A MIGRATION FROM THE REALITY TO THE VIRTUAL WORLD: AN OVERVIEW OF SELECTED SOCIAL VIRTUAL WORLDS

Technology development and advancement changes the way people communicate and interact. From face to face communication, communication form now has changed to mediated communication, especially with the development of new media technologies. Communication and social interaction are no longer limited to text-based communication, but it can be more fun and “real” with the progress of virtual reality and animation technology until it is used to form the virtual world. Nowadays, more and more are entering this world until it forms a social network online. Children are the main consumers with 37 percent of the world regularly visit and will increase to 54 percent by 2013 (www.emarketer-intelligence. com). Virtual world sites not only provide social networking features, it also provides a world where people can meet and play by using the avatar as users’ representations. Avatar often used as a photo in most profiles of the virtual world, but Kaneva users can use their own photo in it 2D space or profile. Communication in any virtual world not only merely involves text because users can use the movement signals and self-expression on the avatar by using the menu that is available in most virtual world sites. The observation showed a virtual world such as Second Life, Gaia Online, Habbo, and Kaneva offers pleasure to the users because they can do anything just as in the offline world, but without the limitations of time and geography.