to question whether the game world is the real world.