That virtual joke is wearing thin..

Ironically after spending almost 2 weeks moving furniture and getting our new flat ready I am doing it all over again. This time it's in cyberspace in a virtual world. It's a world designed to enable researchers at Oxford University to carry out a variety of assessments on individuals with autism. The virtual world offers a fun, safe, familiar environment and caters for a variety of abilities and needs.

The world currently comprises a complex of houses surrounded by fields and trees, thus giving the space for growth. Those who enter the world choose an 'avatar', a character with which to represent themselves and are able to communicate through voice or messaging.

There are other much larger worlds that are now making big money. People build, work, date, have sex, and possibly even emit virtual gasses from their virtual posteriors and all from the comfort of their PC. It's becoming big business with people buying up beach front properties as investments, see Observer article here.

I have been given a house to 'decorate' which means my selecting objects from a vast catalogue and deciding where they should go. Obviously there's a lot less lifting involved, but it's still a fraught process, with many complex decisions to be made. Thus far I have managed to put a bookshelf at the bottom of the stairs, although now I have access issues.

Personally I think these 'big bucks' worlds, are representative of an increasing western trend to avert our eyes towards the impressive portals of the internet, as a means of escape, rather than looking out towards the grandeur of the world we inhabit physically. One that is so increasingly under threat.

Thankfully our real world home is almost finished and Gem and I are virtually able to relax...ooh!