Virtual Learning Worlds

I remember hearing years ago that a Lego MMO was in the works, dubbed Lego Universe.  Being a huge Lego fan as a kid, and still playing with Legos with my nieces, I felt this was a fantastic idea.  But the more I thought about what Lego represents (free-form building and creation) compared to the generic MMO mold (linear gameplay, little-to-no custom creation), I wondered how they team at Net Devil would pull this off.

Lego Universe is set to release this October, and judging from the videos, it looks fantastic.  In several of my Virtual world talks, I get into the “virtual world roadmap”, the idea that as kids grow up, a sort of r0admap of different MMOs exists as they mature.  My nieces started with Toon Town, then tried some Whyville and continue to spend some time in Club Penguin.  Disney created Pirates of the Caribbean to be part of the “Disney MMO Roadmap”, but it feels like they might need something between Toon Town and Pirates.  As I read more about Lego Universe, it appears that it could be *the* bridge MMO, easing players into the ‘traditional’ MMO model leveraged by Warcraft, EverQuest, Lord of the Rings and most adult MMOs.  But it also maintains some of the playfulness and low-stakes environments that the children’s MMOs exhibit.

Below is a fantastic video illustrating how Net Devil leveraged a large portion of the Lego community to not only contribute ideas, but to learn the toolset to actually contribute content that is in the game world.  Also, Lego Universe will have a large user-generated content area and these Lego enthusiasts will represent the first ‘power user’ group in the Lego Universe, having the ability to create and add content at launch.

Something that has been active internally with Blizzard for a long time now has just gone into Beta: Remote Auction House access via the web or an iPhone, iTouch or iPad.

For those few soles that never experienced World of Warcraft, the Auction House is just what you would expect: a central place for players to buy and sell goods between one another. The catch: many people play ‘the auction house game‘, buying low and selling high, following supply-and-demand trends. Some players that get very good at this then take their in-game gold, and sell it for actual real world dollars on sites like eBay and other game exchange services.

The magic circle of gaming has been broken around the edges for several years now, but it seemed to be on the fringe, something that was actively frowned upon and many times banned by publishers. While Blizzard still maintains that buying and selling of virtual goods for real money is against their Terms of Service, this move will increase the level of real money transactions for a time. Besides, allowing people to access the virtual world from outside the virtual world kind of breaks the magic circle anyway, right?

Some interesting times to be in the MMO space these days. Like usual, many companies are embarking on MMO projects (and if history is any indication, many will likely fail). BUT…some of the projects have the potential to really push the genre forward.

Star Wars: The Old Republic (Bioware): Bioware is the undisputed king of story in games. Just take a look at their catalog of games (Knights of the old republic, neverwinter nights, baludur’s gate, mass effect, dragon age) of great games that rely heavily on great story. With their more recent releases, they’ve taken storytelling to a new, interactive level where your decisions actually impact the characters you interact with and the world around you. Many game companies claim their games do this, but Bioware is the only company that pulls off the promise. They’ve promised this in an MMO, where story typically falls to the back burner. Especially YOUR story in an MOO. It’s very easy to get lost in the shuffle of thousands of people, where you stop feeling like your character narrative is unique and it simply becomes the same as hundreds of other characters. When the Old Republic hits in 2011, I hope we’ll see innovation in storytelling in an MMO.

Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet): I enjoyed the original Guild Wars briefly, because a little game called World of Warcraft came out around the same time. I still pop-in to GW from time to time. Guild Wars 2 is shaping up to really innovate in the quest model of MMOs. In a typical quest, in games such as WoW, you might find an NPC that gives you a quest along the lines of “Please, save my farm from these zombies!” and you’re directed to go and kill 10 zombies. Well…the zombies aren’t really destroying the farm, they are just wandering around in a field, minding their own business. You go fill 10, turn in, and go on your way. Guild Wars 2 is implementing what they call a dynamic events system that could take the old model and turn it on its head. Building on the example above, if you (or someone else in the world) don’t stop the zombies, they WILL destroy the farm. Then, if no one wipes them from the farm, they WILL move to the closest town and start attacking that. Events will cascade from to the other, making a very unique environment that could potentially change each time you visit, and keep the game fresh for a long time.

Finally, we have Blizzard’s unannounced MMO project. Most of their leads from the original Warcraft are all working on the new game now. Knowing Blizzard’s history and high standards, plus the huge amount of knowledge they’ve gained with WoW…whatever they do next I’m sure will push the envelope in a LOT of ways from a design perspective.

The next 2-4 years will be a VERY interesting time, a time when we might see actual innovation in a genre that really just continues to build on the D&D design and mechanics established in the 70s and 80s.

A few things have been bouncing around in my brain lately on the game front. I’ve been a customer of Gamefly for about 3 months now, so I’ve been able to try a lot of games on the cheap. One thing that still irritates me is the input device for the Xbox 360 (yes, I’m talking about the controller). I guess the controller isn’t the sole problem, it’s in combination of designers trying to leverage every single button and button combo the controller has to offer. See GTA IV’s scheme below, and NOTE that many of the buttons have duel functions, some even 3 functions in the game.

* Photo from gaming today.

I tend to put a game down for weeks at a time, then come back to it. It’s frustrating when you come back to it and it takes 20 minutes to recall all the different button combos you need to beat a boss fight. I wonder if a gaming system with an ‘old skool’ input device would be profitable? Or making a controller like the NES (D-pad and 2 buttons) that is Xbox-compatible that designers could design for? Designers: You don’t HAVE to use all those buttons just because they are there!

This brings me to another idea I’ve had for a while: why not provide a subscription model to indie games on Xbox Live of the PSN? Spending $5-$20 for a crappy downloadable game is disheartening and puts a taint on possible future purchases, giving the buyer good reason to second guess. What if you provide a $20 per month model for access to Xbox Live? Maybe it’s structured in such a way that you can only have up to 4 games downloaded on your hard drive at any given time. Maybe it allows you to play up 50% of a game, then you’re forced to buy (vs. the typical 8-10% demos provide). Maybe it simply nets you 5 downloads a month? With the time commitment and complexity of most AAA games, I’m much more inclined to go the path of Indie games, but there just isn’t an appealing alternative model than outright purchases.

Finally, anyone catch Blizzard’s recent item in the Blizzard store? The Celestial Steed is a ridable mount in Warcraft, that offers NO gameplay advantages. Simply a 100% aesthetic ride for your digital persona in WoW.


* Photo from Joystiq

So this thing costs the player a one-time, $25 cost. Here’s a look at the math:
$25.00 x 200,000 purchases = $5,000,000

Here’s the kicker…Blizzard sold 200,000 of these mounts IN THE FIRST 4 HOURS it was on sale. That’s a cool $5mil, in 4 hours, for a digital horse you can ride around on that likely took a few artists and animators a couple weeks to produce.

Insane.

I was recently alerted that Virtual Learning Worlds was ranked in the top 50 educational blogs for 2010 by Sir Learnalot’s Knowledge Blog, which appears to be part of a site dealing with online college rankings.

I can’t say I’ve ever been to this site or heard of Sir Learnalot…but thanks all the same!

In other news, I’ve updated the Presentations page with recent talks from Educause last month, as well as a NATO talk I gave in late 2009 on virtual worlds and games with military applications. I also updated the About page with timely information on my current job and a few other musings.

In my new position I’m working with a LOT of institutional data. The first of what might be many did you knows:

Did you know that, since 2000, females tend to graduate almost a semester quicker than their male counterparts at PSU?

As part of the Learning in 3D Blog Book Tour, I wanted to focus on a few themes that I’ve encountered during my time working with, and researching, different types of virtual worlds. Instead of focusing on a specific chapter or attempting to summarize parts of the book, I selected three different categories that are all touched on (some more than others) in Learning in 3D.

1. User Interfaces (UIs)
I find the interface obstacle very interesting. I’ve designed many interfaces (mostly in 2D) as well as researched UIs in the context of emergency response scenarios. Interfaces come up throughout the book. One quote I particularly like is from Karen Keeter (IBM), in Chapter 9:

At the same time, I believe that the onus is on developers to design for
new users, while still enabling advanced users.

Karen identifies UIs as one of the primary obstacles for newcomers experimenting in virtual worlds, and I couldn’t agree more. In the past, I remember reading about the “typical Second Life experience” for first time users. Nearly 90% of people that create a Second Life account NEVER come back. I believe the UI has a lot to do with this statistic.

One idea around this obstacle is the use of Phased interfaces.

Chapter 8 deals with the diffusion of innovation, touching on typical fears people have about entering a virtual world:

People know what to expect in a 2D virtual class session or in a face to face classroom. Not so with a VIE. The interface, functionality, and experience level with VIEs are not universally high, and the lack of familiarity causes resistance and/or fear among potential users and decision makers.

In addition to the interface and functionality obstacles, a huge trade-off exists between what’s FAMILIAR in a virtual world, and what’s USABLE. People might know what to expect in a face-to-face class session on the human heart. They also might know what to expect from a 2D virtual class session on the human heart. Both of these scenarios might involve diagrams of the heart, maybe a small model of the heart for students to pass around and discussions on blood flow and the major heart compartments. But in 3D, you can do all sorts of wild things like make the avatar a red blood cell, funnel the avatar through the heart, pointing out compartments along the way, allowing the avatar to stop and examine different things, measure blood flow, capture data from the simulation…if designed right, these are powerful, very usable experiences. But trying to mimic a f2f or 2D lesson or activity in 3D is generally NOT very usable…but it is familiar. Avatars passing around a small virtual model of a heart is something familiar, something we might experience naturally. Flying through a heart at high speeds as a red blood cell, not so much.

* NOTE: worth pointing out at this point is that I contributed to Chapter 7 of this book, specifically addressing design decisions and usability vs. familiarity when designing 3D spaces.

2. Informal Learning
Chapter 2 addresses concerns around formal learning vs. informal learning in virtual worlds.

The autonomous learner problem has two core issues: (1) where the need for learning typically arises and (2) how web technologies make it increasingly easy for people to become on - demand learners.

I think it’s too early to tell how virtual worlds play into this. I consider myself an on-demand learner, and I find myself relying on Google, Facebook and my IM contacts to provide critical information on-demand. I struggle to envision a scenario where I open up a virtual world and go seek information on-demand. I have been told that virtual IBM’ers often interact informally in Second Life, and managers of virtual teams are finding value in “management by virtually walking around”, similar to how managers in co-located, physical spaces communicate to team members.

Still, virtual worlds (specifically MMOs) are fantastic training environments for meta-skills such as problem solving, collaboration, teamwork, leadership and basic mathematics (see Steinkuehler, J.Gee, C.Aldrich, C.Quinn, J.Bower and several others). One interesting aspect of this learning comes from things that happen OUTSIDE the virtual world, such as through VoIP, Discussion Boards, IMs and other communication where people are talking about the virtual world and their experiences within.

With training professionals reporting anywhere from 50% to 95% of learning occurring informally, this is an interesting space that virtual worlds will play a role. Design will play a critical role in this evolution (from Chapter 3):

Even if the goal is to foster informal learning, the VIE must be structured appropriately to encourage and enable interaction between and among learners. If not, the result is a virtual ghost town. No one comes to visit, and the place is empty

3. Characters
This comes a bit more from game design, but also applies to virtual worlds. One thing that connects us to learning and our learning environment are the characters, or people, we interact. Sometimes it’s an instructor that tells great stories about his or her experiences that allows you as the learner to relate better and put more context around the content. Perhaps it’s a friend, that pushes you in a course to perform better.

The beautiful thing about virtual worlds is that we can fabricate characters (sometimes called non-player characters or NPCs) with artificial intelligence (AI). The last three years has seen an explosion in the depth of story and character development in video games, to the point that the player starts to care about their virtual, AI-controlled companions (for example, check out either Mass Effect game or Dragon Age: Origins). Even in MMOs like World of Warcraft, Blizzard is placing more priority on creating characters with deep back stories, providing a new, higher-level of engagement between the player and the game world.

These are three areas I find critical to the adoption and success of virtual worlds as learning/training environments. If we figure out how to create phased interfaces, quality informal learning spaces and characters the learner can empathize with, we’ll have a learning environment unlike any other.

For people that do not play World of Warcraft, the first part of this post is not relevant. Jeff Kaplan, the lead world designer for World of Warcraft, is moving on. No, he’s not leaving Blizzard, but he’s no longer working on World of Warcraft (more on this in a moment). Rob Pardo, VP of Game Design at Blizzard, often gets a lot of credit for WoW (made Time’s list of 100 most influential people in the world in 2006), but it was Kaplan who spent countless hours interacting with the community via his presence in all the betas, as well as interacting heavily with players via the official wow forums early in the game’s lifespan. You can hear part of his story in the third Warcraft retrospective at game trailers.

If you’ve ever played warcraft and certain aspects of the game really stand out as memorable moments or experiences…chances are Kaplan had a hand in that. He had a huge hand in shaping the experiences of 14 million people over the last six years. I struggle to fathom how someone like Jeff managed to pull ALL the elements of a game like WoW together, and turn them into powerful, memorable experiences for so many people.

Enough of memory lane. What I find very interesting is that Kaplan is moving on to Blizzard’s “Next-gen, unannounced MMO”. I vaguely remember Blizzard hinting at this a year or so ago, and it appears that it must be moving forward at a decent pace. If Kaplan is being moved to the project, I would assume they already have core technologies in place for this game so Kaplan and the design crew can begin their magic. But why a new MMO from Blizzard? They already have the MMO market (and arguably most of the PC gaming market) cornered. Why create a competitor for your own product? Ultima Online intended to make a UO2, but eventually scrapped the project in favor of expansions and updating the original UO instead of creating a competitor. Will this new, next-gen MMO significantly impact warcraft? Probably.

Then again, this is Blizzard. Their track record is impeccable, all their games are critically acclaimed, and after the merger with Activision, they are now part of the biggest force in the industry right now (which allows for even more resources of all kinds). Whenever this game arrives on store shelves, it will certainly be worth checking out…

…and if it’s anywhere near as good as WoW (my bet? it will be), many people will go beyond just ‘checking it out’ and be treated to a plethora of fun and memorable experiences crafted by Kaplan and his team.

Last week PS3 Home finally went live. I say finally because it was originally schedule to be released over a year ago. So what exactly is PS3 Home?

PlayStation Home , also called just Home, is a community-based service for the PlayStation Network which has been in development since early 2005. Home allows you to create an avatar for your PS3. You will also get your own virtual apartment, which you can decorate yourself. In the future the service will also expand, allowing players to have more sorts of clothing or bigger apartments.

And what happens in PS3 Home when it launches, and there’s not a whole lot to do for the users?

That’s right, the good ‘ol gag where dudes create attractive female avatars and fool other dudes into thinking it’s an actual female on the other side of the controller. Don’t get me wrong, I think Home has a lot of potential (as do a lot of the Sony executives). But this illustrates what I find to be a comical (and interesting) phenomon; the typical noobie experience in virtual worlds.

In Second Life, first-time users often strip down naked and wander around noobie island.

In ProtoSphere, first-time users open up the emote system and rapidly click multiple emotes which makes your avatar look like it’s having a seizure.

Apparently in PS3 Home, it’s pretending to be a female (something that often happens in Second Life as well).

When will a virtual world find the right balance between game-like, goal-directed activities and an open, sandbox world? There’s a lot of money to be made if someone finds the happy medium.

Between work and the PhD grind, I’ve been rampaging through Northrend, taking in all the sites and sounds of the new Warcraft expansion. I was catching up with RSS feeds today when I read about Blizzard’s sales figures for Wrath of the Lich King over the first 24-hours.

That figure? 2.8 MILLION copies…

…in 24 hours.

I’ve been presenting a lot on Warcraft lately for a few grad classes at PSU, and I try to put some of these numbers into perspective (which is hard to do).

WoW subscribers have surpassed the 11 million mark. If Azeroth were a country, this would place it ~75th largest in the world, between Greece and Chad.

11 million people pay AT LEAST $12 a month to play the game, some paying as much as $15. $12.00 x 11M = $132 million dollars A MONTH for Blizzard.

The Burning crusade, the first WoW expansion, sold 2.4 million copies in the first 24-hours, which set a record. Wrath just broke this record by an additional 400,000 copies.

The Burning crusade also set the record for most copies of a game sold in a single month, 3.5M, and Wrath will likely break that.

The expansion costs $40.00. $40.00 x 2.8M = $112M for blizzard in ONE DAY.

I realize all this money does not go directly to Blizzard, other organizations are in the loop such as publishers…but still, these numbers are hard to grasp.

Goolge announced this week that Lively, it’s quasi-virtual world service, is going to be shut down on December 31st. I’m not sure what to make of this, partially because I never had the chance to experience it due to being a windows-only application. I guess a lot of people were underwhelmed, as I was, when this first rolled out.

Kudos to Google for taking a chance. As they stated in their blog post, not all risks succeed. Often times failure provides the best learning experiences. Here’s to hoping Google re-enters this space at a later time, with a better platform.