I met a friend of my brother’s over Christmas who works in a non profit that helps amputees in developing countries. We talked about his work and then about virtual worlds. In explaining virtual worlds I tend to think about applications to people’s own work or lives. Wouldn’t it be powerful for an able bodied person to step into a disabled person’s shoe (s) and experience what it was like to have only one leg or one arm? This first hand learning is already being done in a different context in Second Life: the UC Davis “Virtual Hallucinations” lab is a powerful learning experience for someone to learn what its like to live with Schizophrenia.
The opposite is true – it is a powerful experience for a disabled person to suddenly be able bodied in a virtual world. This is beautifully illustrated in the ‘Better Life” machinima. This should not be underestimated.
So instead of adopting Walther’s theory of strategic self presentation, the use of imperfect avatars in virtual worlds can be a powerful learning tool indeed.
