I’m writing this from the beyond the grave. I am dead. I am an ex web site content writer…killed by neglect and incontinence. A plaster pelican marks my grave in the garden. And now my youngest daughter has been sent to military school.
Happily, all of this only occurred in a virtual sense, thanks to a game called The Sims - Busting out. A simulated replica of our family was created by the elder child as an experiment. But, for reasons not fully explained to me, within days I’d succumbed to chronically soggy trousers, an event that made the second born cry in reality and the older one laugh offline and go to the fridge in sim world.
While the scenario described above unfolded within our TV set and PlayStation, entire 3D virtual worlds are now big business online. People from all over the world are creating alternative lives in a virtual world that operates with digital crime, property and money. You can change sex, age and a shed load of other settings to become the personality you want to be within virtual worlds such as Second Life, Entropia Universe, The Sims online and There
For the past few days, I’ve been pondering what all of this has to do with e-business, broadband and being a web site owner. Mainly, it has to be said, because I probably will never again have the opportunity to write a factually accurate introduction commencing, I’m writing this from beyond the grave.
Anyway, I think my virtual death demonstrates that like a simulation game, the internet allows people to create completely new identities and personalities. For web site owners and other concerned in e-commerce, taking people at ‘face’ value isn’t necessarily the best course of action. Ultimately, we never really know for certain whom we are dealing with. In the end, an online credit card transaction is no guarantee that the person is who they say they are. Verification is a tough one to crack until there is an agreed standard for a system that allows PIN numbers to be entered as well as the three digit security card on the back.
After all, I used to claim in a forum that I participated in many years ago to be a 96 year old trapeze artist. And today, when I can’t be bothered explaining to someone what I do for a living, I either say I am a hair scientist with Laboratoires Garnier or an international arms dealer. That usually makes them change the subject.
