Journal For Virtual Worlds Research (Texas Digital Library - TDL E-Journals)
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Technology and the Not-so-Stable Body:
No full textWill virtual worlds one day be perceptually similar to everyday life? Could virtual reality (VR) provide a platform for individuals to dialogue about pressing social or political issues? From the Ready Player One and Matrix franchises, to the science fiction of Isaac Asimov, the communicative and political implications of hybrid human/machine virtual worlds have been heavily theorized. Yet, fundamental questions remain as to whether or not VR could ever substantiate the breath and scope of embodied, non-virtual experience. The following paper examines whether VR platforms are capable of providing an authentic sense o
Utilizing Virtual Environments for the Evaluation of Lighting Controls
No full textWhen designing a new user interaction (UI) technology or applying UI modalities to a product or system, the designer can select from many methods and tools to assist them with evaluating the U
The Relation between Customer Types in a Real Supermarket Compared to a Virtual Supermarket
No full textVirtual environments are becoming more popular for a variety of applications. One application we expect to see in the near future is virtual supermarkets. Although there is a lot of research in real supermarkets that gives us a better understanding of how people behave and what to expect of them as customers, there is little research, as yet, to compare whether that research is transferable to virtual supermarkets. This research compares whether known customer types in a real supermarket would transfer to a virtual supermarket. We conducted research in a CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) through which participants (N=87) had the experience of shopping at a virtual supermarket, and we show that there is a significant overlap of customer types between the virtual and the real one
Editorial
No full textThis issue, as with all assembled issues, aimed at highlighting the diversity of issues of virtual and real worlds
Conceptualizing Factors of Adoption for Head Mounted Displays: Toward an Integrated Multi-Perspective Framework
No full textRecent developments in Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) offer radical new ways of exploring and interacting in three dimensional virtual or augmented spaces. However, the literature reveals a gap in terms of predictive adoption factors that address human usage and social constraints. Our investigation was guided by the question
The Influences of User Experience, Aesthetics and Psychology in the Design Process of 3D Avatars (Theoretical model)
No full textThis paper introduces a theoretical model that combines three theoretical factors whic
From Voxel Vistas: Place-Making in Minecraft
No full textThe concept of place informs much of human meaning-making in both space and time. This paper seeks to bridge gaps between the literature on place and research on video games and virtual worlds by finding points of intersection between each field. I analyze the immensely successful independently-developed video game Minecraft through my own experience and an analysis of gameplay videos uploaded to YouTube. The game serves as an ideal framework within which to study place-making due to three core qualities that illuminate intersections in place and video game/virtual worlds literature: (a) alteration/change, (b) proximity, and (c) conflict/cooperation. I problematize dichotomies betwee
Gaming Experience and Spatial Learning in a Virtual Morris Water Maze
No full textExperience playing video games has been associated with perceptual and cognitive improvements (e.g., Castel, Pratt, & Drummond, 2005; Boot, Kramer, Simons, Fabiani, & Gratton, 2008; Colzato, van den Wildenberg, & Hommel, 2013; Oei & Patterson, 2013) For instance, video gamers show superior spatial abilities than non-gamers (Greenfield, Graig, & Lohr, 1994; Feng, Spence, and Pratt, 2007; Green & Bavelier, 2003). Given that such abilities have been associated with educational and vocational success in STEM fields (Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009), it is important to understand the relationship between them and video game experience. In past research, virtual versions of the Morris Water Maze (VMWM) have been used to investigate spatial learning in non-human subjects. Yet, the extent of VMW
Is a Technological Singularity Near Also for Bots in MMOGs?
No full textUsing the idea of the Technological Singularity this essay offers some reflections on the possible future of bots in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). The paper starts by briefly introducing the notion of Technological Singularity as the advent of a super-intelligent Artificial Intelligence that could threaten human existence. Bots are computer programs that automate repetitive and time consuming activities for the Internet user. In MMOGs, bots are often used to cheat and could have nefarious effects on the gameplay. Assuming that bots are rudimentary forms of Artificial Intelligence that also pose a threat to MMOGs and their players, the paper presents some evidence-based trends of the future evolution of bots and the implications of these for Virtual Worlds research
The Metaverse as Mediator between Technology, Trends, and the Digital Transformation of Society and Business
No full textIn this reflective article we discuss the potential of recent developments in virtual worlds for offering novel value propositions for the digital transformation of society and business. In particular, we consider the role of a Metaverse, understood as a globally accessible 3D virtual space and computing infrastructur