Cyberspace, the final final frontier.

Well not quite, but cyberspace is still being explored by many people and the future capabilities of cyberspace. Some say that cyberspace has the capability to be a literal virtual reality one day that we can step into whilst others say the term no longer has pertinence. Maybe this is just a story from a science fiction novel but if we explore the past, we can see that these "novels" can become reality.

In 1982 William Gibson known as the "noir prophet", first came up with the term "cyberspace" in his novel called "Burning Chrome". Gibson referred explored the term cyberspace and referred to it as the "mass consensual hallucination of computer networks". In some senses this is true because in today's modern world, we undoubtedly delve into the world of networks every single day. Some would say that the term "cyberspace" has no value anymore, as it has now become an evident part of human life which no one thinks about anymore.

 As of June 2011 there is now around 2110 million internet users. After all, Cyberspace has created various mediums which are very useful to us and sometimes essential for our daily chores, for example, Journalists like to be constantly up to date with news and events as it happens. This is now possible because of technology such as Mobile applications which keep you up to date every minute. It's no wonder there are so many internet users which shows no sign of slowing down as more people get connected. Here is a graph from internetworldstats.com showing the growth from 1995-2010.

Cyberspace also has the capability of addiction and fraud. Sometimes at a very dangerous level which can result in possible death. The MMORPG World Of Warcraft is the world's most played game with around 11.1m subscribers as of June 2011. This produces colossal profits for Blizzard(the game maker) but produces game addictions like no other, World Of Warcraft- the new drug.  This game has produced a virtual world where any person can create a character, a class such as a priest or warlock, can eat or drink (even get drunk) and progress with their level to 85. You may think the game would end their, but it doesn't. They have features called raids and dungeons where you can team with other online characters to get gear. All of this adds up to cold stone addiction, with many people playing for years.  Many people get so sucked into the game that there marriage breaks down or has problems. Here is a forum for people who have addicted partners http://www.olganon.org/?q=node/15214. Another problem that has arose is that with younger people, students are failing there courses and are becoming social recluses. In a person's life , the younger years are a vital learning curve in your development to survive in later life. With the younger generation playing these games, they are missing out on vital skills which could potentially effect them for the rest of their lives.