The Reality of Virtual Reality

In order to improve teacher preparation courses offered online, a study of the use of Second Life virtual world for peer-teaching activities was conducted. The research period was over one year and the sampling group consisted of 25 Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) students. The methods practiced during the study follow the suggestions and implications given in previous research in hopes that an informed design would be the means to overcome the published limitations of Second Life. Despite this, the authors were not able to overcome previous difficulties, and did not find Second Life to be useful as a tool for classroom role-playing in online teacher-development courses. Virtual reality, however, has promise for facilitating teacher development; thus, further investigation is needed to find an appropriate virtual venue for this purpose.

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Exploring Second Life as a Venue for Peer-Teaching

Cases on E-Learning Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-1933-3.ch015 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 318-342

Author(s):

Karen Lybeck ◽

Dana Bruhn ◽

Solen Feyissa

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Virtual Reality ◽

Teacher Preparation ◽

Teacher Development ◽

Second Life ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Peer Teaching ◽

Teaching English ◽

Teaching Activities ◽

Online Teacher

Online teacher preparation courses have become a popular way to offer professional development for both pre- and in-service teachers. This move has not only provided greater access to professional development, but it has also afforded learners with more non-formal learning experiences. Moving online, however, has largely replaced an important, traditionally non-formal component of the learning experience, namely peer-teaching, with more formal, less authentic student presentations. In order to explore a possible solution to this problem, 25 Teaching-English-as-a-Second-Language (TESL) students were trained to conduct peer-teaching activities in Second Life virtual world. The suggestions and implications given in previous Second Life research guided the implementation of these activities in the hopes that an informed design would overcome problems previously documented by other educational users of Second Life. Despite this, the authors were not able to overcome previous difficulties, and did not find Second Life to be useful as a tool for peer-teaching in online teacher-development courses. Virtual reality, however, has promise for facilitating teacher development; thus, further investigation is needed to find an appropriate virtual venue for this purpose.

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An Overview of Child Abuses in 3D Social Networks and Online Video Games

Investigating Cyber Law and Cyber Ethics ◽

10.4018/978-1-61350-132-0.ch006 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 101-116 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Miguel A. Garcia-Ruiz ◽

Miguel Vargas Martin ◽

Patrik Olsson

Keyword(s):

Social Networks ◽

Child Abuse ◽

Video Games ◽

Second Life ◽

Virtual World ◽

Child Pornography ◽

Role Playing ◽

Text Messages ◽

Ethical And Legal Issues ◽

Network Approaches

It appears that child pornography distribution and child abuses on the Internet have permeated to massively multiplayer online role-playing video games (MMORPG) and 3D social networks, such as Second Life (SL), a compelling online virtual world where millions of users have registered. Although SL is intended for general entertainment in its adult (over 18) version, cases of simulated pedophilia have been reported inside SL’s virtual world, generated by some of its users, employing SL communication capabilities to trade and show child pornography images to exchange related text messages. This chapter provides a literature review on child pornography in MMORPGs and other 3D social networks including SL, as well as policy and network approaches for overcoming child abuse. A review on ethical and legal issues of dealing with child pornography and other types of child abuse in 3D social networks and MMORPGs is also addressed in this chapter.

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It is Only a Game

Law and Order in Virtual Worlds - Advances in Human and Social Aspects of Technology ◽

10.4018/978-1-61520-795-4.ch002 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 11-32

Author(s):

Angela Adrian

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Ubiquitous Computing ◽

Virtual Worlds ◽

Second Life ◽

Virtual World ◽

Social Worlds ◽

Star Wars ◽

The Social ◽

The One ◽

Blank Slate

In many ways, ubiquitous computing is viewed as the opposite of virtual reality. The earliest writings on ubiquitous computing recognized this fundamental difference. “Perhaps most diametrically opposed to our vision [of ubiquitous computing] is the notion of ‘virtual reality,’ which attempts to make a world inside the computer . . . . Virtual reality focuses an enormous apparatus on simulating the world rather than on invisibly enhancing the one that already exists. Indeed, the opposition between the notion of virtual reality and ubiquitous, invisible computing is so strong that some of us use the term ‘embodied virtuality’ to refer to the process of drawing computers out of their electronic shells.” (Weiser, 1991) Yet, the two share an important common trait: both are mediated by computing ability. The previous chapter introduced “MMORPGs” which are also sometimes referred to as game worlds or virtual worlds. Some of the most popular American MMORPGs are World of Warcraft, Everquest, Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Star Wars Galaxies, and City of Heroes. Legend of Mir, Final Fantasy XI, Lineage II, MU Online, Ragnarok Online, Lineage, and Kingdom of the Winds are some popular Asian MMORPGs. Dubit, Runescape, Playdo, and Habbo Hotel are popular in Europe. (Terra Nova, 2008) Another type of popular virtual world is the social virtual world, also sometimes referred to as “unstructured.” Some popular social virtual worlds are Second Life, Sims Online, Project Entropia, and There. (Virtual Worlds Review, 2008) Categorization as “social” does not fully comprehend these virtual worlds. Each world relies to an extent on user-created content. For example, Second Life started as a largely blank slate with most in-world objects being designed and created in-world by individual players. (Second Life, Create Anything, 2008) Social worlds can also have some game-like incentive aspects. The entire concept embodies far more than traditional video games.

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Virtual Identity

Stream: Interdisciplinary Journal of Communication ◽

10.21810/strm.v1i1.4 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Stephanie Yumansky

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Second Life ◽

Virtual World ◽

Real Life ◽

Ordinary People ◽

Online Forums ◽

Self Presentation ◽

Virtual Identity ◽

Complex Process ◽

Online Identities

This paper will explore the realm of virtual identity within the context of the online virtual world, Second Life. The creation of virtual identities involves the complex process of constructing an online self-presentation. With the prevalence of online forums and virtual reality, ordinary people are crafting identities online and digressing from their actual identities in real life. In order to explain this phenomenon, I draw on narrative theory's conceptualization of character in order to understand how people craft online identities.

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Virtual Commerce

Encyclopedia of E-Business Development and Management in the Global Economy ◽

10.4018/978-1-61520-611-7.ch116 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 1160-1166 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Suzanne Altobello Nasco ◽

Robert E. Boostrom ◽

Kesha K. Coker

Keyword(s):

International Economic ◽

Virtual Reality ◽

Second Life ◽

Economic Activity ◽

Virtual World ◽

World Economy ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Internet Technology ◽

World Population ◽

User Activity

Virtual reality, in a variety of implementations, is becoming more popular every day. Internet technology originally designed for education, information, and gaming is now three-dimensional, multifunctional, and morphing into loci for international economic activity. The virtual world population is quite immense. In Second Life alone, as of 2007, there was an estimated 3.1 million registered residents (Linden, 2007). There is also much user activity in Second Life with 1.4 million residents logged in within the last 60 days from March 25, 2009 (Second Life, 2009). In fact, the virtual world population is expected to reach 50 - 60 million by 2011 (Au, 2007). Of even greater interest is the revenue generated from virtual world activity. The worldwide virtual world economy is valued at approximately $1.8 billion (Dibbell, 2007).

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Second Life and World of Warcraft

Handbook of Research on Practices and Outcomes in Virtual Worlds and Environments ◽

10.4018/978-1-60960-762-3.ch012 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 236-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Chaka Chaka

Keyword(s):

Case Studies ◽

Social Presence ◽

Second Life ◽

Virtual World ◽

Role Playing ◽

World Of Warcraft ◽

Cognitive Presence ◽

Future Trends ◽

Role Playing Game

This chapter explores the potential both Second Life (SL) and World of Warcraft (WoW) as instances of a virtual world (VW) and a massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG), respectively, have for leveraging presence learning. The latter encapsulates, in this chapter, presence pedagogy, tele-presence, co-presence, social presence, and cognitive presence as mediated by both SL and WoW. In this context, this chapter contends that both SL and WoW help harness presence learning. Against this background, the chapter first provides a brief overview of SL, WoW, and presence learning. Second, it presents and discusses seven case studies demonstrating how both SL and WoW help harness presence learning. Third and last, the chapter outlines future trends for presence learning in respect of both SL and WoW.

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Painting Machinima in Second Life

Advances in Social Networking and Online Communities - New Opportunities for Artistic Practice in Virtual Worlds ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-8384-6.ch002 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 23-53

Author(s):

Phylis Johnson

Keyword(s):

Virtual Worlds ◽

Second Life ◽

Virtual World ◽

Role Playing ◽

Digital Society ◽

Role Playing Games ◽

Peter Greenaway ◽

Cultural Implications ◽

Virtual Platform ◽

Massively Multiplayer

This chapter explores the technological and artistic revolution brought forth by machinima, particularly the rise among a community of filmmakers who would begin to express their stories and ideas through virtual worlds. Machinima has led to an emergence of scholarship on its aesthetics and cultural implications for digital society. The case of machinima as art is illustrated through a review of select works of virtual world filmmakers. This discussion also distinguishes the machinima concepts of game, virtual platform and more specifically virtual worlds to their varying degrees and relationships. It is here that one delineates the purpose of machinima within Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) to that of virtual worlds such as Second Life (SL). In doing so, the author follows the innovation of machinima through the evolution of gaming and its extension to stand-alone ready-to-wear software to potentialities called forth by British filmmaker Peter Greenaway regarding Second Life.

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Real thinking with virtual hats: A role-playing activity for pre-service teachers in Second Life

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology ◽

10.14742/ajet.843 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Sue Gregory ◽

Yvonne Masters

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Pilot Study ◽

Second Life ◽

Virtual World ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Real Life ◽

Role Playing ◽

Qualitative Survey ◽

Physical Setting ◽

Insight Into

<blockquote>Role-plays in a virtual world hold tremendous potential for higher education because they allow synchronous, immersive participation by students located across the globe. They also have the added advantage of allowing students to adopt roles and carry out tasks that are not possible in the real world. In this article, a project that involved pre-service teachers carrying out role-plays based on de Bono's Six Thinking Hats framework is presented. A pilot study was carried out over two years with on-campus students, who performed the role-plays both in a real-life, physical setting and within the virtual world of Second Life. The activity has since been extended to off-campus students exclusively using Second Life. The authors report selected quantitative and qualitative survey data from the pilot study that provide insight into students' perceptions of this style of learning, and discuss the challenges that were encountered and how they were overcome. The future of virtual world-based role-playing as a strategy for teaching and learning is discussed, with a focus on its application to distance education contexts.</blockquote>

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Chicken Killers or Bandwidth Patriots?

Moral, Ethical, and Social Dilemmas in the Age of Technology ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-2931-8.ch011 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 140-160

Author(s):

Kurt Reymers

Keyword(s):

Second Life ◽

Virtual World ◽

Large Scale ◽

Just War ◽

Just War Theory ◽

Role Playing ◽

Physical Damage ◽

The Social ◽

Resource Dilemma ◽

Psychological Harm

In 2008, a resident of a computerized virtual world called “Second Life” programmed and began selling a “realistic” virtual chicken. It required food and water to survive, was vulnerable to physical damage, and could reproduce. This development led to the mass adoption of chicken farms and large-scale trade in virtual chickens and eggs. Not long after the release of the virtual chickens, a number of incidents occurred which demonstrate the negotiated nature of territorial and normative boundaries. Neighbors of chicken farmers complained of slow performance of the simulation and some users began terminating the chickens, kicking or shooting them to “death.” All of these virtual world phenomena, from the interactive role-playing of virtual farmers to the social, political and economic repercussions within and beyond the virtual world, can be examined with a critical focus on the ethical ramifications of virtual world conflicts. This paper views the case of the virtual chicken wars from three different ethical perspectives: as a resource dilemma, as providing an argument from moral and psychological harm, and as a case in which just war theory can be applied.

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