Wk 2 — Activity — Virtual: Worlds
3 min readSep 7, 2020
- Zoom University is definitely a dramatic change from what I had gotten used to. I was lucky enough to experience my first year(or at least most of it) on campus. I stayed in the Hillside dorms and would walk about 15 minutes to each class. Campus life brought a strong feeling of independance and freedom that I wasn’t used to. I had adapted to this new environment and thrived in it. I consistently started going to the gym, actually spent time in sunlight everyday, met up with friends a healthy amount of times a week, and kept up with all of my classes. When I got the email that campus was going on lock down, I was eating dinner at the dining hall. I told my mom about it and she hopped in the car and came to pick me up by 5 am the next morning(I live just north of Sacramento). This very sudden change definitely affected my routine and performance in school. Zoom University feels the same in the ways that involve work, a majority of my classes had me submit assignment online anyways. Other than that, the level of socializing and focus is way different.
- I visited the world of Club Penguin and it’s nothing like social media. The only similarity is that you can talk to/meet people, but most of the time it isn’t likely to hold a consistent conversation. Club Penguin is more to show off silly outfits and play mini-games than to socialize. Most people on here get ON the game with a friend, meaning they already had known them beforehand and decided to play together. You do feel more of a placefulness on the game, though. Obviously everyone in a certain place on the map had the intent of being in that place. On social media, there’s no real “place” unless you’re on someone’s live stream.
- I visited the beach on Club Penguin and it’s nowhere near as exciting as going to the beach in Long Beach. Maybe for people who enjoy the game, but definitely not for me. I’d rather feel the sun and sand. I did surf on Club Penguin, though. This is an experience I wouldn’t have the courage to do in real life.
- It hasn’t given me new thoughts on the idea of place because I had pre-exisitng opinions of the two forms of it. I’ve always loved virtual games growing up, it gives me a place to be myself and not have to deal with my awkward tendencies that arise when I meet people in person. I’m a very shy person so this was a big part of my childhood, I usually played a game called Fantage(it was shut down in 2018). Although I enjoy being carefree online, I do also appreciate being able to get to know people and go places in person. It creates irreplaceable memories.
- Instagram and Facebook can definitely be MMORPGs. There are communities within these apps that allow you to have that experience. For example, there’s a facebook group I’m apart of called “A group where we pretend to be hispanic moms”. It’s actually just an ongoing joke and it’s really funny. People just post funny pictures and for the captions would write a stereotypical hispanic mom saying, mostly improvised to fit the theme of the picture. It does create a sense of community through people who share the same type of humor. This also goes for many other communities out there that relate in terms of interests, situations, or opinions.
- Real life is constantly MMORPG. If you go to the club, you’re in a community of people that also enjoy that environment. If you join a school club, you connect with people of similar interests or goals. This also applies to many other places and things.
- PS: The following pictures are of me being ignored on Club Penguin lol.
