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Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love screening on SBS

February 26, 2010 by 1 Comment

Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love is a documentary originally screened in early 2008 on the BBC. It’s worth remembering that context, as regular Second Life residents may find watching a little frustrating otherwise.

The documentary follows people who’ve met in Second Life, and the ramifications that has had on their real world relationships. I’ve seen about half of the total content of the documentary and overall I’d say it’s worth a watch, but it’s not as engaging as say the local Alter Ego.

The more discerning Second Life resident will be dismayed at how there’s yet another tawdry and narrowly focused portrayal of life in-world. For me, it was a two-sided experience: annoyance at some of the portrayals but also an acceptance that as a documentary it certainly captured the emotions of the people involved.

Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love screens tonight on SBS at 10pm AEDT.

Filed Under: Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds

February 25, 2010 by 1 Comment

Sexy Avatar from Koinup1. Linden Lab have started providing more illustrations of the potential uses of the new Shared Media functionality that was rolled out this week with Viewer 2. More of our thoughts on Viewer 2 in coming days, but one small pocket of resistance appears to be coming from SL musicians, as the new search functionality as it currently stands is impacting the ease with which people can find live music events. Grace McDunnough has a good sum-up on the issue here.

2. Want to help fund entrepreneurs in developing companies while scoring something for yourself? Why not buy an Avatar Dog t-shirt or download our discussion paper on policy agenda-setting and virtual worlds!

3. The response to the Second Lie column has been forceful: people love his sense of humour. If you have a question about pretty much anything Second Life, why not ask Second Lie to shine a light into the darkness for you? Every column generates money for the SL Relay for Life too.

4. Picture and machinima hub, Koinup, have announced they are offering mobile phone wallpapers via Nokia’s Ovi Store.

5. Back in 2008 we mentioned a University of Sydney student was completing research on journalism and Second Life. That research is now available here. It appears to be a very readable and balanced piece of scholarship. The abstract:

This thesis analyses the interaction of journalism and governance in the virtual world Second Life. It examines the structure, practices and influence of journalism in Second Life and explores the nature and communicative aspects of governance in this virtual world. As virtual worlds attract growing numbers of subscribers and social interaction increasingly moves towards the online environment, it is crucial to understand the practices and conventions which structure human interaction in these spaces.

To explore these concerns, a close critical analysis of Second Life was conducted, based upon academic literature, interviews and a content analysis. Eight interviews with significant journalists in Second Life were conducted and a content analysis of thirteen publications was undertaken. Yochai Benkler’s theory of social production provides a theoretical base which frames the nature of Second Life as participatory, collaborative and networked, and defines the relationship between media and governance using the concept of a networked public sphere.

Practices of journalism in Second Life display a combination of traditional, professional, gatewatching and participatory, networked, gatekeeping characteristics, and it perform numerous roles in mediating communication. Second Life publications facilitate active and abundant conversation between residents, facilitating a networked public sphere. Linden Lab uses a variety of strategies to communicate governance discourses to users. Despite the similarity between normative and Second Life journalism, it has a negligible influence over the structure and direction of governance.
The disconnect between journalism and governance in Second Life raises questions about individual freedom and collaborative production in virtual worlds, challenging existing understandings of online interactions.

Filed Under: Events, General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , , , ,

Second Life 2.0: sneak peek of the new viewer

February 23, 2010 by 14 Comments

Back in June last year, we gave a sneak peek of the Second Life 2.0 viewer. At the time, Linden Lab stated it was only a very early iteration of what would be the final product. The imminent announcement by the Lab of the public beta for Viewer 2 certainly adds weight to that claim, given the much larger feature set of the near-final product.

Here’s the June 2009 version:

And thanks to some Viewer 2 documents accidentally placed on a public fileshare by the Lab, here’s a glimpse of the new (German) viewer:

(You can view the full size version here)

Cosmetically, things have obviously come a long way over the past 9 months. Under the hood, there’s also some big changes. Shared Media now allows for greater use of web content in-world. The viewer itself has the full web browser feel happening, which will no doubt engender some debate amongst longer term Second Life residents. The right hand favourites bar is certainly a big win compared to the current mess.

There are also other minor changes. Content ratings have had some name changes: ‘PG’ regions are now ‘General’, ‘Mature’ is now ‘Moderate’ and ‘Adult’ remains unchanged. Search functionality has been further tweaked with the Lab claiming a more intuitive search experience. Another plus: the system requirements for Viewer 2 are no different to version 1.23, so no-one is locked out from upgrading. Version 1.23 will remain viable until 30 days after version 2.1 is released – version 1.22 is now on a (deserved) 30-day countdown to extinction.

Overall, Linden Lab deserve kudos for delivering a significantly revamped viewer that should make using Second Life markedly easier for new residents in particular. Linden Lab have consistently stated their commitment to improving the user experience and this is one of the more concrete examples of how that is now being delivered. The proof of Viewer 2’s success will only come with widespread use, but initial impressions are positive. Of course, Linden Lab need to pull off a usability coup to ensure ongoing growth. Combined with potential improvements in grid performance, the horizon seems a little brighter than it has been in a while.

Over to you: what do you think of Viewer 2 from the brief glimpse provided? Is it a revolution or just steady evolution?

Update – here’s some other reactions:

1. Tateru Nino has a great roundup of features.

2. Linden Lab’s announcement, including a quick tour:

Filed Under: General News, Software updates, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

Review: Onverse

February 22, 2010 by 1 Comment

My avatar, on the Learning Course

Onverse is comprised of a 2D web site, connected to a 3D virtual environment. Together, they form an intriguing new social networking platform with games included – games intuitive enough for non-gamers to learn, but complex enough for gamers to be interested in. You log in using the same account credentials regardless of whether you log in on the web site or the virtual environment. Cross-functionality between the two is increasing even as Onverse gets closer to its official launch date, which is slated for April 15th 2010.

From the moment you start signing up for an Onverse account, you are given some personal artistic choices regarding your avatar’s look, and as you progress into the environment, more and more choices open up to you, including decoration of your own free apartment. Some of the clothing, furniture, and tools are free. Some things you can buy using points, one of the Onverse currencies collected in-world. Some items are available only by purchasing Cash Coins (the other Onverse currency). Apart from clothing, you can also choose animations and emotes to use that further individualise your self-expression and your experience of Onverse.

The Avatar Cannon There are currently three modes of travel in Onverse: you can teleport between worlds, of which there are three at this time (The Hub, Volcano Island, Ancient Moon); you can travel long distances with the Avatar Cannon (though it’s best if you don’t try to aim for any specific landing point the first few times); and of course, you can always walk.

The Hub, Volcano Island, and Ancient Moon each feature outdoor areas and shops. The Hub also boasts apartment buildings, a casino, a nightclub, and an amphitheatre. Volcano Island and Ancient Moon each have themed housing communities – instead of having your apartment in an instance run just for you, apartments are grouped together in lots of 40+ to an instance. You can meet new friends or encourage your existing friends to become your neighbours.

I was initially unimpressed by Onverse. That was until I started doing a little digging, and discovered how little time it had been in development for, how few people were working on it, and the tiny budget that Onverse has currently. This is the team listing: Steve Pierce – “The Designer”; Wes Macdonald – “The Engineer”; Eric Hoefer – “The Artist”; Ben Steele – “The Animator”; Scott Mitting – “The Web Engineer”. The social networking component alone was built in under a month; the virtual environment in a comparative period of time for its size. Many parts of the coding for the game world, including the back-end server, have been written from scratch. The team also needed to learn to create avatar and clothing meshes. Other things that impressed me:

1. There’s a client available for the Mac that does not lag behind the Windows client

2. The client for the virtual environment can be run on computers with relatively low specs, and they have been streamlining their software and reducing the RAM footprint so that machines with even lower specifications can still run it.

I was also intrigued by the Onverse method of filling the world with music: signing on bands and artists who allow their music to be played in-world. Indeed, “Onverse is always looking for new bands who would like to showcase their talent inside our world. If you would like to be considered, contact us at music@onverse.com.”

If the use of casual games and social interaction on Facebook is any indication, then Onverse, with its more engaging environment, combined with socially interactive opportunities, should do extremely well. I believe that there will need to be a range of add-on game types if the product is to appeal to gamers and casual gamers alike, but I feel that the trend in Onverse is towards such a range. I look forward to monitoring their progress.

Ancient Moon

Filed Under: Alternatives, General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

February 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

1. PC World (USA) – Lego Creating Multiplayer Online Game. “Toy construction set company Lego Group plans to launch an MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) in the second half of this year, to be called Lego Universe, said Mark Hansen, director of business development and LEGO lead for the project. Lego users have long been known for their creative use of the company’s products, so the company is hoping its users will take their creativity online, using virtual Lego bricks to create entire virtual worlds. “There are such endless possibilities for what you can do in this game,” Hansen said. Hansen revealed some of the details of the game, which was four years in the making, at the 2010 Engage youth entertainment technology conference, being held this week in New York.”

2. Venture Beat (USA) – Online firms and toy companies clash over kids virtual worlds. “For many years toy and video game companies have been battling each other for the mindshare of kids. Toy companies have strong products targeted at children from pre-school up to about second grade, when they turn 7 or 8. Then, at about age 8, video games start to replace traditional toys. The typical business model enables video game companies to license their products to toy companies to generate additional revenue. At the same time toy companies have been offering more interactive toys to reach the slightly older child. Media companies like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney have effectively found a way to provide programming for both the younger and older kids and license their properties to toy and video game companies who in turn use their networks to market back to kids. After Disney bought Club Penguin for $350 million plus earn-outs in 2007, a wave of kids virtual worlds copycats materialized.”

3. CTV (Canada) – The world’s most expensive island – online. ” What is the most you’re willing to pay for a virtual item in a videogame or virtual world? Five, ten dollars? How about $26,500? That’s the amount David Storey, a 27-year-old graduate student living in Sydney, Australia, paid for a virtual island, the “Most valuable object that is virtual,” according to Guinness World Records. It’s easy to write off Storey, who goes by the name “Deathifier,” as a geek gone wild, but he now owns a million-dollar empire. Storey runs Amethera Treasure Island, which he purchased in the virtual world Entropia, as a rare game preserve and taxes hunters on his land. Storey says the taxes bring in more than $100,000 in real money per year.”

4. San Jose Business Journal (USA) – Xulu Entertainment provides real opportunity in virtual worlds. “Xulu Entertainment Inc. is developing a high-definition software platform for virtual worlds and gaming. It includes tools and libraries that professional developers as well as users can apply to create extreme realism and physical interactivity. Xulu’s simulation-driven software is built on an open framework and is designed to exploit the processing power of recent PCs. It is extendible to mobile devices and multiple operating systems. Xulu plans to launch an online entertainment destination to show early adventurers and developers what types of activities it will support. This will include sports, gaming and social activities. The first commercial release is planned for the end of this year.”

5. Virtual Worlds News (USA) – Richard Garriott’s Portalarium Aiming At A More Mainstream Second Life? “Today Richard Garriott, former part-time astronaut and founder of Origin, announced his latest company: Portalarium. Portalarium, according to the site, was founded in September 2009 to develop and publish ” online social games, virtual worlds and related services and products.” There’s not much to the company publicly yet, but its initial release is a Torque2D-based plugin for Windows PCs (Mac support is coming in Q2 2010) allowing developers to work within social networks, but outside of traditional Flash-based environments. The Portal Player is currently in beta testing with Portalarium’s first title, Sweet @$! Poker, on Facebook. Virtual worlds are on the way.”

6. VizWorld (USA) – Scientific Research in Virtual Worlds. “When I began this series of investigative reports on Second Life, one thing I was really looking forward to was to see just how much “science” was going on in Second Life. I wanted to know is the majority of what happens inworld Social or Academic? The reality wound up being more complex than I originally thought, being heavily influenced by the perspective of who I was speaking to. Some people said science was everywhere, while some people said it was a nonexistant community. After several weeks of digging around I’ve come to some conclusions, and I share them here.”

7. The Independent (UK) – Control freak: Will David Cage’s ‘Heavy Rain’ videogame push our buttons? “Nothing so complicates a child’s relationship with his parent as the death of a sibling, and when we first see Shaun Mars and his father Ethan alone together, it’s plain that they are struggling to navigate the hostile unfamiliar territory in which they find themselves. Deprived of his co-conspirator and protector, the previously effervescent Shaun is monosyllabic and sullen; Ethan, meanwhile, is barely able to function. As the camera follows the pair into the cheerless house that Ethan has moved to since his marriage ended, there seems little reason for hope. But once they are home, it is soon clear that the bond between them has survived this terrible assault – that, in fact, it is the only thing keeping Ethan from falling apart entirely. He makes his son a snack. He asks him how his day was. He helps him with his homework. He feeds him a healthy dinner. And, eventually, the faintest echo of their former happiness becomes audible. When Ethan tucks Shaun in at the end of the evening, the future doesn’t seem so grim.”

8. Federal Computer Week (USA) – Feds look for their avatars in 3-D. “Many agencies have staked out so-called islands on the virtual world Second Life, but now the government wants software to build and host a virtual world of its own for collaboration, training, simulation and analysis. The Agriculture Department plans to award multiple contracts under a program to develop a fully immersive, persistent 3-D experience in a virtual world populated by avatars that can be customized to resemble real-life users, according to documents published on the Federal Business Opportunities Web Site.”

9. Mediaweek (USA) – Study: Women Social ‘Gamers’ on the Rise. “The increasing number of women who play games on social networks do so with a regularity normally associated with hardcore gaming. But according to a recent study conducted by the lead generation firm Q Interactive, most women don’t associate themselves with a gaming lifestyle like the PlayStation and Xbox lovers do—and don’t care for the label “gamer.” According to executives at Q Interactive (which owns CoolSavings.com), the study was conducted in January among 770 women who were likely to be familiar with online gaming and virtual worlds. It found that while 36 percent of respondents said that they play games on sites like Facebook and MySpace, 54 percent of those who do so admit to playing social games every day. Not surprising to any Facebook user: The most popular social games were identified as Mafia Wars and Farmville.”

10. TechCrunch (USA) – Moonshoot Raises $6.6 Million To Teach English Through Online Gaming. “Moonshoot, a startup with that aims to teach English to children globally through an online gaming experience, has raised a total of $6.6 million in funding led by Alsop Louie Partners and TL Ventures.The startup is also announcing that Tom Kalinske; former CEO & Chairman of Leapfrog, President of Knowledge Universe, CEO of Sega of America, and CEO of Mattel; is joining Moonshoot as Executive Chairman.”

Filed Under: General News, Virtual Worlds, Virtual worlds in the media Tagged With:

Interzone’s Football MMO: local conflicts

February 21, 2010 by 1 Comment

In 2008, we mentioned the upcoming release of Interzone Futebol, a sporting MMO with some promise.

Over the past week, issues between local developers employed at the Western Australian office of Interzone and the US-based head office came to a head when Interzone’s VP of Business Development, Mike Turner, was confronted by employees.

Game Developer blog Tsumea have a good wrap of events, and for lots more detail, this blog has it in spades (and the Interzone Games URL now redirects to the blog). Finally, Interzone CEO Marty Brickey has responded to the allegations made over at Kotaku, as Seamus Byrne broke the story there in a big way.

The WA developers created the piece below to illustrate the context of what has been going on:

Like any disputes around intellectual property, employee entitlements and job security, it can be near impossible to get a clear overall picture. The video in question shows a bunch of obviously frustrated / angry employees and a defensive CEO not wanting to answer questions on the spot to a camera. The only certainty is that once it has reached to this stage, things have broken down to a level where no-one is likely to see a beneficial outcome.

One of the least certain aspects is why the transfer of game assets from Australia to Collision Games in Ireland – although the touted financial issues would likely be the driving force. Nor is there any reaction from publisher Gamigo on the situation.

The wash-up locally for this, is that Interzone Futebol may still see the light of day, but whether those who’ve worked on it to date get to share in those results is far from certain and arguably very unlikely.

Filed Under: Australian News, Gaming Worlds, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Weekend Whimsy

February 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment

1. America’s Cup in Second Life – Part 5

2. SIM “Emerald Green” Second life

3. How it Ends (Second Life) filmed in Missing Mile

Filed Under: User-generated, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Second Lie: costume etiquette and primadonna management

February 18, 2010 by 4 Comments

It’s time for the first of what hopefully becomes a regular Q&A segment with our new resident agony aunt, Second Lie. It’s all about sharing insights, finding common ground and a healthy dose of cynicism.

Remember, if you want to get your own slice of wisdom, you just need to contact us and we’ll forward your question on. Pretty much any issue is up for discussion, as long as it’s legal and potentially interesting!

It’s a win-win-win scenario: you get enlightened, Second Lie gets to spread his love and magic and we get to fork out money to Relay for Life. Does it get any better than that?

=====

Dear Second Lie,

A nightclub is having a Costume Contest this evening, so I went to a store and purchased a nurse costume. But SL said there was a “security error” with the transaction so my money is gone but I got no outfit.

So I went to a different store and purchased a nurse costume, and I waited “up to 15 minutes” (as directed) for SL to complete the transaction, but it never did, so my money is gone and I got no outfit.

So now I’m broke, so I went to XStreetSL to get a free costume, but the FREEBIES category doesn’t permit word-search.

Tell me, Second Lie, when you need a new outfit within the next 15 minutes, what do YOU do?

Thank you so much for your expertise!

Sincerely,

Second Life Addict & CoDependent

Dear Second Life Addict & CoDependent,

First off, congratulations on getting the last names of Addict and CoDependent.

We’re proud of our limited-release Mental Health Awareness Month names, which not only highlight many popular disorders out there in the real world, but they provide fair warning to anyone crossing paths with these headcases.

(I was going to get CoDependent myself, but you weren’t around to tell me if it was a cool idea to get one. Do you think it’s a good idea to get one? I’m not sure, maybe it is, I don’t know, what do you think?)

Anyway, we’re awfully sorry about you not getting your product and losing your Lindens as a result of the mussed-up transactions, but here’s a bit of friendly advice: don’t buy anything unless there’s been an “In-World Issues” post to Twitter by @SecondLife. Then, when they give the all-clear, it’s going to be safe to buy things for a few hours until the whole system comes crashing down again.

Getting this advice now won’t help you with your immediate predicament, for certain, so how do we get you an outfit lickety-split that will for-certain win you the contest?

Well, when it comes to getting dressed in a hurry, never underestimate the power of copybotting. Hop over to another party that’s just finishing, rip the winner’s clothes right off of their back, and head over to your party. Sure-fire way to win, even if it puts you on every wanted poster at the Lab.

Next, there’s always The Library… a little mix-and-match, a few impromptu clothing layers, and you’re got Cardboard Robot-Headed American Flag Faced Girl Next Door, Snowy Gamer Guy Skull-Headed Fireman, Punk Grass-Shirted Businessgirl Furrytail, and Man Made Of Old Wood Who Likes To Glue Lots Of Torches To His Body. The possibilities are endless!

Fifteen minutes is a little short notice, but there’s always an ex-Mentor at the Orientation Islands wandering around, grousing about how they got screwed over and lost their Linden Scouts Toadying Badge. Just repeat “A/S/L” and “I need a job” enough, and they’ll drop an outfit folder on you that they’re prepared for newbies. (Which is also full of advertisements and landmarks for their store – the REAL reason why most content creators joined Mentors, you know.) Do it enough, and one will accidentally drop some actual decent stuff… wear that and teleport over to the party!

Last but not least, who is this party being thrown by? If it’s the Lindens themselves, then it doesn’t matter what costume you wear because you’ll look far more cool and flashy that any of them on the grid. Have you seen what some of these lazy bums are going around wearing? Heck, the creator Philip himself goes around with that creepy spiked hair and blingy codpiece. If he’s there, you’ll look dashing and magnificent by comparison if you’re wearing just a plywood cube!

Good luck with the contest, and remember: I get 25% of your winnings.

Love,
SecondLie

=====

Hello Second Lie,

I work in SL as a producer of a TV show called “Live n Kickin” for Treet.TV.   It is about live performance and is filmed all across the grid, sometimes venues but usally not.  We try to match up our performers with locations that we feel suits their music or personality or just looks fantastic and would make great machinima to watch while they perform.   Sometimes there is a struggle of visions for the show – our production company has one vision and the artist has another, and they are usually quite opposite of each other and meeting in the middle can be next to impossible. They want  to stand and sing on stage at Carnegie Hall and we want them in a empty wherehouse or on the deck of an aircraft carrier because we know how great it will look on film.

My question is: what would be proper etiquette  here when we don’t meet eye to eye?  Tell them to shut up and ‘trust us we know what were doing’?  Go along with what they want even though we  don’t like it? Something else?  Remember, no-one really wants to tune in to see a musician standing there playing the guitar or whatever for 30 mins on UncleFrodo47 Tipmongers  lil venue stage over at live-music-is-awesome sim, or they would not watch the show they could just listen!

Delinda

Hello Delinda!

Ah, yes. It’s always the struggle between the performer and the producer trying to bring out the best of that performer for the medium, isn’t it?

My advice to you is to let the whiny baby prim-adonna performer have their way. I mean, they know best, right? They’re performing in Second Life, not some coffeeshop or bar or biergarden or county fair or Carnegie Hall or somewhere they actually might get some press for their absent talent.

Fuel their delusion with apparent submission to their experience and wisdom. Concede to them on every point. Give in. Yield. Let them believe that they actually have potential and talent when you know they’re just a washed-up hack or a deluded fool craving fame like a cat craved catnip-filled socks.

On the evening of the performance, they’ll get rezzed on a stage made of Old Wood textures and sploders and cheesy speaker stacks. They’ll struggle with the microphone poseball and end up leaning back and forth like a pathetic Chuck-e-cheese animatronic, covered with pizza-vomit from frightened birthday kids.

It doesn’t matter. Let them have their way. Heck, their pathetic fans will still come and hoot and holler, even if the stream’s set to NPR news stories.

Meanwhile, fire up a second session with the -multiple flag and get over the kick-ass location you’ve busted your hump to find. Fill it with all your best-looking friends, and then have someone work up an alt with the best guitar-playing animations you can find. Unlike the performer, your friend will be able to sync the animations to the music, stopping when the music stops and switching from gentle strumming to hard long windmill loops.

Obviously, the show to film will be the “shadow” show you’ve arranged. (It’s not like those prim cameras actually have film in them, right? Ha ha!)

Sure, there’s always risk of your deception being caught before you get the episode in the can. The performer might ignore your warnings to ignore requests for teleports, they may have such a huge ego that they’ll want to watch the show on another window, etc. But if you assume that they’re barely able to afford a clunky desktop and a dialup connection, they
shouldn’t be able to handle much more than just the stream and a minimized SL window on Low.

Once the show is over, tell the performer what you’ve done, and if they don’t want to look like a total jackass they’d better keep their trap shut
and play along with the ruse.

Oh, and while you’re at it, here’s a services contract to sign for the new awesome-looking avatar outfit and the animation set… sign here… and here… and then here…

Ah yes. A star is rezzed.

Keep rocking in the freebie world!
SecondLie


Filed Under: General News, Humour / Satire, Second Lie, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds

February 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment

1. As mentioned previously, Deakin University’s Jon-Paul Cacioli is conducting a study on body image in virtual worlds. He needs around 300 males to complete the survey, and to date has received over 100 responses. If you have time, please take the survey.

2. If, like me, the idea of a Lego MMO appeals like hell to you, it’s not too late to sign up for the closed beta.

3. Don’t forget our newest Columnist, Second Lie, is waiting for your questions.

4. Edward Castronova has a fascinating post over on Terra Nova covering his evolving thoughts on role-playing, the intrusion of monetary transactions and ‘the magic circle’.

5. 3D world development platform Unity has reached 100 thousand registered developers.

6. Tateru Nino has a great post on intellectual property rights over at Massively.

7. Have you joined the Metaverse Aid team yet?

8. Frenzoo continues its evolution with addition of Facebook Connect for new users (with current users receiving that access soon) and a new ‘mini-machinima’ feature.

Filed Under: Events, General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , , , ,

Problem-based learning in Second Life: new resource

February 16, 2010 by 1 Comment

Another cross-pollination from sister-site Metaverse Health

A comprehensive new resource has been released by the UK’s University of Derby and Aston University, Titled Best Practices in Virtual Worlds Teaching: A guide to using problem-based learning in Second Life, this 40+ page publication covers a lot of ground in an easy to understand way. It’s available as a free download of a little over 6MB in PDF format.

The pivotal section for me is the one on making problem-based learning work in Second Life, with the succinct message being:

The possibilities for education within Second Life are limitless and one must be careful not to use this resource for the sake of it. Any teaching resources provided within Second Life must be embedded within traditional learning methods and fulfil a direct need within the course. Simply using Second Life for the sake of it will require time and effort from students and staff that is unwarranted and provides no additional benefit. There must be a direct applicable benefit to the material contained within Second Life, so purpose-driven use is advised rather than speculative-use.

As I’ve mentioned previously, the documentation of teaching methods in virtual environments continues to improve, and this document provides a superb overview for those new to the approach. From a health viewpoint, some good examples of Psychology projects undertaken in Second Life are given.

Thanks to Virtual World Watch for the heads-up

Filed Under: Education, General News, Virtual Worlds

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