访谈录 2010-04-20&04-23 虚拟现实（在线收听）

People leading their own alternative lives are at the crossroads between technology and imagination.

It sounds like science fiction but as Lindsay Davis reports these people have taken a head first plunge into virtual reality.

Last year a man named SaL9000 married the love of his life in a ceremony that was streamed live on line. The 27-year-old groom lives in Tokyo, and this is his bride, Nene. She lives inside Nintendo DS video game. Yes, Sal paid real money to marry a virtual woman, but he is not alone. Well, technically he is not.

All of the on-line environment is kind of a stage for people to live out alternative lives and stories.

Welcome to WeeWorld. Millions offer up their credit cards to create their own avatar in WeeWorld or explore, interact and travel in the virtual world: Second life.

An estimated 100 million people, that's more than 1% of the population of the entire world, roll up their sleeves and don their farming gear to manage virtual farms just like this one.

There is no more reality in the dollar than there is in a virtual island, than there is in the color of a car. Value is what society makes of it.

But according to the researchers at Leeds University in England, living out fantasies on line can take a toll on a person's well being.

People with a high level of dependence from the Internet show have much higher risk of depression.

But for some, the fantasy world offers something reality doesn’t.

What if you live in a small town and you’re a girl and you don't have the just so body type. You get ostracized. You get marginalized. I am not ready to blame that person for trying to have a society and environment where she can actually get accepted.

Which brings us back to Sal9000, he says his avatar wife is better than any human relationship. She doesn't get angry of his late and he doesn't have to talk about his feelings. Again it’s all about perceived value.

Lindsay Davis, ABC News.