Second Life and World of Warcraft

2011 ◽  
pp. 236-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaka Chaka
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Cognitive Presence ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Role Playing Game

This chapter explores the potential both Second Life (SL) and World of Warcraft (WoW) as instances of a virtual world (VW) and a massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG), respectively, have for leveraging presence learning. The latter encapsulates, in this chapter, presence pedagogy, tele-presence, co-presence, social presence, and cognitive presence as mediated by both SL and WoW. In this context, this chapter contends that both SL and WoW help harness presence learning. Against this background, the chapter first provides a brief overview of SL, WoW, and presence learning. Second, it presents and discusses seven case studies demonstrating how both SL and WoW help harness presence learning. Third and last, the chapter outlines future trends for presence learning in respect of both SL and WoW.

scholarly journals Transformative (h)activism: Breast cancer awareness and the World of Warcraft Running of the Gnomes

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren B. Collister
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Civil Disobedience ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Cancer Awareness ◽  
Breast Cancer Awareness ◽  
Player Experience ◽  
Role Playing Game

Players of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW) are accustomed to a transformative culture that appropriates off-line events and personas into virtual-world representations inside of the game. Following this culture, players have transformed an off-line event—the Race for the Cure, to benefit breast cancer charities—into an online event called the Running of the Gnomes with parameters and participation properties appropriate for the virtual world. This transformative event is a disruptive form of civil disobedience including elements of hacktivism. Though the event conforms to the game's culture and rules, the mass collective action of the Running of the Gnomes disrupts the player experience by flooding the game's chat boxes with messages about an off-line concern (breast cancer) and also disrupts the game itself by crashing the server through the sheer volume of player participation. This disruption is embraced as an integral part of the event and is one of the primary causes for the event's success as a fundraising activity.

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 The Popularity of Faerlina US - World of Warcraft Classic Server: Game Study Using Qualitative Research Methods on the World of Warcraft Classic Game Server

MEDIASI ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
Deddy Stevano H. Tobing
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Qualitative Research Methods ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Virtual Currency ◽  
The World ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Depth Interviews

This research discusses the popularity of Faerlina US which is one of the game server of the game World of Warcraft Classic (WoW Classic), a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) game version which is one of the World of Warcraft game version released on 26 August 2019. This study uses several qualitative research methods, namely participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and studies of previous studies. The results of this study indicate that the popularity of Faerlina US tends to be driven by the popularity of twitch.tv streamers who play on these servers. This research also shows that Faerlina has also become popular because it is interesting to be a place to conduct economic activities such as selling virtual items and conducting gold-virtual currency transactions into real money.

World of Warcraft

2019 ◽  
pp. 266-290
Author(s):  
Diego Lourenço Sá Pinto ◽  
Cláudio Xavier
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Communication Processes ◽  
Role Playing Game

World of Warcraft (WoW), a game of the genre MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game), has proven to be a valuable field of study for researchers interested in understanding the functioning of online communities and social relationships in those communities. This chapter seeks, through literature review and interviews conducted within the game itself, from player/researcher immersion, to discuss the relationships of a group of players in a new context of relationship and (in)formation, considering the significant screen time, communication processes, identifications, and identity building.

Interoperability, Learning Designs and Virtual Worlds

2010 ◽  
pp. 193-206
Author(s):  
Helen Farley
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Collaborative Activities

Given the relatively high costs associated with designing and implementing learning designs in virtual worlds, a strategy for the re-use of designs becomes imperative. IMS LD has emerged as the standard for the description and expression of learning designs. This chapter explores some of the issues associated with using the IMS LD specification for learning designs in virtual worlds such as Second Life and multi-player online role playing games such as World of Warcraft. The main issues relate to the inadequate description of collaborative activities and the inability to alter the design ‘on-the-fly’ in response to learner inputs. Some possible solutions to these problems are considered.

An Overview of Child Abuses in 3D Social Networks and Online Video Games

2012 ◽  
pp. 101-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel A. Garcia-Ruiz ◽  
Miguel Vargas Martin ◽  
Patrik Olsson
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
Ethical And Legal Issues ◽  
Network Approaches

It appears that child pornography distribution and child abuses on the Internet have permeated to massively multiplayer online role-playing video games (MMORPG) and 3D social networks, such as Second Life (SL), a compelling online virtual world where millions of users have registered. Although SL is intended for general entertainment in its adult (over 18) version, cases of simulated pedophilia have been reported inside SL’s virtual world, generated by some of its users, employing SL communication capabilities to trade and show child pornography images to exchange related text messages. This chapter provides a literature review on child pornography in MMORPGs and other 3D social networks including SL, as well as policy and network approaches for overcoming child abuse. A review on ethical and legal issues of dealing with child pornography and other types of child abuse in 3D social networks and MMORPGs is also addressed in this chapter.

Exploring the Use of Virtual World Technology for Idea-Generation Tasks

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Nicholson ◽  
Darren B. Nicholson ◽  
Patrick Coyle ◽  
Andrew Hardin ◽  
Anjala S. Krishen
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Group Ideation ◽  
Types Of Information

While the potential value of Virtual World Technologies (VWTs) lies in their promise to facilitate communication through new and novel forms of collaboration, there is a lack of prior research that examines how VWTs compare to other types of information and communication technologies (ICT) commonly used to support collaborative work. This study investigates the effects of VWTs on group ideation outcomes; specifically, it compares the use of Second Life to a chat environment for idea generation tasks. As hypothesized, groups using VWTs for an idea generation task generated significantly more unique ideas and enjoyed using the environment more than the chat environment. Contrary to our predictions, no significant difference between the two environments was observed for satisfaction, group cohesion, and social presence.

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.

scholarly journals Formation of investment attractiveness of a gaming virtual team based on goodwill management in cybersport

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-60
Author(s):  
Marina Yu. Andreeva ◽  
◽  
Yury N. Sentyabov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual World ◽  
Swot Analysis ◽  
Main Tool ◽  
Qualitative Change ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
Specific Object ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Key Aspects

The development of the Internet, the transition to the fourth technological order contributes to the quantitative and qualitative change in virtual organizations. A special place in the virtual environment is occupied by the gaming segment, the volume of which in 2018 reached over 116 trillion dollars, nearly doubling in the past five years. COVID-19 has undoubtedly played into the hands of the online gaming industry, increasing sales across all segments. This study analyzes the massively multiplayer online role-playing game that created the phenomenon of the virtual world. It is the virtual game worlds that have formed the niche of the virtual gaming commercial teams (VGCT`s), which specialize in the provision of services for the development of content produced by development organizations for user players. However, in order to successfully operate in the face of tough virtual gaming competition, a commercial team needs both an understanding of the business process and attracting sources of funding. The article discusses the strategy of forming the investment attractiveness of VGCT, as one of the key aspects of competitiveness. The paper presents the author`s definition of the investment attractiveness of VGCT, carried out SWOT analysis of the working VGCT “Zeta”, assessed the investment attractiveness on the basis of unidentified assets. The purpose of the study is to develop approaches to determining the investment attractiveness of VGCT in the specific conditions of the economy of the virtual world of multiplayer games. Brief statement of the problem is to substantiate the need of managing goodwill of a virtual organization as the main tool for increasing its competitiveness. The article used general scientific methods and methods of SWOT-analysis. The definition of the economy of the virtual gaming world of multiplayer role-playing online games is given. The essence of the concept of “investment attractiveness” is revealed in relation to a specific object of research – a virtual gaming commercial team, its assessment is carried out in the context of external and internal factors. It was determined that goodwill constitutes the basis of VGCT’s investment attractiveness, and the task of increasing the competitiveness of VGCT is inextricably linked with the management of goodwill as a set of unidentifiable assets.

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