scholarly journals Learning to Reflect in Online Fantasy Role-Playing Games

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-162
Author(s):  
Tunç D. Medeni ◽  
Kazunori Miyata ◽  
Mustafa Sağsan
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Reflective Learning ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Interviewing Techniques ◽  
Gaming Communities

The online role-playing games and their virtual communities, which are free and run by volunteers, attract much attention from business and academics, although studies on smaller gaming communities are still limited. One of these small online fantasy roleplaying communities, the world of Wold, is researched, using participant observation and Internet interviewing techniques within an e-research framework. After providing background information about the research, the paper then presents the conceptual framework, which consists of three main parts: (1) use of asynchronous communication tools for learning and reflection, (2) conceptualization of reflection, and (3) role of roleplaying and storytelling in reflection and learning. In the light of this framework, research findings about the learning and reflection that occurs at (1) intrapersonal, (2) personal and (3) interpersonal levels in online role-playing games will be discussed. The paper will then be concluded by research implications and limitations. It is hoped that, relating to learning in terms of developing sustainable virtual communities for reflective learning, this research will provide insights into the function of multiplayer games for serious purposes like learning and socialization, as well as the role of hard technology for soft purposes like reflective learning and practice.

The Persuasive Language of Action

2014 ◽  
pp. 113-129
Author(s):  
Martin van Velsen
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Digital Video ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Digital Rhetoric ◽  
Current Generation ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Body Of Knowledge

Besides the visual splendor pervasive in the current generation of digital video games, especially those where players roam simulated landscapes and imaginary worlds, few efforts have looked at the resources available to embed human meaning into a game's experience. From the art of persuasion to the mechanics of meaning-making in digital video games and table-top role playing games, this chapter investigates the changes and new opportunities available that can extend our understanding of digital rhetoric. Starting with a breakdown of the role of choice, workable models from psychology and the untapped body of knowledge from table-top role playing games are shown to allow game designers to enrich their products with a deeper human experience.

scholarly journals A Case Study of Using Online Communities and Virtual Environment in Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) as a Learning and Teaching Tool for Second Language Learners

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isara Kongmee ◽  
Rebecca Strachan ◽  
Alison Pickard ◽  
Catherine Montgomery
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Second Language Speakers ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) create large virtual communities. Online gaming shows potential not just for entertaining, but also in education. This research investigates the use of commercial MMORPGs to support second language teaching. MMORPGs offer virtual safe spaces in which students can communicate by using their target second language with global players. Using a mix of ethnography and action research, this study explores the students’ experiences of language learning and performing while playing MMORPGs. The results show that the use of MMORPGs can facilitate language development by offering fun, informal, individualised and secure virtual spaces for students to practise their language with native and other second language speakers.

scholarly journals Exploring Partnerships between Local Communities and Timber Companies: An Experiment Using the Role-Playing Games Approach

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Herry Purnomo ◽  
Philippe Guizol ◽  
Guillermo A. Mendoza
Keyword(s):  
Role Playing ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Simulation Framework ◽  
Multiagent Simulation ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Decision Environment ◽  
Plantation Company ◽  
Collaborative Decision

Cooperation among stakeholders is widely accepted as an effective management strategy. This paper describes an experimental study that explores this cooperation using role-playing games, which is formulated within a multiagent simulation framework. This framework enables participants to take active roles in mimicking the collaborative decision environment and the behaviors and attitudes of the different stakeholders. The paper examines a forest plantation company in South Sumatra, Indonesia, which has cooperated with local communities since 2000. The experimental pilot study described in this paper explored the role of communication in partnership relationships between the company and the local communities living within and around the surroundings of the company's plantation. These partnerships were explored and analyzed using the gaming approach involving university students taking the role of forest stakeholders, from both the timber company and the local communities. Lessons learned from the game provided the rationale for the establishment of a communication institution called “Forum Sebahu Sejalan.” This formal forum was constituted after a facilitated ex-postinteraction between representatives from the timber company and local communities. Results and observations drawn from the interactions show the potentials of the RPG approach and the formal forum in crafting resilient partnerships among stakeholders.

scholarly journals Game Balance: Designed structure and consumer agency in an online game

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elizabeth Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Physical World ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Consumer Identity ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The North ◽  
Game World ◽  
Consumer Movements

<p>Massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) attract millions of people every year and are now a major industry. Using the internet, these games connect players and give them goals to pursue within virtual worlds. This thesis examines the early life of one such game, the North American version of TERA, based on participant observation on a player vs. player server. TERA’s players met and interacted within a virtual game world controlled by the company which developed the game, and although players constructed their own social groups and factions within this world they were constrained by software that they could not change. Everything from the combat rules to the physics of the environment was designed, and players could only take actions that were accounted for and allowed by that design.  However, TERA launched as one of many available MMORPGs which were competing for the attention of the same audience. Its players tended to be experienced and well-informed about the genre, and used their knowledge to evaluate and critique TERA both privately and in public forums. Aware that game companies’ chief concern was for profit, players exercised agency by embracing a consumer identity and pressuring developers in their own commercial terms. To retain players’ loyalty and continue receiving their fees, companies were obliged to appease their customers. This allowed players to see the game world develop and change in accordance with their desires despite the fact that they lacked the access or the expertise to change it themselves. I link this approach to agency to the rise of consumer movements in capitalist societies, and show how the virtual world of TERA can serve as an example for other situations in the physical world where contemporary technologies are used to both enable and constrain agency.</p>

scholarly journals Translators as Networkers: The Role of Virtual Communities

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (42) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Hanna Risku ◽  
Angela Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Commercial Interest

Recent years have seen a rise in the importance of virtual and real-life knowledge sharing communities and communities of practice across many fi elds of private and commercial interest, including professional translation. This article examines the characteristics of knowledge sharing communities in general, identifies their key elements, looks at the motivation for membership and presents an empirical study of life in a thriving virtual translation community. In doing so, it draws on the results of a literature review combined with a participant observation based study and member survey of a major virtual translation community. The results indicate that virtual translation communities can be lively platforms and offer translators a forum not only for sharing expert knowledge and collaborating, but also for keeping in touch with like-minded individuals.

Questing for Standards

2011 ◽  
pp. 81-97
Author(s):  
Mark G. Elwell
Keyword(s):  
Second Life ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Life Issues ◽  
Role Playing Game

This chapter reports on movements toward de facto standards for role playing games in the freely accessible and configurable shared virtual environment of Second Life. All users can not only freely join, but also construct and implement role playing games of their own design. Consequently, new games are constantly emerging, and others either persisting or failing. The resulting body of practice has implications for business, technological, and social dimensions of computer games. To elucidate these implications, this chapter presents the case of the Role Play Nexus, a venue created for role playing game designers, managers, and players to share experiences, questions, resources, and proposals for sustainable ventures and communities in Second Life. Issues, controversies, and problems are identified, and solutions and recommendations discussed. Source material is drawn from transcripts of public lectures, discussions and demonstrations, from interviews, and from participant observation.

STEAM Education Using Design Thinking Process Through Virtual Communities of Practice (STEAM-DT-VCoPs)

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Thiti Jantakun ◽  
Kitsadaporn Jantakun ◽  
Thada Jantakoon
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Steam Education ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Thinking Process ◽  
Virtual Communities Of Practice ◽  
Two Phases

These objectives of the study are 1) to design STEAM education using Design Thinking Process through Virtual Communities of Practice (STEAM-DT-VCoPs), and 2) to evaluate the designed STEAM-DT-VCoPs. It divides the research procedures into two phases. The first phase is to design STEAM-DT-VCoPs, and the second phase is to evaluate the STEAM-DT-VCoPs. The sample group of this study comprises fourteen experts selected by purposive sampling. The arithmetic mean and standard deviation analyzed data. The research findings are: 1) The STEAM-DT-VCoPs comprise three steps are 1.1) the role of virtual communities of STEAM practice 1.2) Design Thinking Process through Virtual Communities of Practice, and 1.3) the various disciplines in STEAM education. 2) The experts agree that STEAM-DT-VCoPs is the highest level of appropriateness.

The Persuasive Language of Action

Gamification ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 1848-1864
Author(s):  
Martin van Velsen
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Digital Video ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Digital Rhetoric ◽  
Current Generation ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Body Of Knowledge

Besides the visual splendor pervasive in the current generation of digital video games, especially those where players roam simulated landscapes and imaginary worlds, few efforts have looked at the resources available to embed human meaning into a game's experience. From the art of persuasion to the mechanics of meaning-making in digital video games and table-top role playing games, this chapter investigates the changes and new opportunities available that can extend our understanding of digital rhetoric. Starting with a breakdown of the role of choice, workable models from psychology and the untapped body of knowledge from table-top role playing games are shown to allow game designers to enrich their products with a deeper human experience.

scholarly journals The Interplay between Real Money Trade and Narrative Structure in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Byungchul Park ◽  
Duk Hee Lee
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Real Money ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
The Social ◽  
Main Components ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

A narrative structure is one of the main components to constitute the genre of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). Meanwhile Real Money Trade (RMT) enables a player to adjust an ex post level of challenge by skipping the narrative structure of a game. However, RMT may concurrently disturb a player who enjoys game following the narrative structure hierarchically. In pursuance of developing the knowledge about the relationship between RMT and the usage of MMORPG, we investigate the role of the strictness of predetermined narrative structure. We present the dual structure of societies to describe a player that arbitrarily decides to reside in a virtual society. Then we adopt the social nominalism to explain how individual motif of playing a game is expanded to the nature of game. Finally, we argue that a game with weakly predetermined narrative structure is more positively associated with RMT volume, since these games arouse a player’s sentiment of fun by relying more on their socially oriented motivation. With empirical evidence from the Korean MMORPGs market, we proved the hypothesis.

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