3rd Post - Reality?

After reading both articles by Scott Redberg and Krystina Derrickson I couldn't help but question what constitues as reality.

For some, reality is everything and anything in which our five sense can interact with. For instance I know this computer is in fact real because it can touch it, see it, smell it, hear it, and if im so inclines, taste it. For others however, reality is something goes beyond our five sense. Derrickson's article suggests that reality may only be real as our minds allow it to be.

In a virtual world, 'second life', players, while not being able to physically actually touch anything, find a great of pleasure and excitement while playing. This has led some, such as Ric Hoogestraat, to become so entrenched in the virtual world that they find themselves increasingly unable or unwilling to cope with the real world. Instead, they spend a majority, if not all, their waking hours customizing and living in their virtual world.

These virtual worlds provide an escape. In this world an individual may be nothing more then a simple bus drive or janitor, however, in the almost infinite and limitless world of virtuality, that same exact person may own nightclubs, vacation all over the "world", have countless suitors, or is the most revered player in all of Azeroth (World of Warcraft). What these virtual worlds offers is an escape from the mundane and tedious world that we live in.

The question then is, does virtual worlds indeed constitute a certain sense of reality. Although players can't actually touch or smell these worlds, they are very much emotionally linked to these worlds. In my opinion, with our ever evolving world driven by technology, virtual worlds do constitute a certain sense of reality.