At the age of 5, we spend our leisure time in our own little reality that includes imaginary friends and creatures from magical lands. We play dress up. We play house. You be the daddy and I'll be the Fairy Princess who rides a unicorn and rescues perfectly beautiful babies from building block castles. Everything is a storybook. Everything is exactly as we have decided that it should be. Child psychologists tell us that this is a vital part of a child's development. It is right. It is good.

So, now that I'm approaching middle age, and not the svelte princess I used to be, how do I spend my leisure time? Why, I spend it in a Virtual Reality Community online, where I have friends who are very imaginative and sometimes roleplay creatures from magical lands. We play dress up, buying our avatars (virtual bodies) the sexiest lingerie and most outlandish costumes. We play house. Never mind that we are married in the real world. In the virtual world, all bets are off, and we can court, and date, and marry, or play the field, like we never had the opportunity to do in the real world. We even speak an entirely new language that is exactly the opposite of what we have tried to teach our children. Grammar is non-existant and spelling is oppshunal. I roflmao (roll on the floor laughing my ass off) when my son-in-law brags about his mad gamer skills, because I pwn (own) his ass in Halo.

Why do I spend my time in the land of make believe?  Did I mention that whole middle age thing?  In Virtual Reality, I am gorgeous.  I am glamourous and rich.  I am much sought after as a companion and as a creator of exquisite art pieces.  I have wings and I can fly!  I am adored by a devastatingly handsome and daring barbarian elf, who is my "partner" in two worlds.  Well, no, I've never met him IRL (in real life).  I know that he lives in an exotic land called Buffalo, a world of ice and snow and too many taxes.  Yes, I know that he looks slightly more like a cuddly, well-fed hobbit than a super hero.  He is eloquent and smitten with both my virtual beauty and my wit.  What more could a Fairy Princess want?

So, what do the psychologists say about how I spend my time?  On one hand, just like a child who spends too much time in their imaginary world, adults can become so addicted to virtual reality that they have trouble dealing with real life situations.  Real life becomes an intrusion into the world they would prefer to inhabit.  Immersing oneself into a virtual society can cause one to neglect real life duties and obligations.  We saw these same kinds of behavior in young people who became too obsessively immersed in roleplay games like Dungeons and Dragons in the 1970's. 

 On the other hand, there are some brilliant and wonderful uses for Virtual Reality.  Virtual reproductions of historical places, museums and shrines allow one to experience places and things you might never, otherwise, experience.  The ramifications for handicapped people, who cannot travel and have limited opportunity to socialize, can be phenomenal.  There are real friends to be made.  There are international experiences to savor.  In it's proper perspective, Virtual Reality can be a healthy and fulfilling part of one's everyday life.

So, the next time you explore a virtual world, in the midst of the geisha, the scantily-clad slave girls, the vampires and the dragonriders, if you chance to meet a cheeky, little redheaded fairy with an attitude, say hello!  It might be me!  And as for that barbarian elf from the magic land of Buffalo...I'm keeping him!