Thar’s Research Gold in Them Virtual Hills

I found an interesting article examining the state of research surrounding virtual worlds whilst lurking over at Terra Nova. A recent issue of Science carried the article entitled, “The Scientific Research Potential of Virtual Worlds.” It took some effort to find a free copy of the article online, but I located a PDF of it here.

Author William Sims Bainbridge, over at the NSF, begins by lumping both Second Life and World of Warcraft into the same category of VWs. Comparisons between the two most popular, highest covered VWs seem appropriate enough. Bainbridge’s big contribution to the discussion, though, is to examine the different avenues for research each VW offers.

In terms of scientific research methodologies, one can do interviews and ethnographic research in both environments, but other methods would work better in one than the other. SL is especially well designed to mount formal experiments in social psychology or cognitive science, because the researcher can construct a facility comparable to a real-world laboratory and recruit research subjects. WoW may be better for nonintrusive statistical methodologies examining social networks and economic systems, because it naturally generates a vast trove of diverse but standardized data about social and economic interactions. Both allow users to create new software modules to extract data.

Bainbridge spends the remainder of the article discussing various research efforts in the two worlds, while touching on some other efforts in places like Whyville, Quest Atlantis, and River City. The main categories for the remainder of the paper include: establishing virtual laboratories in world; observational social and economic science; and computer and information science. Bainbridge’s conclusion discusses the multitude of opportunities for research and the varieties in approach that are possible in VWs.

Bainbridge concludes on a positive note, remarking on the large number of academic efforts within VWs.

Many virtual worlds may foster scientific habits of mind better than traditional schools can, because they constantly require inhabitants to experiment with unfamiliar alternatives, rationally calculate probable outcomes, and develop complex theoretical structures to understand their environment … The “graduates” of SL and WoW may include many future engineers, natural scientists, and social scientists ready to remake the real world in the image of the virtual worlds.

This is a nice article with a good approach at examining the research issues surrounding VWs. Be sure and check out the extensive citation list as well.

References
Bainbridge, W. S. (2007, July 27). Science, 317(5837), 472-476.

Force Feedback Vest Makes an Impact

I wrote last week about brain computer interfaces (BCIs), that allow players to control the game without using hands. This week, news hit about affordable feedback vests that should liven up many an action game and see applications in the medical and educational fields.

The idea is simple, really. When your avatar receives a “hit” in the game, you feel a corresponding thwack from the vest. Dr. Mark Ombrellaro (the surgeon kind of doctor, not the teacher kind) has designed the “3rd Space impact vest” and is introducing it to the consumer market through TN Games for less than $200 retail.

Since Dr. Ombrellaro is in the medical field, his original vest was designed to provide haptic feedback to surgeons performing telemedicine. Stevie Smith reports on MonstersandCritics.com that the medical version is awaiting FDA approval, and is considerably more complex than the consumer videogame version. Future versions for the gaming market will reportedly offer g-force feedback from simulated air travel and racing games.

Images from the movie Lawnmower Man were my first thoughts when hearing about the impact vest. “Old style” virtual reality always involved wearing a suit in science fiction tales, while “newer” technologies took place purely in the mind, like in The Matrix.

A few years back, someone came out with the PainStation, which offered players an opportunity to hurt their opponents electronically upon winning a videogame (or be hurt themselves if they lost). Sony put the kibosh on the PainStation toot sweet. I can imagine some enterprising hacker tweaking impact vests so they delivers a stunning impact, then having true knock down fights over the Internet.

As we see the price point drop for advanced haptic devices and things like brain interfaces, expect more beneficial applications for educational and assistive technologies. The impact vest may certainly offer a training benefit during various simulations, or at least add an element of realism.

Slay a Dragon, Learn a Language

I’ve long felt MMORPGs can provide the sort of immersive environment that is so conducive to learning a foreign language. The military apparently feels the same way, and the DARPA-funded Rapid Tactical Language Training System, developed by USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering’s Center for Research in Technology for Education (CARTE) paved the way for advanced MMORPG use in language and cultural acquisition starting in 2004.

Now, other universities have professors conducting research on the benefits of using MMORPGs for second language acquisition. Since some of the biggest MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft (WoW), already have English as their default language, some of the most intriguing research derives from efforts to help Asians learn to speak English while playing in these MMORPGs.

John K. Waters, a freelance writer in Palo Alto covering high tech developments and Silicon Valley, wrote the cover story for the most recent issue of THE Journal. Waters discusses various efforts to offer ESL and language learning within modern MMORPGs. He begins by discussing the work of Dr. Edd Schneider over at the Dept. of Information and Communications Technology at SUNY Potsdam, and grad student Kai Zheng, who has designed games and written for videogame magazines in China.

Dr. Schneider notes, as I have previously, that Asian parents in general and Chinese parents in particular strongly dislike videogames. They are seen as a waste of time, and generally disruptive to the well-being of children. On the other hand, acquisition of English speaking skills is seen as desirable. Consequently, combining MMORPGs with their “forbidden” (and therefore appealing) aspects with language acquisition may well make for a winning pedagogical formula in Asian countries. Dr. Schneider’s key quote: “I really believe that if Blizzard [WoW’s parent company] started an ESL server of English in China, they would make a fortune.”

Additional academic research covered by Waters in the article includes work by Dr. Bruce Gooch while at Northwestern (he is now at U. Victoria over in B.C.), with grad students Yolanda Rankin and Rachel Gold, using MMORPGs for ESL. The team used EverQuest II, which offers more text labeling and more scripted audio feedback from NPCs than WoW, in a pilot study exploring potential benefits. The key quote from Dr. Gooch: “We know that learning is accelerated if we have an emotional response to the learning. We believe that’s what might be going on in the game. I want to defeat an opponent. I’m worried, I’m scared, I’m excited—I’m interested. You tend to remember things that strike you this way.” How true; this emotional aspect to learning in MMORPGs may well provide a rich field of research in the future.

Dr. Gooch plans to continue work at U. Victoria; Yolanda Rankin plans to continue work at Ole Miss. One key benefit uncovered in their preliminary efforts was the fact that mistakes were perceived as being made by the students’ avatars, not the students themselves. This allowed a measure of face-saving that evidently is deemed important by Asian students.

In a sidebar, Waters also notes efforts at language studies in Second Life. He brings up a research project at non-profit SRI International’s Center for Technology in Learning called Lakamaka Island in SL. Efforts are spearheaded by PIs Valerie Crawford and Phil Vahey from the Institute. “Learning Technology Engineer” John Brecht has a key quote: “Rather than running students through exercises in the abstract, practicing words and phrases from a textbook, the virtual world allows you to engage students in a virtual role-playing exercise.”

Finally, John Nordlinger from the Microsoft Research Group is given wrap up comments. One potential argument, that language learners might pick up various sword and sorcery terms in these medieval fantasy worlds that are not commonly used in everyday English, is countered by Nordlinger. He notes that such uncommon terms in everyday usage are also rampant in popular English literature such as the Harry Potter novels.

Nordlinger surmises that MMORPGs will not completely supplant foreign language teachers, but may well offer powerful supplemental vehicles for language acquisition. This is an assessment with which I heartily concur.

References:
Waters, J. K. (2007, October). On a quest for English. THE Journal, 34(10). 27-32.

Engaged to Learn? Study Shows MMORPGs Rule

I corresponded recently with Dr. Joshua Smyth over at Syracuse’s Dept. of Psychology, who graciously sent me a copy of his most recent paper concerning research regarding MMORPGs and their influence on college students.

Dr. Smyth set up an experiment with 100 college students, and divided them equally into four groups. Each group he asked to play a different genre of videogames for a month. One group was given a batch of tokens and asked to play the games of their choice in a traditional video arcade. Another group was given access to PlayStation 2 consoles to play Gauntlet: Dark Legacy. The third group was given Diablo II for the PC. The fourth group played the MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot. To guard against self-selection bias, group assignments were randomized. All participants were given free access to games and equipment (arcade players got tokens). A month later, Dr. Smyth checked back on the participants.

Dr. Smyth was interested in tracking changes among the participants in the following areas: the number of hours participants played their games the last week of the study; overall health; quality of sleep; perceived academic performance; perceived social life; overall well being; how much they enjoyed playing the games; the likelihood participants would continue playing the games; how much they felt the games interfered in their social lives; how much they felt the games interfered with their academic performance; and if they were able to make new friends over the month of game play.

The findings are fascinating. The last week of the study, arcade players played the least, on average, number of hours: 2.1. Console players were next at 3.4. Computer game players were second highest at 6.2 while the MMORPG players were highest at 14.4.

Other factors were self rated from 0 to 6, with 0 being not at all and 6 being very good. The findings were most interesting surrounding reporting by subjects in the MMORPG group. These players had the highest average game enjoyment score at 4.4. They showed the highest likelihood to continue playing the game after the study. They also indicated they had made more friends than participants in the other groups, although these were online friendships rather than face to face.

Conversely, the MMORPG players rated themselves least in overall health. They also rated themselves lowest in quality of sleep, social life, and perceived academic performance. Incongruently, they averaged highest in feeling that their gaming did not interfere with academics. Dr. Smyth speculated this might have something to do with the short one month time span the study covered and college students’ propensity toward time-shifting priorities and recreational pursuits.

The quantitative finding that the MMORPG group spent more time playing is most intriguing. Dr. Smyth does a good job of covering the research indicating potential benefits for MMORPGs, and the potential negative aspects. Those players with a predilection toward excessive online use may find a mare’s nest in MMORPGs. Conversely, game play in general, and MMORPG play in particular, may have a variety of attributes from which players can benefit including overall improvement in their well-being and various medical and social interactions that are helpful.

My take: with the increased complexity of each game came the corresponding remarkable self scoring. Speaking in broad generalizations, arcades comprise the traditional land of “low thought needed” videogames. Home consoles, with notable exceptions, are often just a step above traditional quarter arcade games. Large budget PC games are often considerably more complex, with MMORPGs and other virtual worlds ranking as the most complex, the most time spent creating and maintaining, and (obviously) the most time played. Online social interactions, so often noted and of such interest to many researchers, add to the complexity of MMORPGs because the human element is the most complex and mysterious of all gaming components.

Thus, increased complexity leads to higher engagement, and higher satisfaction with the game. This is certainly an important piece of knowledge educational game makers should take from the research.

References
Smyth, J. M. (2007). Beyond self-selection in video game play: An experimental examination of the consequences of massively multiplayer online role-playing game play. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(5), 717-721.

Playing with Frogs and Virtual Dissections

In the latest edition of US News & World Report, Lucia Graves has an article dealing with virtual frog dissections. I’m familiar with froguts.com, and their CD offering. Graves pointed out several other products such as digitalfrog.com, tactustech.com, biolabsoftware.com, and animalearn.org.

Using software to virtually dissect frogs carries several advantages over cutting up a real one. For one thing, there is less mess, and less of an “Eww!” factor. Even better, Graves notes that repetition of certain tasks, such as where exactly one should slice in order to uncover certain organs, can be very nicely accommodated in virtual dissection programs. Also, virtual innards don’t decay like real innards do, allowing easier observation of the way things are supposed to appear under optimal circumstances.

Alas, some from the old school eschew virtual dissections in favor of the real thing. Jessica Mason, a “volunteer science teacher” is quoted as saying nothing beats the mess (and smell) of the real thing to really teach kids and show them how wonderful biology can be.

Meanwhile, Graves notes that a grad student over at Simon Fraser U., in Vancouver, has created the first haptic dissection program, with force feedback to simulate the feel of the blade cutting into frog flesh.

References
Graves, L. (2007, October 29). For frogs, a digital detour. US News & World Report, p.59.

Slaying More Myths About Videogames

Last month I wrote about fellow Texan and Education Business Blog guru Lee Wilson’s excellent article on myths about educational videogames that ran in Technology & Learning. This month, Part 2 was published, and Wilson explores three more commonly held misconceptions on the topic.

First, Wilson addresses one of the strongest criticisms against educational games, mainly that instructional elements are akin to pearls on swine. In other words, an innately fun medium is being bent and stretched to accommodate educational purposes. Wilson allows that people like Justin Peters are partly right: good game design is needed, regardless of the serious or recreational nature of the game. But, there are many, many successful educational games that are both fun and … educational. He points out Whyville at University of Texas as a prime example. Instant gratification is not the point for complex videogames. Wilson points to several games that require hours of dedication in order to achieve goals. He notes that Steven Johnson said in his book Everything Bad Is Good for You, that “… compared to most forms of popular entertainment, games turn out to be all about delayed gratification—sometimes so long delayed that you wonder if the gratification is ever going to show.” The Civilization series and World of Warcraft are brought in to buttress this point.

Next, Wilson tackles the notion that games are good enough to teach kids on their own, without help from the teacher. This myth kind of goes to the opposite extreme of other myths that stand against the use of games in the classroom. Wilson brings in David Shaffer over at U. Wisconsin, author of How Computer Games Help Children Learn to argue the point: “Wandering around in a rich computer environment without guidance is a bad way to learn … The knowledge that matters in any domain is the knowledge that experts have …” [I’ve long noted that programs don’t teach kids, teachers do; programs are just tools that teachers use. Skilled teachers will teach well with whatever tools are available.] Wilson also noted the last NECC get together had 18 conference topics dealing with incorporating games into core curricula. Likewise universities are increasingly ramping up efforts to inculcate gaming into teacher preparatory programs.

Finally, Wilson addresses the most vexing notion of all, that there is no scientific literature backing up the use of gaming in educational environments. To fight this myth, Wilson notes the plethora of research activity surrounding Harvard’s River City project, Indiana’s Quest Atlantis project, and one of the many research efforts focused on World of Warcraft.

This myth is particularly pernicious. The main focus of this blog is to explore the wealth of published research out there centered around instructional gaming. Just browsing through the last couple dozen or so blog entries should dispel the notion there is no research backing up educational videogames. Yet, the myth persists. Recently, Miguel Guhlin wrote in his excellent ed tech blog about the notion that Marc Prensky misstated research surrounding his ideas on digital natives and immigrants. Yet, Prensky is a practitioner, not a researcher.

Be sure and check out part two of Wilson’s article. He has made a significant contribution to the discussion with these two articles.

References
Wilson, L. (2007, October 15). Getting it wrong: Slaying myths about video games (part 2). Technology & Learning. [Online]. Available: http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=196604734

Corporate Warcraft: How You Might Play Your Way to Your Next Promotion

Imagine a world where you go to work and help your guild players. Corporate has assigned your guild a quest to deliver the best contract terms for a potential client. Since competition seems to bring out the best in people, corporate has also assigned two other guilds in your company with the same quest.

Your guild leader assigns tasks to various members. Since the company is large, one guild member is in Toledo, another in Vancouver, a third in Dallas. The remainder work in your building, but two are on the road on assignment. Meetings run smoothly though, because everyone shows up with a “walking, talking” avatar in an online three-dimensional conference room. Charlie’s avatar has been programmed to appear similar to his 300 pound frame. Susan has taken the liberty of shaving 20 pounds off her virtual self. Regardless, you know immediately who everybody is, because each avatar has a camera focused on the user’s face which transmits their image into the virtual conference room. When Charlie talks, his avatar’s lips move, and you hear the words from Charlie’s “mouth.”

In no time, your team has formed the nucleus of a plan. You are tasked with appropriating resources for the contract proposal. Your team’s bold idea needs to catch the attention of a trio of VPs to have any success. One VP is in Rio; another is in London. The third is in the office but has a secretary who controls access with a vengeance (and she still remembers that inadvertent insult you handed her at the last Christmas party). You appeal for help far and wide, and pool your guild’s e-mail gold. You send the three VPs an e-mail outlining your guild’s proposal and offer an enticement: 100 e-mail gold if they open and respond to your attached proposal in the next hour. All three respond with valuable advice, which is quickly incorporated into your guild’s proposal.

Corporate examines the proposals and chooses your team’s submission! “Congratulations, team!” the guild leader says at your next virtual meeting. “We earned 20,000 gold and we’ve moved up a level.” You cash in your share to upgrade your office. The senior VP drops by to visit “the outstanding player.”

-*-

Seem far-fetched? This melding of the team aspects found in popular online role playing games is gaining increasing credibility among business school professors and others examining corporate culture. Ever since Harvard B-School Press released Got Game? by Beck and Wade, the idea that advanced gaming holds value in the business world has steadily caught fire with academics and business elites.

Mark Ward, technology correspondent for BBC online, wrote a neat article about the convergence of MMORPG teamwork, academia’s interest, and corporate adoption.

All of a sudden, say academics and researchers, companies have realised that all the time employees spend gaming in virtual worlds is changing them.
Ian Hughes, IBM’s metaverse evangelist, said many organisations were considering ways of harnessing the skills and familiarity their employees have with virtual environments.
This familiarity has driven many organisations to consider virtual worlds as places where employees can meet, mix and get on with the job.
“A lot of people are more accepting of that way of working just because of games,” he said.
“It’s about harnessing that ability to play to get work done.”
The formidable organisational skills needed to run a game team or guild, organise raids involving perhaps 40 people and co-ordinate their different abilities to defeat a game’s strongest foes are all relevant to work, said Mr Hughes.

Ward goes on to mention Byron Reeves, an education prof over at Stanford, whose company Seriosity works on gaming elements for businesses-place productivity. One idea from Seriosity is to instill a virtual currency system on e-mail, resulting in a higher valuation of individual messages than the traditional low, normal, or high priorities found within most e-mail systems.

Convinced that games can help them thrive some companies have turned work groups into guilds, rewarded staff with experience points when they complete tasks, giving out titles and badges when a guild finished a project and portraying objectives as quests.
Some were also considering using a virtual currency as a reward system allowing workers to cash in their savings for benefits or extras for their office space. The top performing guilds also get to do the best projects.

Angela Barron, over at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, had a quote regarding the traditional use of face to face gaming in businesses and B-school applications. She is certainly correct about that. I recall a conversation with a certain business professor at Texas A&M who mentioned that business simulations were nothing new; he had gone through several while getting his Ph.D. in the 1960s.

There has been some blogging buzz about this article. A good entry came from Blue’s News. One commenter pointed out this ExtraLife comic strip by Scott Johnson that shows the hilarity that might ensue if gaming concepts were brought into the workplace.

References
Ward, M. (2007, October 22). When work becomes a game. BBC News. [Online]. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7030234.stm

 

 

Ten Year Old Gives TeamTreks Thumbs Up

Mike Palmquist over at Portage Interactive invited me to take a look at a new educational gaming site his company has out called TeamTreks.com. Focusing on the development of teamwork and leadership skills, the online game provides players with a set of decision making opportunities and feedback through a virtual camping trip. It is aimed at students in grades 4 - 7.

One of the many nice things about the game is the fact that anybody can try it out for free. I set up an account for my 10 year old and sat back to watch. The interface is simple; Mike said his company deliberately kept it from becoming overly complex. Coming from a background where the school I work in still has several student computers with only 256 megs RAM, I can appreciate elegant simplicity. There are also no ads, which is a huge plus.

After making preparations and gathering supplies, we were off on a kayaking trip. The interface reminded me of Oregon Trail, where forethought and planning is needed for success. Other decisions made on the way included campsite locations, mulling over a petraglyph, (a first for my 10 year old, resulting in a bit of new knowledge) and dealing with the changing opinions and moods of other (virtual) party members. Mike noted that dealing with the team members’ moods and attitudes helps develop leadership skills. Also, Mike noted that, “Map-reading & navigation; Information gathering & data analysis; Reading comprehension & math skills” are woven into the game as well, many of which were evident very quickly into the game.

After half an hour or so, I asked the 10 year old for thoughts and perspectives. I got the following reply: “There’s a lot of planning and strategizing. It really makes you think.” And that, of course, is exactly the point.

Give TeamTreks a try. If you find it useful, a teacher package is available from the company that allows customization for classroom use, and tracking of individual students. I think games like this that focus on social development will find a strong foothold in educational settings.

Canada Celebrates Videogame Boom

The Entertainment Software Association of Canada released a report recently on Canada’s videogame industry. The PDF of the report is here. Videogames bring in $1.5 billion, topping the domestic box office receipts in Canada by a factor of four. Here’s a neat quote from Vito Pilieci, writing in The Ottawa Citizen:

Based on Statistics Canada’s estimate of 37,591 software developers in Canada, the ESAC study means video game development would account for about 24 per cent of all Canadian software production.

Canada has become a hotbed of high tech development, especially in the videogame industry. I’ve blogged previously about the outstanding research efforts Canadian universities are fielding in the field of educational videogames. According to Pilieci, videogame leviathan Electronic Arts employs 1,600 people in the Great White North. Ubisoft employs 1,500 with plans to double that number within five years. Several Canadian provinces provide tax incentives to encourage high tech growth.

References:
Hickings, Arthur, Low Corporation. (2007, October). Entertainment software: The industry in Canada. Entertainment Software Association of Canada, Toronto, CA. [Online]. Available: http://www.theesa.ca/esa-whitepaper.pdf

Pilieci, V. (2007, October 17). Report confirms growth of game industry. The Ottawa Citizen. [Online]. Available: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/business/
story.html?id=5429abd8-66dc-49e1-9fc2-6d6c22edf0e1

 

Mentally Control Your Avatar in Second Life

I blogged last week about consumer versions of mentally activated console controllers. Today, Jacqui Cheng at Ars Technica reveals researchers at the Keio University Biomedical Engineering Laboratory in Japan have developed a brain computer interface (BCI) that can control avatars within Second Life. Check out the video from that link in either wmv or mov format.

Cheng notes, as did I, the possibilities of using mental interfaces with assistive technology; specifically Cheng suggests BCIs could be used with advanced prosthetics at some point. Here is one more real world application that researchers are uncovering through playing (and working) in videogames.

References
Cheng, J. (2007, October 16). Researchers help users control Second Life avatars via brain activity. Ars Technica. [Online]. Available: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071015-
researchers-help-users-control-second-life-avatars-via-brain-activity.html