Journal For Virtual Worlds Research (Texas Digital Library - TDL E-Journals)
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Harsh Words and Deeds: Systematic Content Analyses of Offensive* User Behavior in the Virtual Environments of Online First-Person Shooter Games
No full textWhile the virtual environments of online games can foster healthy relationships and strong communities, some online games are also marred by antisocial and offensive behavior. Such behavior, even when relatively rare, influences the interactions and relationships of users in online communities. Thus, understanding the prevalence and nature of antisocial and offensive behaviors in online games is an important step toward understanding the full spectrum of healthy and unhealthy interactions and relationships in virtual environments. Extensive research has explored video game content produced by game developers, such as violence, profanity, and sexualized portrayals, but much less research has systematically examined potentially problematic content produced by players in online games. While potential effects of antisocial and offensive online game content are not well understood, a first step toward exploring this concern is systematic documentation of offensive user-generated content in online games. To that end, two large-scale content analyses measured a range of offensive user-generated content, including utterances, text, and images, from a total of more than 2,500 users in popular first-person shooter video games. Findings indicated that some content, such as profanity, was frequent among users who spoke during games. More offensive and potentially harmful content, such as racial slurs, was proportionally very rare, but frequent enough to be encountered often by regular players. Results of this initial investigation should be interpreted tentatively, do not suggest that relationships in online shooter games lack healthy elements, and should not be generalized to other online game communities until further research is conducted.* Note: This paper contains strong language which may be offensive to some readers
Levelling Up: Minors\u27 Play in a Closed-system MMOG
No full textIn this paper, we present a study of 182 youths (ages 9 - 17) playing a closed-system Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG), Guardian Academy. Its purpose was to investigate the online virtual world behaviours of youth under the age of 18 playing in an educational setting. We report on a mixed-methods study of minor players in situ across eight socioeconomically diversified educational communities, focused on characteristics, patterns, and trajectories of development of school-aged youth
De-Roling from Experiences and Identities in Virtual Worlds
No full textWithin dramatherapy and psychodrama, the ter
Empathy with Non-Player Characters? An Empirical approach to the Foundations of Human/Non-Human Relationships
No full textThis study deals with the question in which extent non-player characters (NPCs), in the practice of playing video games, appear as social persons ready for relationships or if they are only treated as mere objects. Due to the fact that for human players the computer game and its virtual inhabitants appear as black boxes, the presented gameplay and its more or less emergent narratives are always in need of interpretation. As a result, different types of play-practice emerge, which in different ways produce more or less empathic relationships towards non-human players
Editorial
No full textThe 2017 Assembled issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research is a collection of four highly interdisciplinary research papers, representing the diversity that is \u27virtual worlds\u27. When considering this editorial piece, I decided to begin with the name of the issue: Assembled. Every year the journal has an Assembled issue, representing a collection of peer-reviewed articles which my predecessors have rightly described as \u27eclectic\u27 and \u27diverse\u27. Although the articles presented herein are equally diverse with regard to scope and methodology, they are all representative of virtual worlds research, a field that truly is \u27assembled\u27 - emerging from and supported by numerous passionate scholars from various intellectual backgrounds
Using Google Trends Data to Gauge Interest in Virtual Worlds
No full textVirtual worlds rose and fell in popularity a decade ago, and today\u27s nascent commercially-available virtual reality could repeat this pattern. With sparse data available for gauging interest in technology products, such as virtual worlds or virtual reality, Google Trends search popularity has been used in prior studies as a proxy for global interest. We explore the problems with this approach using data from three virtual worlds: Second Life, Minecraft, and World of Warcraft. We find that Google Trends search volume does not correlate with user purchases or subscriptions, and the single shifted Gompertz function used in prior studies may not be sufficient to model both product user searches and searches driven by media attention
Detecting Covert Networks in Multilingual Groups: Evidence within a Virtual World
No full textThis paper introduces an approach for the examination and organization of unstructured text to identify relationships between networks of individuals. This approach uses discourse analysis to identify information providers and recipients and determines the structure of covert organizations irrespective of the language that facilitate conversations between members. Then, this method applies social network analytics to determine the arrangement of a covert organization without any a priori knowledge of the network structure. This approach is tested and validated using communication data collected in a virtual world setting. Our analysis indicates that the proposed framework successfully detected the covert structure of three information networks, and their cliques, within an online gaming community during a simulation of a large-scale event
No full textUser-generated content (UGC) has been receiving increasing attention given its spread throughout digital media platforms and applications. Previous research focusing on Web 2.0 based platforms highlighted linkages with personal characteristics, user attitudes, and social as well as individual motivators. Interestingly, UGC has not been addressed on other platforms such as 3D virtual worlds, and the purpose of the current study is to fill this gap in the literature. More specifically, we explore virtual content creation within the particular 3D virtual world of Second Life, via comparing key demographic, usage and motivational attributes of creator versus non-creator residents. Results revealed differential patterns as a function of age, gender and usage. Digital content creators were also more likely to purchase goods reflecting stability, expand greater financial resources on the Second Life Marketplace, and while acknowledging greater difficulty in ease of use, reported higher esteem and self-actualization. Implications for scholars and practitioners are discussed
Developing Virtual Reality Simulations for Office-Based Medical Emergencies
No full textVirtual reality simulation may significantly benefit a geographically dispersed learner demographic in the medical outpatient setting. Our research used an immersive virtual reality platform as a novel way to recreate high-risk medical scenarios targeted for office-based emergencies. Using a design-based research approach we designed virtual-reality-based simulation scenarios to prepare interprofessional office personnel for emergencies. Learners were connected using laptop computers, via a browser interface, with learner controlled team member avatars and educator controlled patient avatars. The virtual environment was modeled after a multi-provider healthcare office setting in a large suburban health network. Evaluation occurred via post-event surveys and feedback transcribed from video recordings and debriefings. Three office-based emergency scenarios were created (chest pain, respiratory distress/allergic reaction, and suicidal risk), with progressively smaller changes to the virtual environment with each iterative improvement. In total, 18 individuals representative of a typical outpatient office interprofessional care team participated in the pilot study. Qualitative design-related feedback from participants and faculty improved the educational environment, artifacts, and scenarios. Participant feedback was overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic about the use of virtual reality-based simulations to explore teamwork, build scope of practice, and rehearse infrequently used clinical skills. We successfully created novel outpatient virtual reality simulations in a first-person-perspective virtual environment. Pilot testing revealed successful rapid development, implementation, and participant orientation, with the ability to present learning opportunities. Future efforts will include assessments and attempt to overcome development barriers by switching to a more versatile platform