scholarly journals NON-POISSON DONATION BEHAVIORS IN VIRTUAL WORLDS

Fractals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (04) ◽  
pp. 1950061 ◽  
Author(s):  
YAN-HONG YANG ◽  
MING-XIA LI ◽  
WEI-XING ZHOU ◽  
H. EUGENE STANLEY
Keyword(s):  
Power Law ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Real World ◽  
Charitable Giving ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
Long Range Correlations ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Donation Process ◽  
Role Playing Game

Similar to charitable giving in real world, donation behaviors play an important role in the complex interactions among individuals in virtual worlds. However, it is not clear if the donation process is random or not. We investigate this problem using detailed data from parallel virtual worlds adhered to a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. We find that the inter-donation durations follow power-law-tailed distributions distributed with an average tail exponent close to 1.91, have strong long-range correlations, and possess multifractal features. These findings indicate that the donation process is non-Poissonian, which has potential worth in modeling the complicated individual behaviors in virtual worlds.

scholarly journals Virtual Sense of Community in a World of Warcraft® Storytelling Open Forum Thread

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Anthony Fabi Gui
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Online Forums ◽  
New Members ◽  
Alternative Communities ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Role Playing Game

World of Warcraft® (WoW), a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) extends to its members a virtual landscape of live gaming opportunities through such platforms as “dice” rolled character stats, open-ended story development, and interactive AI. These affordances are underpinned by a kind of virtual sense of community bringing players together in order to develop relationships and the self, adventure together, build up wealth, and overcome obstacles in order to complete quests. In addition to live game-play (or “in-world”) communities, WoW residents create alternative communities through rich online forums—here, new members are recruited into guilds, disputes are spawned and slayed, and seasoned warriors reminisce over worlds and lives that once- were. However, a third type of community is also evident through particular threads crafted within forums specifically for collaborative storytelling (or roleplaying). This paper examines sense of community—a sense of “belonging to, importance of, and identification with a community”—through one particular thread, “The Darkening Grove Tavern” under the forum World’s End Tavern using an adaptation of McMillan and Chavis’ theory and Boellstorff, Nardi, Pearce & Taylor’s ethnographic data collection methodology for qualitative analysis of virtual worlds . Findings from players’ story text (or “turns”) suggest that online storytelling forum threads exhibit a linguistically and semiotically branded sense of virtual community. 

scholarly journals Actors and Their Use of Avatars as Personal Mediators: An empirical study of avatar-based sense-makings and communication practices in the virtual worlds of EverQuest and Second Life

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (47) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sisse Siggaard Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Social World ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Personal Story ◽  
Motivation Factors ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Depth Video

Over the past five years, millions of actors have found it meaningful to move in and settle down in the Metaverse, for example, as an adventurous shaman in an advanced role-playing game such as EverQuest or as a businesswoman in the social world of Second Life. In this article, the main question therefore is: how do the actors and gamers of the two types of virtual worlds make sense of their avatars and the worlds when they act and communicate using their avatars as personal mediators? Participatory observations inspired by virtual ethnography and in-depth video-interviews were conducted to answer this question. The analysis of the substantial amount of empirical data draws on the concepts of intermediaries and mediators from actor-network theory (Latour, 1991, 1998, 2005), Sense-Making methodology (Dervin et al., 2003), social psychology (Yee, 2006), and experimental economics (Bloomfield & Rennekamp, 2008). It is shown how the actors create a personal story and history of their avatar that transforms them into the mediators of being in the virtual world, and also how the avatars act as the mediators that transform the actors themselves. To identify, understand, and keep track of the many transformations of meaning, Nick Yee’s motivation factors (relationships, immersion, achievement, escapism and manipulation) have proven helpful also to the analysis of a social world like Second Life. In future studies, it is recommended that we study further the sense-makings of motivation factors such as creativity and experimentation.

Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game for Teaching Youth Finance in Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Jones ◽  
Maiga Chang
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Kindergarten Students ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
Personal Finances ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
The Way

It has been stated that people need to improve their knowledge of finances and make better choices with their money. Many programs have been created to teach basic finances. These programs target people of all ages from adults all the way down to kindergarten students. The vast majority of opinions on teaching finances state that education begins with children – the younger the better. The goal of this research is to create a fun to play multiplayer online role playing game (MORPG) capable of teaching younger students how to better manage their personal finances. The game is designed as an educational tool with an attempt to balance both the entertainment and educational components. It simulates a real world where the player must make financial decisions for their avatars in an attempt to develop enough wealth to allow that avatars to retire at a specified age.

Promoting Civic Thinking through Epistemic Game Play

2011 ◽  
pp. 111-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. S. Bagley ◽  
David Williamson Shaffer
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Real World ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Civic Values ◽  
Real World Problem ◽  
Urban Science ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
The Many

A growing body of research suggests that computer games can help players learn to integrate knowledge and skills with values in complex domains of real-world problem solving (P. C. Adams, 1998; Barab et al., 2001; Gee, 2003; Shaffer et al., 2005; Starr, 1994). In particular, research suggests that epistemic games—games where players think and act like real world professionals—can link knowledge, skills, and values into professional ways of thinking (Shaffer, 2006). Here, we look at how a ten hour version of the epistemic game Urban Science developed civic thinking in young people as they learned about urban ecology by role-playing as urban planners redesigning a city. Specifically, we ask whether and how overcoming authentic obstacles from the profession of urban planning in the virtual world of a role playing game can link civic values with the knowledge and skills young people need to solve complex social and ecological problems. Our results from coded pre- and post-interviews show that players learned to think of cities as complex systems, learned about skills that planners use to enact change in these systems, and perhaps most important, learned the value of serving the public in that process. Two aspects of the game, tool-as-obstacle and stakeholders-as-obstacle, contributed to the development of players’ civic thinking. Thus, our results suggest that games like Urban Science may help young people—and thus help all of us—identify and address the many civic, economic, and environmental challenges in an increasingly complex, and increasingly urban, world.

Playing Chopin

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Gibbons
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Real World ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Frederic Chopin ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Narrative Strategies ◽  
Mobile Game ◽  
Role Playing Game

This chapter explores two video games that feature the nineteenth-century pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin as the main character: the Japanese role-playing game Eternal Sonata and the mobile game Frederic: Resurrection of Music. The chapter begins by examining three mythic identities that have shaped audience’s understandings of Chopin and his music and that play a role in Eternal Sonata and Frederic: the salon composer, the Romantic composer, and the Slavic composer. To address the challenges of creating a compelling video game narrative about a real-world composer, both games employ innovative but problematic narrative strategies to transform Chopin into a more stereotypically heroic character. Moreover, both games include his music in ways designed to reinforce its musical greatness and increase the music’s appeal to younger audiences.

Structures of Agency in Virtual Worlds

2011 ◽  
pp. 192-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiago Falcão
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Conceptual Core

In this chapter we inquire about the role that the narrative acquires in the production of meaning resulting from the contact between players and environment, in the Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft1. We posit that through the process of agency, the authorial narrative, structurally positioned at the conceptual core of the virtual world, may contribute to the diversity of variables involved in the creation of a framing (Goffman, 1974) in which the users will engage in interaction among themselves. According to Dramaturgical Sociology, the resulting meaning from an interaction strongly depends on the context in which it is situated; such notion is precisely the reason why, by observing an environment so intensely imbued by symbols from popular culture, European folklore and medieval fantasy, we may also examine how such signs may assist in the creation of behavioral scripts – and how these are played by the players interacting in the virtual world.

Mixed Reality Games

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Charles Marty ◽  
Thibault Carron ◽  
Philippe Pernelle ◽  
Stéphane Talbot ◽  
Gregory Houzet
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Mixed Reality ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Learning Session ◽  
Real Objects ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Mixed Approach ◽  
Set Up

The authors research work deals with the development of new game-based learning (gbl) environments. They think that the way of acquiring knowledge during a learning session is similar to following an adventure in a role-playing game and they apply the metaphor of exploring a virtual world, where each student embarks on a quest in order to collect knowledge related to a learning activity. In their university, the authors have set up numbers of experiments with students using gbl environments. They revealed weaknesses for specific learning activities. Sometimes, learners seem to acquire a skill in the game, but they are not able to reuse it easily in the real world. This is particularly the case for skills that require concrete manipulation of real objects to be acquired. Gbl environments thus lack of means to learn know-how aspects. Some of the learning processes involving real world objects are very difficult to reproduce in gbl environments and there is an essential technological issue in mixing virtual and real aspects in gbl environments. In this article, the authors describe the possible problems that can appear when using this mixed approach, give hints on how to avoid them and illustrate the proposition with examples issued from the electronic domain. The authors focus on issues linked to the transition between virtual and real worlds and they explore how new electronic features can facilitate this mixed approach, where identification, localisation and update of the user models are key issues.

Greenworks:  Science, Role-Playing, and Community Transformation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lev Horodyskyj ◽  
Tara Lennon
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Real World ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Virgin Islands ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
Community Transformation ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Community Projects

<p>Environmental crises will overwhelmingly impact Millennials and Generation Z.  Most are aware of this reality and enthusiastic about finding and promoting community and policy solutions.  However, many youths also lack the communication and collaboration skills necessary to implement change in their communities.  The Greenworks program is a collaboration between Science Voices (a nonprofit focused on improving science education) and a political science course at Arizona State University (ASU).  Teachers and students from the University of the Virgin Islands (US), Khairun University (Indonesia), and University of Campinas (Brazil) are currently involved in on-going pilot projects as well.  The program provides space for students to practice deliberation and policy-making in an online role-playing game and then implement their own proposal to address an environmental problem in their community.</p><p>In the Greenworks program, students complete a short curriculum on geoscience and governance, engage in a role-playing diplomacy game to resolve environmental issues in a fictitious world, and then implement a community project to effect change in the real world.  ASU students participate as part of an online political science course formally offered by ASU.  Students and faculty mentors at other universities are recruited by Science Voices and complete custom curricula and community projects.  As part of the role-playing game that all students participate in, students are assigned to fictitious nations and address analogous real-world environmental and political challenges through diplomacy between nations with various competing objectives.  Challenges vary from semester to semester and include trade relations, climate change, plastic pollution, pandemics, and deforestation.  Through communication channels like Slack and Discord, students share their personal experiences on these topics and collaborate on related policy options.  Students enrolled through Science Voices also develop proposals to address local problems of importance and are provided with crowdfunded grants and materials to implement their proposal.</p><p>We will describe the program in more detail, discuss the experiences of our students, and the results of the first community projects.  We will additionally discuss developing this program as a collaborative space for students from the Global North and South to partner and co-mentor each other in developing local solutions to global challenges.</p>

scholarly journals A New Quest is Available: seeing, walking and narrating the city

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Elita Nuraeny
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
The Body ◽  
Spatial History ◽  
Spatial Narrative ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Project Location ◽  
The City ◽  
Knights Templar ◽  
The Church

Walking becomes a conversation, of past, present and future, between our body and the city. However, today’s modern hand-held map demands us to look down, disrupting the dialogue between the body and city. Like a modern role-playing game, the map guides us to our quest mark beyond with minimum consideration of the present time. The map makes the quest mark and path visible; yet, the in-between space of our reality is overlooked. Following the idea of a hidden quest mark in our real world, this study explores the lost narrative between our body and the city. The study examined a project named Location + that follows spatial history, experiences and the journey beyond of a hidden church of the Knights Templar in London. The project is filled with instructions to decipher codes, directing people to the church. By using psychogeography, the project Location + approaches a spatial narrative using site writing and creative map-making that is specific to the site. By emphasizing the idea that our journey matters, this project allows a dialogue between the body and city.

scholarly journals Another Endless November: AOL, WoW, and the Corporatization of a Niche Market

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Op'tLand
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Niche Market ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
America Online ◽  
Market Leader ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Future Growth

The entrance of World of Warcraft (WoW) into the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMO) market has drastically altered conceptions of how popular a virtual world could be. Currently servicing over 12 million monthly subscribers (Woodcock, 2008), it has vastly exceeded expectations, and has brought with it more new users to persistent virtual worlds than any other product before it. However, while there has been much academic work exploring developments within the game itself (Bainbridge, 2007; Duchenault, et al., 2006; Castronova, 2007), the processes by which this explosive growth has occurred have been under-explored. The growth of World of Warcraft relative to the MMO market can only be explained via its extrinsic characteristics of the game and how these characteristics interact with processes of standardization and diversification with relative to the market as a whole. In this paper, I propose that the process that enabled WoW to rise to its current position as market leader amongst MMOs is remarkably similar to that employed by America Online (AOL) in the early 1990’s, and that the growth of both firms are evidence of the standardizing influence that a globalizing process such as McDonaldization has when it enters a niche market. The parallels that may be drawn between these cases may be instructive in understanding the future growth of MMOs and other virtual environments. I will examine the history of the two firms to find evidence of commonalities between them. I will also outline the parallel corporatist models of McDonaldization and Disneyization as proposed by Ritzer (2000) and Bryman (2004). The process by which these firms grew to dominate their spheres will be examined in this context. I will conclude with an examination of what this growth may mean for the future of the MMO industry.

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