Lisa GalarneauLisa Galarneau BILBILPh.D. Candidate, Screen and Media StudiesPh.D. Candidate, Screen and Media Studies Monterey, CaMonterey, CaResearch Director, IntrepidResearch Director, Intrepid March 2008March 2008

E-mail: E-mail: lisa@socialstudygames.com

Welcome to the Future…Welcome to the Future…

Why Virtual Worlds are Good for the SoulWhy Virtual Worlds are Good for the Soul

Spontaneous Communities of Spontaneous Communities of LearningLearning

Page 9

What are online What are online games/virtual worlds?games/virtual worlds?

CharacteristicsCharacteristics

PersistencePersistence Freedom/open-Freedom/open-

endedended Characters/ Characters/

avatarsavatars Guilds/clans/ Guilds/clans/

teamsteams Cooperative Cooperative

and and competitive competitive playplay

Economies/ Economies/ virtual virtual property property (sometimes)(sometimes)

Complex Social SystemsComplex Social Systems

Robust EconomiesRobust Economies

Who the Who the heck are heck are these these

people???people???

Thriving on chaos, managing self, relating to others, language, symbols, text, multi-tasking, negotiation, networking, distributed cognition, performance, play, collective intelligence, etc.

Comfort with diversity, participating/contributing, performance, negotiation, networking, etc.

Managing information, thinking, participating/ contributing, using language, symbol and text, transmedia navigation, judgment, networking, negotiation, distributed cognition, collective intelligence, appropriation, etc.

From the survey: player perceptionsFrom the survey: player perceptions

Big Improvements to RL skills:Big Improvements to RL skills: Patience/helpful attitudePatience/helpful attitude Communication/social skillsCommunication/social skills Team-work/cooperationTeam-work/cooperation Sense of humorSense of humor Dealing with conflictDealing with conflict Self-controlSelf-control Problem-solving/resourcefulnessProblem-solving/resourcefulness Leadership/organizationLeadership/organization Decision-makingDecision-making Creative thinkingCreative thinking Language/literacyLanguage/literacy

““I think I think working well with others working well with others and understanding each person’s role based on abilities is and understanding each person’s role based on abilities is something that translates into any team environment.”something that translates into any team environment.”

““Having Asperger's Syndrome and a lack of positive social experiences in the past with which to build Having Asperger's Syndrome and a lack of positive social experiences in the past with which to build upon a stable foundation for upon a stable foundation for communication communication I found that I benefited the most from the community I found that I benefited the most from the community and social interactions with them. They helped me refine my social and communication skills.”and social interactions with them. They helped me refine my social and communication skills.”

““Dealing with problem customers is like dealing with problem players. Keeping a cool head when Dealing with problem customers is like dealing with problem players. Keeping a cool head when someone gets upset usually leads to a better outcome. Having a good (and sometimes dark) someone gets upset usually leads to a better outcome. Having a good (and sometimes dark) sense of sense of humor humor helps others feel less tense about situations and in the game(s) it helps people feel more helps others feel less tense about situations and in the game(s) it helps people feel more welcome.”welcome.”

““LeadershipLeadership. It has helped me to deal better with groups of people in the workplace that I . It has helped me to deal better with groups of people in the workplace that I supervised. Delegate, praise and train to do jobs necessary.”supervised. Delegate, praise and train to do jobs necessary.”

““Dealing with people from different areas, Dealing with people from different areas, across age generationsacross age generations.”.”

““I have learned that I have learned that praisepraise in a in a teamteam environment is incredibly important.” environment is incredibly important.”

““I I used to be very shy used to be very shy around new people. I learned a lot about communication by helping others and around new people. I learned a lot about communication by helping others and organising online events.”organising online events.”

““Working as a team has taught me more Working as a team has taught me more patiencepatience than I used to have.” than I used to have.”

““Being able to Being able to communicate without fear of ridicule communicate without fear of ridicule really helped me learn to be more outspoken in really helped me learn to be more outspoken in real life.”real life.”

““My wife passed away last year and I started playing as a way to help me My wife passed away last year and I started playing as a way to help me socialize in a safe waysocialize in a safe way. . It's been wonderful for that but I think I'm almost ready to get back to the real world.”It's been wonderful for that but I think I'm almost ready to get back to the real world.”

““Language. As I’m German, Language. As I’m German, typing and talking English typing and talking English on a more regular base helped greatly :)”on a more regular base helped greatly :)”

““My attitude in general has improved- I was My attitude in general has improved- I was a shocking communicator and non team a shocking communicator and non team player who thought I was good at player who thought I was good at communicating and working as part of a communicating and working as part of a team. After an incident of having 54 team. After an incident of having 54 people ignore you in a guild for people ignore you in a guild for unsatisfactory behavior I actually went unsatisfactory behavior I actually went and learnt how to communicate at a private and learnt how to communicate at a private learning institute, this made a massive learning institute, this made a massive difference to my life on all levels difference to my life on all levels especially dealing with conflict-knowing especially dealing with conflict-knowing when to walk away when to stay and when to walk away when to stay and communicating like an adult to try to communicating like an adult to try to create win-win situations.”create win-win situations.”

Who believes?Who believes?

Vintage Images from Tales of Future Past: http://davidszondy.comVintage Images from Tales of Future Past: http://davidszondy.com