1,071 research outputs found
A Novel Taxonomy of Opportunities and Risks in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games
The explosion and rapid embrace of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) has provided players with unique, fully immersive three dimensional environments in which they can express themselves in a myriad of ways. Players can develop unique skill sets, share knowledge, explore and experiment with various identities and network with like-minded individuals. Evidence suggests however, that these opportunities are accompanied with a number of risks including addiction, desensitisation and threats to the privacy of personal information. This paper presents a novel Taxonomy of opportunities and risks in the specific context of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games
Real Time Cross Platform Collaboration Between Virtual Reality & Mixed Reality
abstract: Virtual Reality (hereafter VR) and Mixed Reality (hereafter MR) have opened a new line of applications and possibilities. Amidst a vast network of potential applications, little research has been done to provide real time collaboration capability between users of VR and MR. The idea of this thesis study is to develop and test a real time collaboration system between VR and MR. The system works similar to a Google document where two or more users can see what others are doing i.e. writing, modifying, viewing, etc. Similarly, the system developed during this study will enable users in VR and MR to collaborate in real time.
The study of developing a real-time cross-platform collaboration system between VR and MR takes into consideration a scenario in which multiple device users are connected to a multiplayer network where they are guided to perform various tasks concurrently.
Usability testing was conducted to evaluate participant perceptions of the system. Users were required to assemble a chair in alternating turns; thereafter users were required to fill a survey and give an audio interview. Results collected from the participants showed positive feedback towards using VR and MR for collaboration. However, there are several limitations with the current generation of devices that hinder mass adoption. Devices with better performance factors will lead to wider adoption.Dissertation/ThesisFinal OutputKeynoteThesis DemoMasters Thesis Computer Science 201
Education Unleashed: Participatory Culture, Education, and Innovation in Second Life
Part of the Volume on the Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and LearningWhile virtual worlds share common technologies and audiences with games, they possess many unique characteristics. Particularly when compared to massively multiplayer online role-playing games, virtual worlds create very different learning and teaching opportunities through markets, creation, and connections to the real world, and lack of overt game goals. This chapter aims to expose a wide audience to the breadth and depth of learning occurring within Second Life (SL). From in-world classes in the scripting language to mixed-reality conferences about the future of broadcasting, a tremendous variety of both amateurs and experts are leveraging SL as a platform for education. In one sense, this isn't new since every technology is co-opted by communities for communication, but SL is different because every aspect of it was designed to encourage this co-opting, this remixing of the virtual and the real
Optimal configuration of active and backup servers for augmented reality cooperative games
Interactive applications as online games and mobile devices have become more and more popular in recent years. From their combination, new and interesting cooperative services could be generated. For instance, gamers endowed with Augmented Reality (AR) visors connected as wireless nodes in an ad-hoc network, can interact with each other while immersed in the game. To enable this vision, we discuss here a hybrid architecture enabling game play in ad-hoc mode instead of the traditional client-server setting. In our architecture, one of the player nodes also acts as the server of the game, whereas other backup server nodes are ready to become active servers in case of disconnection of the network i.e. due to low energy level of the currently active server. This allows to have a longer gaming session before incurring in disconnections or energy exhaustion. In this context, the server election strategy with the aim of maximizing network lifetime is not so straightforward. To this end, we have hence analyzed this issue through a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model and both numerical and simulation-based analysis shows that the backup servers solution fulfills its design objective
Enhancing trustability in MMOGs environments
Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs; e.g., World of Warcraft), virtual worlds
(VW; e.g., Second Life), social networks (e.g., Facebook) strongly demand for more
autonomic, security, and trust mechanisms in a way similar to humans do in the real
life world. As known, this is a difficult matter because trusting in humans and organizations
depends on the perception and experience of each individual, which is difficult to
quantify or measure. In fact, these societal environments lack trust mechanisms similar
to those involved in humans-to-human interactions. Besides, interactions mediated
by compute devices are constantly evolving, requiring trust mechanisms that keep the
pace with the developments and assess risk situations.
In VW/MMOGs, it is widely recognized that users develop trust relationships from their
in-world interactions with others. However, these trust relationships end up not being
represented in the data structures (or databases) of such virtual worlds, though they
sometimes appear associated to reputation and recommendation systems. In addition,
as far as we know, the user is not provided with a personal trust tool to sustain his/her
decision making while he/she interacts with other users in the virtual or game world.
In order to solve this problem, as well as those mentioned above, we propose herein a
formal representation of these personal trust relationships, which are based on avataravatar
interactions. The leading idea is to provide each avatar-impersonated player
with a personal trust tool that follows a distributed trust model, i.e., the trust data is
distributed over the societal network of a given VW/MMOG.
Representing, manipulating, and inferring trust from the user/player point of view certainly
is a grand challenge. When someone meets an unknown individual, the question
is âCan I trust him/her or not?â. It is clear that this requires the user to have access to
a representation of trust about others, but, unless we are using an open source VW/MMOG,
it is difficult ânot to say unfeasibleâ to get access to such data. Even, in an open
source system, a number of users may refuse to pass information about its friends, acquaintances,
or others. Putting together its own data and gathered data obtained from
others, the avatar-impersonated player should be able to come across a trust result
about its current trustee. For the trust assessment method used in this thesis, we use
subjective logic operators and graph search algorithms to undertake such trust inference
about the trustee. The proposed trust inference system has been validated using
a number of OpenSimulator (opensimulator.org) scenarios, which showed an accuracy
increase in evaluating trustability of avatars.
Summing up, our proposal aims thus to introduce a trust theory for virtual worlds, its
trust assessment metrics (e.g., subjective logic) and trust discovery methods (e.g.,
graph search methods), on an individual basis, rather than based on usual centralized
reputation systems. In particular, and unlike other trust discovery methods, our methods
run at interactive rates.MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games, como por exemplo, World of Warcraft),
mundos virtuais (VW, como por exemplo, o Second Life) e redes sociais (como por exemplo,
Facebook) necessitam de mecanismos de confiança mais autónomos, capazes de
assegurar a segurança e a confiança de uma forma semelhante à que os seres humanos
utilizam na vida real. Como se sabe, esta nĂŁo Ă© uma questĂŁo fĂĄcil. Porque confiar em
seres humanos e ou organizaçÔes depende da percepção e da experiĂȘncia de cada indivĂduo,
o que Ă© difĂcil de quantificar ou medir Ă partida. Na verdade, esses ambientes
sociais carecem dos mecanismos de confiança presentes em interacçÔes humanas presenciais.
Além disso, as interacçÔes mediadas por dispositivos computacionais estão em
constante evolução, necessitando de mecanismos de confiança adequados ao ritmo da
evolução para avaliar situaçÔes de risco.
Em VW/MMOGs, é amplamente reconhecido que os utilizadores desenvolvem relaçÔes
de confiança a partir das suas interacçÔes no mundo com outros. No entanto, essas relaçÔes
de confiança acabam por não ser representadas nas estruturas de dados (ou bases
de dados) do VW/MMOG especĂfico, embora Ă s vezes apareçam associados Ă reputação
e a sistemas de reputação. Além disso, tanto quanto sabemos, ao utilizador não lhe
é facultado nenhum mecanismo que suporte uma ferramenta de confiança individual
para sustentar o seu processo de tomada de decisĂŁo, enquanto ele interage com outros
utilizadores no mundo virtual ou jogo. A fim de resolver este problema, bem como
os mencionados acima, propomos nesta tese uma representação formal para essas relaçÔes
de confiança pessoal, baseada em interacçÔes avatar-avatar. A ideia principal
é fornecer a cada jogador representado por um avatar uma ferramenta de confiança
pessoal que segue um modelo de confiança distribuĂda, ou seja, os dados de confiança
sĂŁo distribuĂdos atravĂ©s da rede social de um determinado VW/MMOG.
Representar, manipular e inferir a confiança do ponto de utilizador/jogador, é certamente
um grande desafio. Quando alguĂ©m encontra um indivĂduo desconhecido, a
pergunta Ă© âPosso confiar ou nĂŁo nele?â. Ă claro que isto requer que o utilizador tenha
acesso a uma representação de confiança sobre os outros, mas, a menos que possamos
usar uma plataforma VW/MMOG de cĂłdigo aberto, Ă© difĂcil â para nĂŁo dizer impossĂvel
â obter acesso aos dados gerados pelos utilizadores. Mesmo em sistemas de cĂłdigo
aberto, um nĂșmero de utilizadores pode recusar partilhar informaçÔes sobre seus amigos,
conhecidos, ou sobre outros. Ao juntar seus prĂłprios dados com os dados obtidos de
outros, o utilizador/jogador representado por um avatar deve ser capaz de produzir uma
avaliação de confiança sobre o utilizador/jogador com o qual se encontra a interagir.
Relativamente ao método de avaliação de confiança empregue nesta tese, utilizamos
lógica subjectiva para a representação da confiança, e também operadores lógicos da
lĂłgica subjectiva juntamente com algoritmos de procura em grafos para empreender
o processo de inferĂȘncia da confiança relativamente a outro utilizador. O sistema de
inferĂȘncia de confiança proposto foi validado atravĂ©s de um nĂșmero de cenĂĄrios Open-Simulator (opensimulator.org), que mostrou um aumento na precisĂŁo na avaliação da
confiança de avatares.
Resumindo, a nossa proposta visa, assim, introduzir uma teoria de confiança para mundos
virtuais, conjuntamente com métricas de avaliação de confiança (por exemplo, a
lógica subjectiva) e em métodos de procura de caminhos de confiança (com por exemplo,
através de métodos de pesquisa em grafos), partindo de uma base individual, em
vez de se basear em sistemas habituais de reputação centralizados. Em particular, e ao
contrårio de outros métodos de determinação do grau de confiança, os nossos métodos
sĂŁo executados em tempo real
Second Life as a Learning and Teaching Environment for Digital Games Education
Previous studies show that online virtual worlds can contribute to the social aspects of distance learning, improve student engagement, and enhance studentsâ experience as a whole [4]; [3]. This paper reviews previous research of using online virtual worlds in teaching and learning,
compares Second Life with traditional classroom sessions and the Blackboard, and discusses the benefits and problems of using virtual environments in the post-sixteen education
and how they affect studentsâ learning. It also reports a study of using Second Life as an educational environment for teaching games design at undergraduate level, and investigates the impacts and implications of online virtual
environments on learning and teaching processes and their application to digital games education. The sample was 27 first year students of the Computer Games Modelling and Animation course. Studentsâ views on using Second Life for
learning and teaching were collected through a feedback questionnaire. The results suggest that virtual learning environments like Second Life can be exploited as a motivational learning tool. However, problems such as identify issues and lacking of role markers may change student behaviour in virtual classroom. We discuss this
phenomenon and suggest ways to avoid it in the preparation stage
Metaverse: A Vision, Architectural Elements, and Future Directions for Scalable and Realtime Virtual Worlds
With the emergence of Cloud computing, Internet of Things-enabled
Human-Computer Interfaces, Generative Artificial Intelligence, and
high-accurate Machine and Deep-learning recognition and predictive models,
along with the Post Covid-19 proliferation of social networking, and remote
communications, the Metaverse gained a lot of popularity. Metaverse has the
prospective to extend the physical world using virtual and augmented reality so
the users can interact seamlessly with the real and virtual worlds using
avatars and holograms. It has the potential to impact people in the way they
interact on social media, collaborate in their work, perform marketing and
business, teach, learn, and even access personalized healthcare. Several works
in the literature examine Metaverse in terms of hardware wearable devices, and
virtual reality gaming applications. However, the requirements of realizing the
Metaverse in realtime and at a large-scale need yet to be examined for the
technology to be usable. To address this limitation, this paper presents the
temporal evolution of Metaverse definitions and captures its evolving
requirements. Consequently, we provide insights into Metaverse requirements. In
addition to enabling technologies, we lay out architectural elements for
scalable, reliable, and efficient Metaverse systems, and a classification of
existing Metaverse applications along with proposing required future research
directions
The Effects of Immersive Virtual Environments on Motivation, Oral Communication, and Instructional Strategy in EFL Classrooms
The creation of web-based real-time computer simulations has given language educators incredible new opportunities to create immersive experiences for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. This thesis reviewed 12 empirical studies, 3 previous literature reviews, 3 non-empirical journal articles, and 23 additional background sources investigating the impact of Immersive Virtual Environments (IVE) on EFL learnersâ motivation and oral communication in EFL learning. 12 empirical studies were analyzed closely while other sources were used to provide additional information and theoretical insights. The findings indicate that IVEs offer novel ways to connect EFL learners to native-speaking communities where they can acquire new language through exposure to native speakers, increase motivation to participate and reduce anxieties of failure or judgement. IVEs offer persistent environments which are free of time and space constraints typical of traditional classrooms, allowing learners to interact with peers and native speakers in school and at home. The role of the instructor is crucial in designing these environments and preparing the students to engage in them, though increased instructional load on the instructor merits further investigation. Further research is needed into the development of these technologies that are both cheap and equitable so that all EFL learners may benefit from them
Health literacy practices in social virtual worlds and the influence on health behaviour
This study explored how health information accessed via a 3D social virtual world and the representation of âselfâ through the use of an avatar impact physical world health behaviour.
In-depth interviews were conducted in a sample of 25 people, across 10 countries, who accessed health information in a virtual world (VW): 12 females and 13 males. Interviews were audio-recorded via private in-world voice chat or via private instant message. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
The social skills and practices evidenced demonstrate how the collective knowledge and skills of communities in VWs can influence improvements in individual and community health literacy through a distributed model. The findings offer support for moving away from the idea of health literacy as a set of skills which reside within an individual to a sociocultural model of health literacy. Social VWs can offer a place where people can access health information in multiple formats through the use of an avatar, which can influence changes in behaviour in the physical world and the VW. This can lead to an improvement in social skills and health literacy practices and represents a social model of health literacy
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