Journal For Virtual Worlds Research (Texas Digital Library - TDL E-Journals)
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Mixed-Reality Teaching Experiences Improve Preservice Special Education Students
No full textClassroom management is an important skill for classroom teachers that they typically learn while completing their teacher preparation program. Traditional ways of teaching classroom management skills, such as practicum and internship experiences, may not provide the intensity of instruction needed for preservice teachers to develop the classroom management skills needed to be successful in the classroom. An alternative to these traditional methods of teacher preparation is Mursion. Mursion is a mixed-reality environment that allows preservice candidates to practice teaching specially designed scenarios (simulations) with student avatars. In this mixed methods study, we evaluated the effects of Mursion teaching experiences on undergraduate special education junior
Scaling Technoliberalism for Massively Multiplayer Online Games
No full textThe sandbox genre of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) addresses players as subjects with agency to shape worlds, impact populations, and make history through their actions within virtual environments. Designed features afford feelings of empowerment and solidarity that undergird technoliberal forms of subjectivity, which uphold technological structures as legitimate means to emergent effects in virtual worlds. This article uses ethnographic fieldwork and player interviews at EVE Online fan conventions to examine how the ideas and affects of technoliberalism are afforded through procedurally-encoded game processes, yet are aestheticized through branding onto player communities and their platforms. This smooths over the contradiction at the heart of technoliberalism that player
Using 3D Worlds in Prison: Driving, Learning and Escape
No full textAffordable hardware and increased processing power have resulted in a surge in the number and adoption of virtual reality applications and immersive virtual environments. These applications are able to immerse the user in an environment other than that of their immediate geographical location. The one population that is unable to move even within their own geographical location are prisoners. Prisoners are secluded away from the general population, unable to travel, attend education beyond the prison walls or interact with a wide variety of people. At least to a certain extent, these constraints are able to be overcome with the use of virtual reality and immersive virtual environments.This paper briefly examines the constraints experienced by prisoners and the technical limitations of the prison environment. It explores the very few cases where these technologies are already used within the prison setting. A number of potential uses for virtual reality within prisons are proposed, including the justification for these approaches and a description of how these technologies are being used outside of the prison setting
Representations of Novice Conceptions with Learner-Generated Augmentation: A Framework for Curriculum Design with Augmented Reality
No full textThis paper describes how learner-constructed Augmented Reality was used in an intervention among science undergraduates in Taiwan, to help their course instructor have a clearer understanding of how novices in chemistry approach and seek to make sense of key concepts in this discipline.The intervention was carried out in the latter half of 2018 using a freely-available app which could be downloaded to any smartphone or tablet which supports Augmented Reality. The undergraduates were introduced to the app and used its affordances as part of their course activities in chemistry.We have termed the pedagogical approach described in this paper as Learner-Generated Augmentation. The intervention and pedagogical approach reported in this paper has potential implications on the design and adoption of subsequent applications of Augmented Reality in contexts of learning; this is becaus
Internet Research in Online Environments for Children: Readability of Privacy and Terms of Use Policies; The Uses of (Non)Personal Data by Online Environments and Third-Party Advertisers
No full textOnline environments encourage their prospects, including children and teens, to register and provide information about themselves in order to participate in online activities. Many sites\u27 privacy and terms of use policies tend to provide hard-to-understand explanations about their data-using practices, contributing to a widespread confusion regarding the differences between what counts as non-personal versus personal data, and whether this data could be used for behavioral targeting or selling. Little research has been done on online advertising self-regulations and repercussions stemming from privacy-related dilemmas associated with them (Markham & Buchanan, 2012). Given the push of advertising networks to substantiate self-regulatory policies regarding online advertising (Luft, 2008; Lal Bhasin, 2008), this study investigates how privacy and terms of use policies reflect media self-regulations and privacy-related dilemmas worldwide (Federal Trade Commission, 2000; European Commission, 2012). Addressing self-regulatory practices of online media entities and their implications, this study also conducts the readability tests of privacy and terms of use-related policies of Neopets as an example of a popular virtual environment. Finally, it discusses the use of (non)personal data provided by children and teens, while evaluating how marketers\u27 promotional initiatives operate online, and how marketers self-regulate across the United States and the European Union. Implications are discussed and recommendations regarding how marketers in online environments may enhance their reputation by being responsible given their promotional activities in online environments are offered
Virtually Together: Examining Pre-Existing Relationships in MMOG Play
No full textMassively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) have been a fruitful venue to study social interactions ranging from small temporary groups, to larger more permanent in-game social collectives such as guilds or clans. Much of this literature is focused on strangers becoming friends through MMOG play; comparatively, little is known about gameplay-based interactions between pre-existing romantic couples. To address that gap, this paper describes the methods used and subsequent results of an empirical investigation of the in-game actions and collaborations between couple and non-couple pairings as they played the MMOG RIFT. In our attempts to determine if couples display distinctive in-game behaviors, we found that players with a pre-existing relationship (friendship or romantic) behave in a similar manner while playing together. However, our findings indicate that avatar proximity is the key to distinguishing whether this pre-existing relationship is platonic or romantic in nature
Virtual Worlds, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality: Differences in Purchase Intentions Based on Types, Users, and Sex
No full textThis paper discusses the disparity between two Virtual World (VW) users groups: Social and Game-oriented users. It highlights the difference between the distinct players\u27 behaviors and their purchase intentions in VWs. It then examines the differences in the sexes. The findings are applied to possible conditions in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). This paper sheds light on consumer
Learning from the
No full textDuring 2016 we got many JVWR submissions that dealt with the future of virtual worlds. Of them, a group of papers seems to suggest new angles and unique points of view. We packed these top five papers into this Edge issue. Each of them pushes the boundaries of the disciplines in a different way. Together, they demonstrate the dual value of JVWR, first as a stage to explore the future of virtual worlds (defined broadly) and then help to shape the future of real worlds
Not Playing the Game: Negative Opinions about Online Dating and Video Gaming among Non-Participants
No full textPer prior research, both online dating and video gaming are strongly associated with real and virtual relationship formation among participants. Yet this exploratory research study finds that eighty five percent of internet users have never participated in online dating and fifty percent of survey respondents have never participated in video gaming. This study uses data from a large nationally representative survey on online dating and video gaming in the U.S.The study employs the sociotechnical and the uses-and-gratifications theoretical perspectives to emphasize the role of information technology in shaping and framing relationships, and the importance of understanding individual context in the use of such technologies. The study investigates the characteristics of individuals who harbor negative opinions about online dating and video gaming despite having never participated in these activities. Opinions include
The Recursive Relationship between Virtual and Real in Relationships
No full textWe live in an era of digitally-mediated relationships. From finding a spouse online to daily interactions facilitated through social media, many people build and sustain both platonic and romantic relationships with technology. Virtual worlds are also spaces for these interactions. This special issue is dedicated to an exploration of such topics in a collection of articles explorin