1-What is virtual identity and virtual worlds?
Virtual identity is the manifestation of one’s self in the realm of e-commerce, email, and social networking to take some of the most common examples. It is our intangible, scattered presence in a growing sphere of connectedness. (Medium, 2018)
A virtual world is a computer-simulated representation of a world with specific spatial and physical characteristics, and users of virtual worlds interact with each other via representations of themselves called “avatars.” Modern virtual worlds differ from traditional video games in their objective. Traditional video games generally have some ultimate game objective, for example defeating all the level bosses, saving the kingdom, or just winning the game. Playing in a virtual world, by contrast, is an end in itself. The objective of virtual worlds is to continue participating in the world, interact with other users, and gaining more status or experience within the virtual world. (Stanford, 2007–2008)
2-What is sustainability? What do you think about how we can live in a sustainable way?
The most often quoted definition comes from the UN World Commission on Environment and Development: “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
In the charter for the UCLA Sustainability Committee, sustainability is defined as: “the integration of environmental health, social equity and economic vitality in order to create thriving, healthy, diverse and resilient communities for this generation and generations to come. The practice of sustainability recognizes how these issues are interconnected and requires a systems approach and an acknowledgement of complexity.”
Sustainable practices support ecological, human, and economic health and vitality. Sustainability presumes that resources are finite, and should be used conservatively and wisely with a view to long-term priorities and consequences of the ways in which resources are used. In simplest terms, sustainability is about our children and our grandchildren, and the world we will leave them.
I think that if we use resources efficiently and without wasting them, we will provide the necessary conditions for a sustainable life.
We can live in a sustainable way by doing these things:
Saving Energy
Recycling
Using Public Transport
3-How could using virtual worlds support sustainable living?
Doing things like education or work through the virtual world contributes to sustainability.
Because there are no requirements, such as a car or public transport, to get to school or to the workplace.
We will avoid traffic and save fuel.
At the same time, it would be a good example in the name of sustainability, as our probability of having an accident would decrease to zero.
References:
1a) Medium. (2018, September 7). Mundane vs. Virtual Identity — What’s the difference? https://medium.com/metadium/mundane-vs-virtual-identity-whats-the-difference-c492abf468a6
1b)Stanford. (2007–2008). Virtual Worlds! https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs201/projects/2007-08/virtual-worlds/history.html
2)UCLA,Sustainability.
https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/what-is-sustainability/