The MOVES Institute – from science fiction to your door

Mechanical Engineering, 2009

This review discusses the concept of virtual world and its increasing implementation in the engineering domain. Current virtual worlds are computer-based simulated environments accessed by numerous users through an online interface. Virtual world applications cover a broad spectrum of activities. Globally distributed engineering teams can use virtual worlds as immersive and interactive platforms for concurrent product design, for virtual prototyping and manufacturing, and for workforce training. Virtual worlds are making a paradigm shift in new product development and are becoming an integral part of computer-aided engineering. Virtual worlds provide an opportunity for businesses to reduce production cycle time and increase user input earlier in the development process. NASA is using simulations of remote landscapes in virtual worlds to evaluate extra-terrestrial transportation options and operators. The review also highlights that virtual worlds have the potential of transforming t...

Communications of the Association For Information Systems Vol 18 No 28, 2008

Virtual worlds like Second Life are becoming important tools for, among other activities, socialization, social networking, entertainment, collaboration, and business development. These environments offer information systems researchers a unique opportunity to study how these environments are built and managed by operators, how they are used and misused by users, and the impact that they have on users, communities, organizations, and societies at large. This panel is designed to introduce the information systems community to this topic. We have assembled both academic and practitioners involved in building, managing, and using virtual worlds to discuss a roadmap for research on virtual worlds.

More than 30 scholars engaged in research on topics related to Computer Games and Virtual Worlds (CGVWs) participated in a workshop to identify future research problems and opportunities in this arena. Six working group topics were identified based on the scholarship and interests of the invited participants. The groups were then tasked to meet, discuss, and debate their respective topics, the results of which appear as the first six chapters of this report. The six CGVW chapter topics are: • Computer Systems Technologies for CGVWs-multi-core and many core processors, computer graphics hardware and software, networking, databases, language design, sensors, etc. • Advanced GGVW Technologies-AI, behavioral scripting, narrative and emergent systems, procedural and non-procedural content generation, avatar generation and customization, world building kits, etc. • Media, Art, Culture and History of CGVWs-CGVWs as media, art, literature and expressive forms of social critique; new literacies, creativity with or through CGVW, etc. • Anthropological, Behavioral, Sociological Studies of CGVWs-ethnographic studies of CGVWs, work-versus-play or work-as-play or play-as-work, patterns of migration across CGVWs, CGVW in complex enterprise settings, research methods for studying CGVWs. • Education and Learning with CGVWs-how CGVW sfacilitate or inhibit learning in formal or informal education settings, play as learning, CGVWs for STEM and Humanities learning, etc. • CGVWs for Science, Health, Environment, Energy, Defense-CGVWs as research tools or infrastructure for R&D in other scientific, industrial, or government domains, etc. Each chapter addresses a common set of concerns including current research findings, emerging research problems of high consequence, future research infrastructure needs, and broader impacts arising from research investments in each of the six topic areas. Contributors to these chapters represent a diverse set of scholars and disciplines that might not otherwise be drawn together. No effort was directed to integrating the results presented across the chapters, so each chapter can be read and reviewed standalone, though better if reviewed comparatively across chapters. The report also identifies overall observations that advocate investment in future CGVW research. Their intent is to be bold and stimulating. These observations are summarized as follows. CGVWs as new media and technologies of practice have the potential to pervade most, if not all, sectors of scientific research, technology development, educational and cultural practices in industry, academia, and government. CGVWs are not a "killer app," but instead CGVWs are more likely the next Web: a new layer of systems and applications that can cross social, organizational, institutional and technological boundaries, just like the WorldWide Web has done over the past 15 or so years. CGVWs are not about mere "gamification" by which we mean turning existing socio-technical systems into those where users simply earn virtual badges, points, or prizes for accomplished game play. Instead, CGVWs are rich socio-technical systems that can facilitate creativity, new 2 The Future of Research in Computer Games and Virtual World Environments cultural practices, new educational opportunities, and new ways and means for stimulating research and higher education in the sciences, health, and related disciplines. CGVWs are embracing the next-generation workforce of those who will seek to work in the various MACH, SHEED, ABS, and advanced IT disciplines, industries or government agencies. Market research figures suggest that at least one billion people worldwide are now playing and interacting through CGVWs. Investments in STEM education do not yet address this, nor do current R&D investments across government agencies identify this situation. The U.S. currently leads the global development of new CGVW-centered products and services. Such socioeconomic condition and market leadership can be accelerated through investment in a new CGVW research agenda, such as that identified in this report. New firms and highly skilled jobs will emerge through such investments into CGVW research, as can new markets. Future research in CGVWs can be targeted to different research agencies and research programs that can maximize interests through targeted investments. Games for health care represents one such application domain for focused CGVW research. Games for health may be able to provide a new way and means for facilitating self-managed chronic care ailments that can be personally rewarding as well as transformative-not in the sense of curing the ailment, but in the sense of making the ailment amenable to personal activity and self-care more manageable. Research in CGVWs overlaps most areas of current interest that advance the overall science research agenda for networked information technology (NITRD 2012). Massively multiuser CGVWs represent new venues for communication and social interaction that generate big data about social, behavioral, cultural, and technological practice, all data that characterize societal processes. New research challenge problems like reanimating the visible human can generate new scientific knowledge from domains that link or converge across nanotechnology, biology, information technology, and cognitive science (NBIC) disciplines. The industries currently vested in CGVWs as entertainment media are not leading the way in pushing the R&D horizons identified in this report. Without coordination of research investment, CGVW technology will emerge as disjoint, islands of automation that will become evermore complex and costly to integrate for mutual benefit. This report identified six related areas that would benefit from strategic or programmatic R&D investments. The national NITRD (2012) agenda and grand challenge problem domains are both amenable to be favorably advanced through investment in CGVW research. In particular, the NITRD Program and this report put forward recommendations for a planning and coordination support request whose structure provides a model for what, where, how, when, and why to invest in to strategically stimulate CGVW research (NITRD 2012, pp. 19-20): Co-funding testbeds, infrastructures, and advanced tools/instrumentation for experimentation with new CGVW technologies; Workshops that mobilize and bring together researchers, program managers, and socioeconomic leaders; Collaborative deployment of new CGVW system infrastructures, tools, repositories/archives across R&D programs; Interagency cooperation to focus research investment that identify and provide solutions to challenges in mission-oriented SHEED programs; Technical standards for interoperable, scalable, secure, and scalable CGVW systems and infrastructures; Testbeds that enable the joint R&D experimentation, crowdsourcing, and decentralized study of CGVWs; and a Science and Technology Steering Council.

Qualitative and Quantitative Measures, 2012

Second Life is a virtual world that allows users to engage in various social activities, meet friends, form communities, attend events of interests and trade online with other users represented through their virtual 3D avatars. For social and behavioral scientists, this provides an opportunity to investigate the dynamics of social interaction and formation of interpersonal and group affiliation ties. We present a prototype agent-based model that takes into account a number of qualitative and quantitative studies of social networking in Second Life. Initial results concerning friendships and acquaintance ties are reported.

… Future Interactive Systems, 2004