Virtual Learning Worlds

I’ve been extremely busy lately, preparing to teach my course (which starts today) and trying to get a dissertation proposal out the door. I’m using a LOT of technology and technology services offered by Penn State to students, faculty, and staff. Many of which are still in beta. One such service is Podcasting. Penn State is part of iTunes U, an educational segment of the iTunes music store. I’ve been part of many podcasts, most notably the famous “From the Basement” (the site has been down for a long time due to overwhelming traffic!). But that was more of a social, talk-show style podcast. How can I utilize podcasting to support my course?

Record class lectures? I realize some people are doing this at PSU, but I have some issues with this. Besides, I don’t anticipate talking at my students (IE: lecturing) all that much. I’d much rather be a facilitator…give them what they need, and get out of the way.

Interviews with campus personnel that are experts in certain fields? Now we’re on to something. This is actually the first podcast I produced, an interview with Chris Millet regarding the podcasting@PSU initiative. I hope to continue this every week or two, based on the content of the week.

Q&A sessions? This could be interesting. I intend to open up a “Questions?” post on my course blog EVERY Friday. The idea is that students can post questions, I can collect the questions, then create a podcast addressing those questions Monday morning. By the time we meet on Tuesday afternoon, I’m hoping that the students will have listened to the podcast, and nearly all their questions have been sufficiently addressed.

My general thought behind this is that course time is precious, and should be spent doing high-end discussion, brainstorming, and learning activities. Anything I can reasonably take out of those 3 hours a week and put into a different medium without losing the effect is something I’ll be spending a lot of time tampering with this semester. Any other ideas on how to leverage the podcasts for a course?

I’ve been putting together an analysis document regarding various virtual world tools available, but with an educational perspective. Once it’s done, I’ll post it here. But for the time being, I’ve found two sites that have helped out quite a bit.

Virtual Worlds Review - This has been around for a while, and provides basic information like URLs, brief descriptions, etc. Very helpful in getting my analysis underway.

Virtual Environments Information - This was just passed to me today actually, and motivated me to post. Just this chart alone makes this a worthwhile find. Hopefully I’ll find some time soon to go over the site in more detail, it looks like it contains a wealth of great info!

One of my colleagues will approach me about once a month to ask the same question:
“What’s the next big thing in gaming?”

I usually just bounce random thoughts around on this topic, pointing to some interesting new feature I read about that will be tied to some new release. But things are starting to solidify in my mind regarding this question. To be precise, two things:

1. Real-time data being incorporated into games. I’ve already blogged a few times about Shark Runner and it’s incorporation of real-time data from shark sensors in the pacific. A university from Colorado is has a real-time weather map of the United States in Second Life, complete with weather animations above cities. EA Sports is introducing real-time weather data into NCAA ‘08 to provide more depth to the experience. I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg as net-enabled consoles become the norm.

2. User-generated videos that are easy to create and share. Again, NCAA ‘08 has incorporated this into the mix, allowing players to capture key plays on video, from a variety of vantage points, then upload and share via Xbox live. Gamers on the PC have always been able to do this with additional software like Fraps, but now games like World of Warcraft and others are embedding this feature into their software. The next version in the Burnout series will allow users to capture videos of their favorite car wrecks (again, choosing from a variety of angles) and upload on the fly to share with friends. Another cool thing you can do with these videos is make them the default videos that play during loading screens for games.

Based on the statistics of my last post, it’s no coincidence game designers and developers are experimenting with the video angle.

(EDIT: Someone pointed out user-generated content as well. I agree, it’s definitely a trend. But since it’s been around in games for a long, long time, I didn’t roll it into this post.)

If you’re into the gaming scene, you’ve no doubt heard something about casual games. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be any agreed upon definition of a casual game, so here’s what I clipped from Wikipedia:

The term casual game is used to refer to a category of electronic or computer games targeted at a mass audience —typically with very simple rules or play techniques, a very low degree of strategy, making them easy to learn and play as a pastime. They require no long-term time commitment or special skills to play, and there are comparatively low production and distribution costs for the producer.

Now, life gets in the way of gaming…particularly when you get older and start tackling more responsibility, both professionally and personally. Considering the first generation of computer gamers are now moving into executive ranks, have a family life, and a plethora of other responsibilities it’s no surprise that the casual market is growing rapidly.

But what does the casual gaming market really look like? A report by Parks Associates claims the casual games market is King…for the moment.

…gaming is still champion of online activities, with 34 percent of adult users playing games weekly compared to 29 percent using sites like YouTube and 19 percent using social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.

Interesting data points. Then the report mentions growth rate over the last year:
- Online games 79%
- Social Neworking sites 46%
- Streaming video sites 123%

I find this report interesting (and I assume one of my colleagues will also find this interesting), but I’m curious about the validity of the data regarding games. They seem to intertwine “online games” and “casual games” quite a bit. For instance, is the 79% online games growth rate ONLY counting online casual games? Or is this number inflated by things like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, etc? These are definitely NOT casual, but it’s hard to decipher whether these data points were included in the report. If the numbers are only from online casual games…my jaw would hit the floor. I knew this was a growing segment of the game industry, but had no idea it was growing this fast.

Time to go play a song or two on Guitar Hero…would you call that a casual game?

The Second Life article from Wired I blogged about a few weeks ago seemed to have taken on a life of its own. Wagner James Au, the first virtual reporter to embed himself within SL, offered up this piece as a counter-argument to the Wired piece. Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief of Wired, also offered up this piece, on why he is done with Second Life. A lot of back-and-forth takes place between the blogs, but it’s an interesting dialogue.

The problem I have with it, is that it deals almost COMPLETELY with Second Life as it pertains to marketing and corporations…and inevitabley why SL sucks in that space. I really wish we could get away from this argument for a while. Sure, SL has its issues (technololgy infrastructure, support, shady adult content, unstable and unpredictable economy to name a few), but it still holds HUGE potential for education and training opportunities. Maybe I’m just biased due to my background, but it seems that very little attention is being paid to this portion of SL. At least outside the EDU/training circles.

I stumbled upon an interesting article over at Gamasutra (via Wonderland) dealing with the Chemistry of Game Design. The author makes some unique comparisons between game design and alchemy, how they are both very imperfect sciences, require a lot of guesswork, generally imperfect. We need to look closely at games and make the design less guesswork (alchemy) and more science (chemistry).

The entire article is worth reading, but the point I’d like to stress is based around the learning that occurs within the game. This takes place in the form of skill acquisition. The author stresses this is one of the three major keys when explaining a game model.

Play is instinctual. In low stimulation environments where we are not actively pursuing activities related to food and shelter, people will begin playing by default. Strong feedback mechanisms in the form boredom or frustration prod us into action. Given a spare moment, we throw ourselves into playing with blocks or dolls as children and more intricate hobbies as adults. It is a sign of our need for meaningful stimulation that solitary confinement remains a vicious punishment for the most hardened criminals.

The flip side is that we are rewarded for learning. The sensation that gamers term ‘fun’ is derived from the act of mastering knowledge, skills and tools. When you learn something new, when you understand it so fully you can use that knowledge to manipulate your environment for the better, you experience joy.

Neuroscience actually explains this joy as a chemical release in our brains. Learning within games is almost like a drug: when you succeed through play, these chemicals are released, you experience joy, and it’s something that your brain wants to re-create.

We need to get more of this type of model into our formal training and education environments. When I first started in this field, my initial “ah ha” moment dealt with how we could make educational environments as engging as MMOs. Probably because the MMO environment is where I spend most of my time and have most of my “ah ha” moments. But by scientifically looking at the model prevelant within games, we have a formula to experiment with and apply to education and training settings.

Is it possible to make learning, in a formal sense, addictive? Similar to this sense of play and accomplishment within games?

Had to put this out there:
Bogost on Colbert

Ian fighting the good fight on a popular TV show…great stuff for our whole field.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Linden Labs has been involved in a few court cases revolving around IP within Second Life. Now, I’m unsure if this is the case that’s created the storm, but a storm is brewing. Basically, a SL creator was making money off a popular item, and another user found a way to duplicate the item, and undercut the original creator on the price. Check out the link above to learn more about the case (WARNING: the object in question is some sort of sex toy, but it may as well represent anything of value SL users are creating and selling).

It’s been a busy couple weeks, and I’ve lost touch with whether or not another big IP issue has surfaced in SL. The reason I’ve been looking was due to a recent chat with some IBM’ers. From what I understand, they have completely halted production in Second Life due to recent IP issue. I find it hard to believe it’s the emerging case above…it sounded to me it was a different case in which Linden Labs actually seized creations of a user who was disgruntled with Linden and wanted to move his virtual business to a new virtual world (probably deleting all his SL assets in the process). This is speculation at this point as I can’t seem to find a reference to this story. If anyone tracks a reference down, please post it below or send me an emial.

EDIT: maybe the big fuss is about the land ownership suit filed in PA court last year? Seems a bit dated.

I always found it fascinating that so many organizations have been willing to allow Linden Labs to host what essentially is organizational knowledge and assets on servers outside the organization’s firewall and/or server centers. Depending on how all this IP stuff shakes out, I have a feeling the Second Life and Virtual World landscape could change quite a bit, specifically when it comes to for-profit organizations.

For example:
IBM’s Next Virtual World: Looks to be utlizing Torque (an engine we’re looking at here at Penn State), which can be hosted on IBM’s own infrastructure.

Sun’s Virtual Intranet: This looks fascinating. We’re trying to put together a trip to chat with the Sun folks behind this platform and see if we can’t make some in-roads.

Lockheed Martin: No links to their project (it’s quadruple top secret, like everything else from LM!), but our College has a close relationship and I’ve spoken to some of their technology R&D folks. They’ve purchased some off-the-shelf engine technology, and are creating their own VW platform for internal use, similar to what Sun appears to have.

ProtoSphere: I really like the ideas behind ProtoSphere, but in terms of the challenges Second Life is facing with IP and organization’s who want to host their own platform, similar issues may arise. I’ve spoke with the founder, and his vision/ideas are extremely engaging. I’m trying to roll this into some projects here at the College.

After refueling and plotting another course, I encountered a new shark, “Vicki”. I got to the decision screen where I could choose between what types research data to collect, and I decided to backtrack to an earlier screen that had the research legend (I wanted to check on a certain data abbreviation).

BOOO for bad navigation mechanics within the framework of the game.

After backtracking to view the abbreviations, I somehow missed my opportunity to research the shark. Now, I realize this was probably a “PBCAC” issue (problem between chair and computer), but the game should at least have provided a fail-safe or double-check screen. “Are you sure you want to leave the shark alone?” “Would you like to continue on course in search of a different shark?”. Something like this would have been extremely helpful so I don’t accidentally miss my chance to collect more research.

Right when I was getting ready to send the decoy seal into the water for the first time…

I woke up this morning next to the port San Luis. This is the first time I’ve been able to re-fuel and check out the options I have in the port, which include:
- Upgrading my boat. This includes models that carry more fuel, larger crew, and higher top speed.
- Buy equipment. Dive cages, mail dive suits, and a seal decoy (which I just purchased with my tiny funds).
- Crew. Two new crew members are available for hire.

I’m curious how I can use the seal decoy and if other ports offer different items and/or options.

Charting another course…

(NOTE: If I had to classify this game, I’d place it firmly in the RPG category. Just looking back at this post and the previous two posts, I’ve gone from talking about the game from a third person perspective, to actually projecting myself into the game. The boat > My Boat. The crew > my crew.)