I'm posting on the topics from last week as somehow last week I misread the syllabus and posted about this week's reading. With that said -- I found Zettl's comparison between virtual reality and Plato's cave to be interesting. He discusses the implications of VR and how it is a modern day cave.
In VR, the person is able to escape to another world - one without any sort of physical repercussions. For example, in flight simulators if the pilot crashes, there aren't any actual physical repercussions. He/she is able to learn without actually experiencing harm. It is as if they are exposed to the light Plato discusses without actually having to change their lifestyle. I found this comparison to be most interesting when thinking about games like The Sims or Second Life. In these games, the player is actually able to simulate a family or simply create an avatar that represents who that player is/wants to be. Like Zettl says, these players have "a yearning for not being held accountable for our decisions" (108). The player is able to create a family, be responsible for day to day life, and interact with people without any true physical contact. It truly is the modern day "cave."
The following YouTube video shows the interesting capabilities of Second Life. Intro. Comm. Professor Levinson discussed this during one of our classes. He actually conducted a reading of a section of one of his books via avatar in Second Life. I had never heard of it before, but it was an interesting/extremely modern way to deliver a speech. Enjoy:
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Second Life isn't a game, though, as this video illustrates, so in what sense does this relate to the point you're making about the cave?
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