Is the idea of cyberspace dead because it's all around us?

When the internet first became apparent no one really knew what it was or what it could do. When Tim Berners Lee created the World Wide Web he never thought it would amount to anything and therefore gave it away free. Would he still have done that is he had known the phenomenon that the internet and technology is now?

The notion of cyberspace is something that has become less alien to everyone because of the accessibility of technology and the internet. For example the introduction of the Xbox Kinect and PlayStation Move means that you can now become a physical part of a video game as opposed to sitting down with a controller in your hand controlling an avatar on the screen.

So, because we can get inside a video game does it mean that the idea of cyberspace as a seperate place is dead? No I don't think so.

A new language has been created to use on the internet. The usage of words like LOL, ROFL and TTYL are not things that were would say in everyday life because it would be seen as odd, but when we're chatting on a messenger service or through messages on a website or forum it is seen as acceptable. Communities online communicate very differently to how they do in real life.

When we enter these communities we enter cyberspace. Therefore, it becomes a separate place to have an identity. But, so is being part of a video game. Even though the character's path could already be set out for you, it is your choice how to do the things that the game instructs you to do. Furthermore, you can create your own avatar on the Xbox and other gaming consoles which also connect to the internet so that you can play with other players.

I think that cyberspace is all around us but not in the way that it is becoming something that we're always in. There is still a distinct divide between the virtual world and the real world and we can still decide to be a part of either one at various times.