Virtual Consumption
Currently, I’m writing a response to the Byron Review for my employer, and a part of that involves looking at the risks of virtual worlds.
One which very few people seem to be thinking about is that many of them conflate self worth with shopping:
If you’re a parent, I would be much less concerned about things like online predators or violence, than I would be about the conflation between consumption and consumerism and citizenship (in virtual worlds). Because our kids are being taught that to be a good citizen of this world you got to buy the right stuff
In terms of interaction design and psychology, virtual shopping is quite a lazy, yet “default” way of populating a world with things to do. We’re only just starting to articulate what can be done with virtual worlds, but to push beyond consumption it’s vital that we ask what we want to teach with them, as there really is the potential for an educational long-tail to curl up in there:
“Knowledge is changing. It (used to be that it) was a set of facts, now it’s not so much a ‘what’ but a ‘where,’ in which kids learn how to find information,” Thomas said. “That’s going to be the single most important skill–the ability to adapt to change.”
He added: “I wouldn’t be worried if they’re engaged and playing these games, I’d be more worried if they’re not.”
(Via Wonderland)