Games are something you do to get away… not accurate in the least. The target market is illegal-drug virgins who want to find out what’s going on without upsetting their brain chemistry (or risking failing a drug test).”

As a recent fan of the virtual reality game Second Life, where drugs are as easy to get as a carton of milk, I can see where the appeal of taking an “illicit drug” online is. Rather, it is a social phenomenon brought on by peer pressure. that is nothing new or surprising to me. However… In a virtual environment, the pressure shifts from trying actual drugs to experimenting with virtual drugs. certain, there are folks who assemble more of it than that… I can’t wait to see how that experiment pans out. I have seen first hand the effects of these “virtual drugs”, and I have to say… Thus, users have a safe platform to explore the social aspects of drug use, without having to risk doing the actual drugs.

Fascinating, no? At least, not accurately. but most of the humans I’ve encountered all have the same one-track mind.

However…

Quoted from the Technology Review:

“But Red Light Center caters to other pleasures, or vices, too. However ridiculous it may seem to ME, I’m certain there are some folks out there who would love to see how a drug would

“affect them” before they actually give it a try.

Again, quoted from the Technology Review interview with Brian Shuster, CEO of the website’s parent company:

Technology Review: Why do you believe that virtual drugs will prepare society less likely to experiment with drugs in real life?

Brian Shuster: First drug use rarely occurs in a vacuum. I recently read an essay about RedLightCenter.COM, a typically seedy virtual reality game involving the typical things you’d expect from its users: sex, drugs, and socializing. Being an avid gamer myself, I’ve encountered several “worlds” like that where the main objective is to meet random public, have random virtual sex, and move on to the next random player that comes along. virtual reality or not, I don’t understand how you could possibly simulate the way a drug would affect you. whether anything, it is simply very entertaining watching the supposed “user” hallucinate purple bunnies for half an hour.

I do have to commend RedLightCenter for its attempts at drug education and harm reduction, though. Just to, you know… to “unwind” and be or do something you wouldn’t normally do in the real world. Starting today, you’ll be able to use your PC to enter a virtual rave and take virtual ecstasy, smoke a virtual joint, and even munch on some virtual mushrooms. see how you’d “react”.

Original post by Amanda King

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