Virtual worlds, Second Life, and the Metaverse as a whole are very immersive experiences. This is because they immerse the user much more than an older type of medium such as just reading a book which leaves a lot open to the reader for interpretation. With something like Second Life, it is much more visual. Much more hands-on. The user can be whoever they want, whatever they want, however they want, whenever they want. It’s hard to beat the amount of freedom the user has to immerse themselves in this experience. In my opinion, the only thing keeping this from being a 100% realistic, fully immersive experience would be the fact that you can’t physically walk in the world of Second Life with your physical body and physically touch the items in it. A VR headset could be used to give the user the impression they are in the world and physically interacting with everything, but I would say that’s as close as we are going to get for now. Second Life is truly amazing. You can go into this digital world and get a job, build a house, sell the house, rent property, provide services for other users, you name it!
Even graphic novels are much more immersive than just reading a standard novel. The graphic novel paints pictures for the reader and helps them feel more like they are right there inside the story with the characters. Hence, an immersive experience.
My experience with virtual worlds is still pretty limited. I have some experience with it on the internet, in video games, and a little bit of time on Second Life now, but there is still so much I don’t know or understand about the metaverse. I must say that I am very excited to learn more about it. I’m only 33 years old right now. I can’t even imagine what our technology is going to be 40 years from now. It’s mind boggling to even think about.