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Course description
Prior technical and gaming experience is not required for this course.
During the past six months, virtual worlds such as Second Life have received extensive coverage in business and technology journals. Although they are currently a fringe medium, some analysts predict that virtual worlds will emerge as a major force for commerce, entertainment, and education.
Leading corporations and educational institutions are racing to establish a presence in Second Life. Others are investigating the possibilities offered by platforms like There, Multiverse, and Kaneva. This growing demand has paved the way for "virtual world development agencies" that help individuals and institutions make sense out of these strange new worlds. Advertising agencies, public relations firms, and prominent news outlets have also set up shop in Second Life.
Some technology pundits argue that the current hype about virtual worlds is unfounded. Skeptics predict that the virtual world market will crash when users discover the awkward limitations of current technologies. Yet others contend that some sort of three-dimensional interface to the web is inevitable. Even if Second Life is not the dominant platform five years from now, other technologies will emerge to fill the gap. In the meantime, early commercial adopters can experiment with strategies for fostering community, building brands, promoting ideas and selling goods.
Previous versions of this gaming course have focused on ethnographic research methods (1, 2) and game design (3), but we will approach the topic in a very different way this year. In this class, we will draw on our training as new media professionals to develop strategic promotional campaigns in Second Life and other virtual worlds. (The goals of these campaigns will be developed collectively during the first six weeks of class.)
As always, the class balances hands-on activities with discussion. As a general rule of thumb, you can expect that Wednesday's daytime sessions will focus on discussion of the readings. Monday's daytime session and Wednesday night's gaming sessions will be devoted to hands-on work in Second Life.
This class will give you the opportunity to learn building, scripting, and community architecture in virtual worlds. You will also become familiar with the quirky cultural practices of Second Life residents. Along the way, you will develop project proposals, pitch your ideas to the class, and roll out a full-fledged promotional campaign. We will emulate the work environment of a creative interactive media agency. (Albeit a media agency with a heavy reading list and periodic reading quizzes.)
Throughout the semester, virtual world professionals will meet with us in world to talk about their perspective on this new medium.
Our promotional efforts will be grounded in existing research and case studies. Throughout the semester, we will read and discuss milestone works in the field of virtual worlds research. We will also use writings about public relations, advertising, and activism as the basis for dissecting existing virtual world marketing campaigns. By identifying the successes and failures of other campaigns, we will be able to strengthen our own work.
During the coming semester, we will:
- immerse ourselves in virtual worlds in order to critically evaluate the claims that utopians and skeptics make about this emerging medium,
- use core communication and marketing theories to analyze recent virtual world promotional efforts,
- learn how to build objects, develop scripts and nurture community in Second Life and other virtual world platforms, and
- design, implement and measure a virtual world promotional campaign focused on a product, idea, or political cause of the group's choosing (2-3 groups).
Prior technical and gaming experience is not required for this course.
Course requirements and materials
Assigned readings are available on the public Internet and via electronic reserve. Please be sure to bring hard copies of the assigned readings to class. If you would rather not print the articles, you can also bring a notebook with your thoughts and reactions to the readings.
Although we will experiment with other platforms, we will spend most of our time in Second Life. The course textbook is Second Life: The Official Guide (2006). Featuring chapters written by Michael Rymaszewski, Wagner James Au, Mark Wallace, Catherine Winters, Cory Ondrejka, Benjamin Batstone-Cunningham, and Philip Rosedale, this is an essential resource for newcomers.
In lieu of a second textbook, each student is required to exchange $40 USD for Linden Dollars. This money will make it possible to participate in the creative economy of Second Life. You will need money to upload textures, buy clothes, purchase property, and hire contractors. If your parents are concerned about spending money on video-game currency instead of a traditional textbook, you might point out that this is similar to an art student buying ink, paintbrushes, and canvas. (Note: You can also encourage them to contact me with any questions about the objectives and academic rigor of this class.) You will be able to "cash out" any remaining money at the end of the semester by converting it back to US dollars, but it is best to assume that you will be spending all $40 throughout the term.
More than a game, your homework is to spend time in virtual worlds
It is impossible to fully understand Second Life without living there. A
significant amount of class time will be spent "in world,"
but you are also expected to devote at least five hours a week
to your exploration of Second Life. To ensure that
everyone
spends enough time in world, a mandatory group online session
will be held between 6:30 and 9:00 on Wednesday evenings.
You are welcome to use Second Life on the lab computers
when other classes do not need the facilities, and you might also
be able to
install the game on your personal system. If you want to install
the game on your home macgube, it must meet minimum
system requirements. Even if your computer meets the minimum requirements,
game performance might be sluggish. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about your computer's
capabilities.
Addictive potential
At the outset, it should be noted that virtual worlds
have a reputation for being addictive. When I taught a previous
version of this course using Everquest, I received several e-mail
messages
from former players who were concerned about the potential for
addiction. For example, one person commented “[Y]ou could potentially
get people addicted and lost in this world. I was addicted to the
game
for 3 years and it IS a very, very powerful addiction. I strongly
urge you to explain to everyone in advance that if they have strong
addictive-type personalities not to force them to do this. . .
[I] could not be any more serious.”
The same factors that make these virtual worlds addictive make them highly interesting to new media scholars. Fortunately, Second Life seems to be much less addictive than "never-ending treadmill games" such as World of Warcraft and Everquest.
If you have a compulsive
personality, you might want to consider strategies for placing
limits on your access to the game. One possibility is to avoid playing
the
game in any location other than the computer lab. If you are
worried about your relationship to the game at any time during
the semester, please contact me.
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