Date: Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Online Marathons: What's next?

In another bizarre craze from the world of the web, marathons are the latest item to be digitalised. It seems that nowadays you can do virtually anything online; from shopping to dating, to downloading music and chatting to your friends, and now it emerges that you can even run a marathon online as well. With all that is available virtually, it seems there is practically no reason to ever leave your house again! Although it may seem strange, these cyber marathons have in the past raised a lot of money for various charities, such as the $90,000 raised for the American Cancer Society by Second Life's Relay for Life, so they are definitely noteworthy in this sense, but it has led to debates as to whether an online marathon can substitute for the real thing? The amount of support these cyber marathons have generated seems to imply they can, and with our lives increasingly becoming more and more web-based, do they perhaps reflect the character of the world we live in today more? Although die-hard marathon runners will be appalled at their beloved sport being reduced to a virtual game, and there has been much criticism that gamers are ignoring the real world and its problems, this recent development seems to be a positive addition to the world of the net, and one that seems to have large support from the 20 or so teams taking part and the large amount of online donations. Experts are wondering if it will get to the stage where every single thing in life is available online, raising calls of concern that surfers are living in a fantasy world there bears no resemblance to the real world. Whilst the subject continues to be debated, there’s no doubt that what is guaranteed is the increase in popularity and the availability of online resources. Who knows what tomorrow may bring in the virtual world? The answer: virtually anything.

Sources: Guardian