Virtual Body - Other Notions

Other Notions

The virtual body can also be regarded as needing the body for extra immersion into a virtual environment. This notion was initially discussed in reference to the original developments of Virtual Reality, where goggles and gloves were required to fully immerse the mind into virtual worlds. This type of virtual reality offers a different kind of virtual body because it generates the idea within the mind that the virtual body and the real physical body are one and the same.

A more common notion of the identities constructed by people (and therefore depicted through virtual bodies) is the representation people give on websites such as Facebook and MySpace. These websites offer a more direct way for people to exhibit how they want to be seen and understood, which in turn develops their virtual body representation. Along the same lines, is the identity significant idea behind chat rooms (particularly dating ones) where there would be issues regarding how different the represented virtual body and identity is to the real physical one. This is unlike virtual bodies created for the sake of playing games online where exaggeration and the use of the imagination is encouraged.