1,106,759 research outputs found

    Analyses of a Virtual World

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    We present an overview of a series of results obtained from the analysis of human behavior in a virtual environment. We focus on the massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) Pardus which has a worldwide participant base of more than 400,000 registered players. We provide evidence for striking statistical similarities between social structures and human-action dynamics in the real and virtual worlds. In this sense MMOGs provide an extraordinary way for accurate and falsifiable studies of social phenomena. We further discuss possibilities to apply methods and concepts developed in the course of these studies to analyse oral and written narratives.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. To appear in: "Maths Meets Myths: Complexity-science approaches to folktales, myths, sagas, and histories." Editors: R. Kenna, M. Mac Carron, P. Mac Carron. (Springer, 2016

    A virtual world of paleontology

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    Computer-aided visualization and analysis of fossils has revolutionized the study of extinct organisms. Novel techniques allow fossils to be characterized in three dimensions and in unprecedented detail. This has enabled paleontologists to gain important insights into their anatomy, development, and preservation. New protocols allow more objective reconstructions of fossil organisms, including soft tissues, from incomplete remains. The resulting digital reconstructions can be used in functional analyses, rigorously testing long-standing hypotheses regarding the paleobiology of extinct organisms. These approaches are transforming our understanding of long-studied fossil groups, and of the narratives of organismal and ecological evolution that have been built upon them

    Defying the ‘Magic Circle’: Unethical Acts in Virtual Worlds

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    Overview: This article investigates the complex and controversial exclusion of real world law from virtual worlds. By including examples of several documented unethical acts that have occurred in virtual worlds, this article suggests that real world law should be carried into virtual spaces in order to protect users. Some forms of protection discussed within this essay include the transfer of property rights and consequences of legal prosecution in order to deter unethical behaviors. Finally, this article includes benefits of adopting these strategies, while also acknowledging the potential negatives. Imagine a world where you can be perfect; a world where you can be whoever you want, whenever you want. Imagine a space you can retreat to in order to escape the pressures of the real world, achieve a new identity, and interact with a whole new population. Virtual worlds provide all of these ideal opportunities to their users. In fact, over 300 million users had registered accounts for a virtual world, according to data reported in 2008 (Waterburn 2009, 2.) As we move even further into a technological era, one can assume that this number has most likely increased as well. With such a large user base, it would be ideal for virtual worlds to be safe, enjoyable places where users can enjoy and be immersed in their experience. However, users can have their experience spoiled by others. Much like the real world, virtual worlds serve as a place where many unethical practices occur. Some of the most well-known unethical occurrences demonstrated in virtual worlds are basic harassment, extramarital affairs, sexual harassment, and virtual theft. Although many doubt the seriousness of these practices because they are not committed in the real world, their impact is felt, and has a serious influence on other users. However, the topic of unethical events occurring within virtual worlds has generated some debate in terms of liability and punishment. Some believe that if these unethical practices are not occurring in the real world, then they are not a real world problem. Others argue that the users that witness and are sometimes victims of these practices are real people, and therefore the acts should receive real consequences

    Social movements in world of warcraft

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    Virtual worlds provide new forms of social interaction. They offer alternative spaces where social functions can be carried out in online three-dimensional virtual environments. In this paper we explore how collective action on a global scale is enabled by these virtual worlds. We used qualitative research to examine the organization of one social movement in World of Warcraft (WoW), the most widely used massively multiplayer online role playing game in the world. Using New Social Movement Theory, our paper suggests that there are a number of differences between real world and virtual world social movements, namely in their (a) locality, (b) issues, (c) periods of activity, (d) hierarchies, and (e) membership

    Virtual Location-Based Services: Merging the Physical and Virtual World

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    Location-based services gained much popularity through providing users with helpful information with respect to their current location. The search and recommendation of nearby locations or places, and the navigation to a specific location are some of the most prominent location-based services. As a recent trend, virtual location-based services consider webpages or sites associated with a location as 'virtual locations' that online users can visit in spite of not being physically present at the location. The presence of links between virtual locations and the corresponding physical locations (e.g., geo-location information of a restaurant linked to its website), allows for novel types of services and applications which constitute virtual location-based services (VLBS). The quality and potential benefits of such services largely depends on the existence of websites referring to physical locations. In this paper, we investigate the usefulness of linking virtual and physical locations. For this, we analyze the presence and distribution of virtual locations, i.e., websites referring to places, for two Irish cities. Using simulated tracks based on a user movement model, we investigate how mobile users move through the Web as virtual space. Our results show that virtual locations are omnipresent in urban areas, and that the situation that a user is close to even several such locations at any time is rather the normal case instead of the exception

    Investigating affordances of virtual worlds for real world B2C e-commerce

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    Virtual worlds are three-dimensional (3D) online persistent multi-user environments where users interact through avatars. The literature suggests that virtual worlds can facilitate real world business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce. However, few real world businesses have adopted virtual worlds for B2C e-commerce. In this paper, we present results from interviews with consumers in a virtual world to investigate how virtual worlds can support B2C e-commerce. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted to uncover affordances and constraints of virtual worlds for B2C e-commerce. Two affordances (habitability and appearance of realness) and one constraint (demand for specialised skill) were uncovered. The implications of this research for designers are (1) to provide options to consumers that enable them to manage their online reputation, (2) to focus on managing consumers’ expectations and (3) to facilitate learning between consumers

    The co-evolution of the “social” and the “technology": a netnographic study of Social movements in virtual worlds

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    Virtual worlds provide new forms of social interaction. They offer alternative spaces where social functions can be carried out in online three-dimensional virtual environments. One social phenomenon which has moved into the virtual world is the social movement, which are an important means of bringing out social, cultural and political changes through collective action. These social movements exist in an immersive technological ecosystem which is constantly evolving as designers release patches which change the way users “live” within these environments. Using a biography of artifacts approach, we explore not just the evolution of the technological artifact itself (the virtual world), but also its co-evolution with the social phenomena (a social movement). Using Netnography, a modified version of ethnography, and actornetwork theory, we explore a social movement in World of Warcraft, and observe how it evolves over time as changes to the virtual world are implemented
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