Journal For Virtual Worlds Research (Texas Digital Library - TDL E-Journals)
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Escaping the World: A Chinese Perspective on Virtual Worlds
No full textVirtual worlds and \u27the Internet\u27 in general are highly popular in the People\u27s Republic of China. This article will argue, though, that in contrast to non-Chinese perceptions of virtual worlds and the Internet, Chinese users tend to see virtual worlds as wholly separate from their offline existence and identity.Based on the authors research experience with the Chinese Internet, and his years of teaching Chinese students in the 3D online world Second Life, the paper will demonstrate that Chinese usage frames virtual worlds (and the Internet in general) as spaces, in which it is permissible to rebel against authority, where users receive validation and approval from their peers, and where they can escape their often stressful and boring lives. The low costs involved, and the high entertainment value of virtual worlds, combined with a perception of virtual worlds as \u27gaming\u27, \u27consequence-less\u27 and \u27not serious\u27 spaces, contributes to the high attractiveness of virtual worlds to young Chinese, which has led to a moral panic in society about the dangers of Internet or gaming \u27addiction\u27.The article will conclude that this framing of virtual worlds is so strong in China, in particular among young Chinese, that any attempt to utilize virtual worlds for other purposes, e.g. marketing, education, etc. will have to carefully re-frame and re-situate virtual worlds for Chinese Internet users
East vs. West? More like East and West
No full textEast vs. West? More like East and West. There is a lot the West and the East can learn from each other. Virtual worlds are perhaps one of the best examples. China, Korea and Japan all present different approaches to virtual life. Technical and social norms reshape each other. These unique Asian perspectives about virtual worlds were the seed for this issue.The second part of this note list the next JVWR issues and events
Effects of Digital Game Play Among Young Singaporean Gamers: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Study
No full textUsing a large sample of Singaporean children and adolescents from primary and secondary schools, this study provides important results on changes in amount of time spent on gaming and violent content exposure, and the effects of such changes on academic performance, pathological gaming, aggressive cognitions and empathic attitudes.This study provided support for the hypothesis that excessive gaming was related to poorer academic performance and more pathological symptoms. For example, Stable-Hardcore students reported the lowest academic performance in both waves with a decreasing trend, and Stable-Casual students reported the highest academic performance. There was also a link between high violent game content exposure and greater approval of aggression as well as lower empathic attitudes. Students with constantly low violence exposure reported higher empathic attitudes, and lower acceptability of aggression. Implications of the study were discussed in relation to the treatment of excessive gaming
The Cowl Makes the Monk: How Avatar Appearance and Role Labels Affect Cognition in Virtual Worlds
No full textThis study examined how avatars influence operators in stereotype-consistent ways. Participants controlled formally or glamorously dressed avatars, and then created stories. Half of the participants heard a comment about the likely role of the avatar based on its looks (e.g., professor, supermodel). An automated linguistic analysis uncovered that participants using formally dressed avatars referred more to education, books, and numbers. Conversely, participants using glamorously dressed avatars used more words related to sports, entertainment, clothes, and beauty. Also, glamorously dressed avatars with a supermodel role elicited brands, exotic names, and age concerns, but the same avatar with no role stimulated descriptions of people and locations. The findings fit the assumptions of priming models and illustrate the additive effects of avatar appearance and role on user
Assessment and Learning in the Virtual World: Tasks, Taxonomies and Teaching for Real
No full textMany educational institutions make use of assessment schemes based on an ordered hierarchy of cognitive activity, where the judgments of educators on the learning progress of students are expressed using marks or grades. These have high face-validity because they appear to represent intuitively sound descriptions of learning development. The language found in many such assessment structures and their protocols reflects the hierarchy within a revised Bloom\u27s Taxonomy where, in the cognitive domain, evaluation and synthesis is regarded as superior to analysis or application, which are themselves rewarded above memory or understanding. Virtual worlds provide an opportunity to explore new educational contexts for analyzing and measuring cognitive processes that support learning. The present research used the Second Life virtual world as a medium for remotely located students to communicate in the collaborative construction and programming of robots. Iterative tasks were used to explore several neo-Bloomian cognitive processes and knowledge dimensions. Analysis of 60 hours of video from classroom activity, transcribed data and in-world interaction suggests that the hierarchy of descriptors and associated ratings that are used within assessment schemes based on neo-Bloomian taxonomies may not accurately correspond to the \u27higher order\u27 cognitive ability development of students
Does Loving an Avatar Threaten Real Life Marriage?
No full textThe purpose of this study was to examine the nature of relationship satisfaction and its predictors for those who simultaneously maintain committed relationships, in both real life (RL) and in an immersive virtual world, with either the same or a different partner. All 236 self-selected study participants were recruited on the virtual, multiplayer, online game and social platform of Second Life (SL), screened to insure that they had a committed relationship with both an avatar and a RL partner, and then asked to respond to an online survey about these relationships, and how satisfying they were. The results showed that (1) virtual committed relationships with a partner other than on
Welcome to the First Issue of 2012
No full textThis year we focus on JVWR international expansion. This issue was led by David Herold from Hong Kong; our next issue is led by Ken Lim from Singapore; in May, 2012 JVWR hosts a Special Seminar on Virtuality as a Frontier for MIS Research as part of The Eleventh Wuhan International Conference on E-Business, in Wuhan, China
Virtual Worlds Asian Perspectives: a Landscape with Peaks and Valleys
No full textWhen highlighting patterns of usage of virtual worlds, the mass media tends to draw generalizations from anecdotal extremes of the neglect of families and acts of gang-related or self-inflicted violence; other generalizations are drawn about the outsourcing of the acquisition of in-game resources. We argue that understandings of virtual worlds from Asian perspectives must be broader than these n
Collaboration in Virtual Worlds: The Role of the Facilitator
No full textVirtual worlds (VWs) are becoming a popular medium for meetings and collaborative problem solving efforts. However, complex VW communication tools and challenges in managing online social interactions are likely to complicate VW collaboration efforts. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to investigate the role of the facilitator when collaboration is conducted in a virtual environment. In order to conduct our study, we developed a questionnaire based on major issues in real world collaboration and interviewed 14 subject-matter experts. Participants were asked to identify what key differences facilitators perceive between virtual and real world collaboration. In response, participants provided many insights, such as the new interpersonal management challenges that arise from the absence of face-to-face communication. Participants also warned of the challenges associated with the introduction of more technology to the collaboration process. Further, they identified credibility and trust issues that arise due to facilitator
Virtual Commerce (V-Commerce) in Second Life: The Roles of Physical Presence and Brand-Self Connection
No full textSecond Life, in a form of advergaming (a portmanteau o