 | The highly anticipated film Avatar, which opened in wide release last week, revolves around a future technology that allows individuals to control separate, genetically engineered bodies from remote locations. While that technology may still be far off, the virtual world of 3D Internet is here today, and it’s a subject of intensive research at Loyola Marymount University’s Psychology Department. |
Avatar could be a “game-changer” for the way people view the experience of interacting online. While most online interaction is currently through reading text or viewing images and videos, in the future, immersive environments like Second Life could be the norm.
“This movie is bringing to the big screen an experience that millions of people are already having, albeit on a smaller scale: controlling a remote avatar that walks, talks, and interacts with others, just like any of us would in the real world,” Gilbert said. “Avatar could completely change the perception of the experience represented by Second Life and bring that immersive experience to the forefront of more people’s online lives.
Through the P.R.O.S.E. project, students and researchers have surveyed users about the relationships and personalities they have formed in Second Life, and what effects the experience of using a “healthy” avatar can have on users with disabilities. (The film Avatar features a disabled man controlling a fully abled body from afar.)
“While the technology imagined in the movie does not yet exist, the psychological effects of that kind of virtual relationship are here, and they’re very real,” Gilbert said.
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