Journal review 5

Unlocking the Business Potential of Virtual Worlds

Sloan Review, MIT, 2011. 

This article argues for the many uses virtual worlds has in the business world, but claims that they are still being underutilised. Some of these uses include saving money on travel, saving on conference expenses, and employee training. I have taken note of the fact that the article was published in March, 2011 so much of their data is likely to have changed by this point. The challenge, they argue, is for businesses to clearly demonstrate how virtual worlds can be effective in adding value to an organisation. One way to find out what virtual worlds can do for 'your' company, they state, is to simply ask existing employees who might already be familiar with the technology how they think it could be effective. 

To gain a bit of perspective as to what business can do in utilising virtual worlds, the authors surveyed more than 200 users of virtual worlds - of those 70 percent were male, the median age group was 40-49. 30 percent of respondents had a business background, 17 percent had an engineering or computer science background, 13 percent had a social sciences background, and another 13 percent had a background in humanities. 48 percent of respondents reported frequent use of virtual worlds for things such as brainstorming, while 36 percent said they used virtual worlds frequently for things like project coordination.

The survey of what the authors call "early adopters" or virtual worlds indicated a link between using virtual worlds for entertainment purposes, and using them for work. Essentially, the survey showed that those who have used virtual worlds and have seen their benefits for entertainment before, are more likely to use them in a work environment. This didn't seem to be a particularly groundbreaking piece of information, as it seems to be applicable to a number of different things. Any early adopter of any piece of technology is going to be more vocal about others taking their direction, one only need to keep an ear open whenever Apple releases a new iPhone. The same people taking shots at an iPhone 5 or 6 or whatever it may be, are those same people who rushed out and bought them when they were new - late adopters get the same product for half the price. 

journal review 6

Will Virtual Reality Change Your Life?
D. Kushner, Rolling Stone Magazine, 2016

March 28th, 2016 23 year old Jordan Luckey unveiled his invention, the Oculus Rift. What started as a project funded with $36,000 from repairing iPhones at 16, turned into $2 billion thanks to Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook. With virtual reality becoming more accessible, it has the potential to completely redefine a film, education, architecture and design, plus everyday experiences such as visiting a doctor via headset. This exciting and revolutionising industry is expected to be a $80 billion industry by 2025.

The Oculus Rift was developed with photogrammetry technology which scans real surfaces into a virtual world, giving you the capability to experience a completely transformed space via headset. Yet this is just the beginning, while virtual reality is experiencing computer generated objects, other multi-reality tools such as augmented reality allows you to view computer generated, transparent displays of information, ala The Terminator. This step towards the future however raises uncertainty about the future of human behaviour and environment. Is it possible to crave VR and neglect our current reality?

Luckey and the Oculus first big break was thanks to Doom co-creator John Carmack, who was impressed by his invention and showed it off at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the biggest gaming tradeshow in North America. Within a month of the event Luckey raised 2 million on Kickstarter to pursue his virtual vision with 3 friends. Already these developments have reached out of the gaming sector and crossed into education and health. VR has been used by medical surgeons to experience a point of view from a surgeon during an operation to better understand the procedure. Likewise used by soldiers who experience PTSD and use virtual reality to travel to scenes of Afghanistan and Iraq with a therapist.

Though VR is significantly advanced, it’s not 100% perfect. It can cause nausea or ‘cybersickness’ caused by the fact your inner ears don’t feel the motion your eyes are perceiving. Luckey says this will take some time to completely fix. Developers are also still working on perfecting the lag between movements in the headset and what you’re seeing, this will also help reduce the sick feelings. The industry’s main goal is to achieve ‘real telepresence’ which engages your whole body in a virtual experience. This has the potential to revolutionise facets of the internet such as pornography, or even the potential to have virtual sex with someone else. The way this would be achieved is to completely manipulate the mind and eventually body into completely absorbing the virtual environment to the point the space is nearly indistinguishable from the real world. This though is far down the line, as of right now CEO of Facebook and now the new pockets behind Oculus Rift Mark Zuckerberg, believes the next strategic move for VR is to be “the new platform for communication”, while Jordan maintains the creative vision of changing the way we experience the world.


Kushner, D. (Aug 2016). Will Virtual Reality Change Your Life?. Rolling Stone, volume 777, 42-44.

Journal review 4

Young children's play in online virtual worlds
Jackie Marsh, University of Sheffield, UK.

Aim
The aim of this study was to investigate and explore the effects of, and the tension between, technology designed for young people and the role of playfulness in these technologies. This study relates it back to the basic concepts of 'real' and 'virtual' with young people in mind. Marsh notes that while 'technology' and 'play' are often thought of as oppositional, this study will try to find the common ground between them, if any. Marsh also states that many parent-headed groups sprung up in the late 90s and early 2000s as electronic toys became more and more popular, claiming they didn't promote a healthy childhood, nor were they developmentally appropriate. The lack of research surrounding these topics was and is problematic, and with the fairly recent phenomenon of virtual online worlds, more specifically those aimed at children, this study aims to bridge that gap.

Method
Marsh utilised both Barbie Girls and Club Penguin virtual worlds to contextualise the study, noting that Club Penguin, which appeals to both boys and girls, launched in 2005 and had 22 million registered accounts at the time of the study. Barbie Girls, however, makes it clear that this world is intended for girls only. It launched in 2007 and had 17 million registered accounts at the time of the study. The study was undertaken at a primary school in England, in which a survey was set up asking students to detail their online activity. 175 children, ages 5-11, took part in the survey, 38 of those children were between 5 and 7 in age.

Findings
In total, 52 percent of all 175 children who completed the survey stated that they regularly use virtual worlds. This article, however, focuses largely on the 38 children in the study that were between 5 and 7 years of age. Of this age group, 17 out of 38 students reported having used virtual worlds before. 28 out of these 37 were regular internet users at home, while 11 reported that they never used the internet at home. Of the 27 who stated they used the internet at home, 13 reported that they used virtual worlds regularly - seven boys and six girls. "Of this group of children, nine accessed virtual worlds once a week or more, three used them once or twice a month and one child used them less frequently than once a month." The main findings from this study were essentially that virtual worlds do offer  young children a range of opportunities for play, and that the types of play in which they engaged in were closely related to offline play.

Marsh concludes that in virtual worlds, young people are given the opportunity to form, re-create and role-play job and duties and learn how to engage with others appropriately in the online world. Given the popularity of social media and virtual activity among children, their engagement in virtual worlds can afford opportunities to develop skills that enable them to safely and effectively navigate online environments. However, there are restrictions to identity such as gender and race, and the commercial emphasis of some of the virtual worlds, particularly Barbie Girls, raises concerns and need to be considered, particularly by educators, so that young peoples' critical awareness towards these elements of virtual worlds can be furthered, or even born.

Journal review 3

Therapists Use Virtual Worlds to Address Real Problems

Karen A. Frenkel April 2009 scientificamerican.com

This article focuses on Joe, a troubled teenager from New Jersey, who has had multiple run-ins with the law, ran away from home many times, and has trouble controlling his anger. Somewhat ironically, one of the main methods therapists use to get patients to the core of their own problems is by pretending to be in a situation and imagining, or acting out, what your reaction might be. According to Joe's social worker, Heather Foley, this technique was essentially hopeless when taking in to account Joe's ADHD and confrontational nature. Because of this, Foley enrolled Joe in to a programme that aims to treat teens using environments that are familiar to them - virtual environments. This specific virtual world is known as SECTER - Simulated Environment for Counselling, Training, Evaluation and Rehabilitation. Within SECTER is the ability for patients to communicate with their therapists in a 3-D virtual world using avatars. 

Once a week for eight weeks in a row Foley and Joe sat at computers in her office and have their avatars communicate with each other, the article notes that this is in a similar way to things like Second Life. This article also states that as well as helping with personality disorders such as Joe's, virtual worlds have and/or are being used to treat Asperger's Syndrome, Bulimia, Stroke victims, alcholism, and anxiety disorders, providing links to sources. In this particular instance, however, Foley role-played as Joe's adoptive Mother whom he used to run away from. In SECTER he apparently fled Foley's avatar mimicking his real life response. Foley followed him with her avatar though to apparently instill in him that she would not give up on him, nor could he wiggle his way out of the conversation.

This article doesn't go too far in depth on certain things, such as the ethics, or what/who had Joe put in to the programme specifically, so it does leave a lot to wonder as to how SECTER was initially created, and why, and by who etc., though the article does vaguely state which companies created it. 

According to the article, by the third session Joe started to like his avatar because he could change his appearance according to his mood - if he was upset he would make his avatar invisible, if he was happy he would put on an Ambulance driver's uniform. Foley's breakthrough came at the end of the seventh session when she used the "after action" feature where she wanted Joe to see the interaction from the perspective of his adoptive Mother. Joe said "I looked ridiculous because of how I acted." which is essentially the desired outcome. Instead of blowing up or becoming defensive, he calmly told his adoptive Mother's avatar that he felt abandoned and rejected by her, something that Foley estimates could have taken over six months without SECTER.  

Health and virtual worlds is something that seems to be increasingly popular, if not more openly discussed. From the other articles that I've read through the one thing that everybody can agree on is that virtual worlds affect everyone differently, as there is really no way to predict or measure how well the therapy, or training, whatever it may be, works until either it does or it doesn't.

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Moi name is Max (in thick Australian accent), as is Max Rockatansky the main character in the Mad Max films, as well as now the game. It came out around the same time as the most recent film Fury Road, and was a little bit of a sleeper as it came out the same week as the highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid V. But those who played it through tended to really enjoy the rich, open world atmosphere, as well as the fun gameplay and missions. The game is set in "The Wasteland" with various different factions and gangs occupying and controlling different territories.

I decided to document mine and Max's journey through to the tip of the map to Gastown, where his famed V8 engine lay in waiting. To get there I had to first cross through a tunnel which came out on the other side to literal dunes full of trash. While sand dunes feature prominently in the game, as do salt flats, sulphur mines etc., it was quite impressive to see these giant heaps, which really changed the whole atmosphere of that specific area as different to the rest of the map. Foreboding almost.

Pictured above is the end of the tunnel I had to go through. I took special notice of the game's skybox, and in this picture it shows just how realistic it is which all adds up when creating an immersive experience. 

Here are the trash-dunes which stretch seemingly forever. The level of detail really is astounding once you get up close. Obviously not every single piece of rubbish is individually created and rendered - there'd be hundreds of billions of pieces - but the whole thing exudes hopelessness and decay. A fairly common image in most post-apocalyptic worlds for sure, but this one in particular had it's own special resonance. It reminds me alot of the film Wall-E, though not as cheery.

As I maneuvered my way through and over these giant piles, I ended up at the top of one of them and got a great view of my objective. Gastown is those flaming pipes in the distance, and beside Max is his car (Magnum Opus) and (not so) trusty sidekick Chumbucket. It's interesting to note the smog present, as it takes on a very realistic quality - you can see where the smog stops and the 'real' sky begins. Again, it isn't necessarily like this in other areas of the game, just this oil-burning vicinity, which adds to the immersive quality of the game. In the salt flats for example, dynamic weather system dependent, the sky is bright blue and at night the stars look almost photorealistic. 

Here's an action shot I managed to grab of me trying to shake hordes of wasteland scrubs off my tail as I was trying to find the entrance to Gastown.

Found it! Rolling through with the smoke billowing, random screams and pleads coming left right and center really made the whole experience feels pretty much as scary as it looks. I'm not sure if it's visible when the image is so small but the two guard towers flanking the bridge through to the front door/gate were manned by snipers which I had to bring down with some explosives. 

I made it through the gate in one piece! Here is Max, armor upgrades and all, inside the confines of Gastown. Within the gate behind him, with the neon sign, is his coveted V8 engine which was stolen from him at the start of the game. Time to win it back! 

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For my final photoblog I wanted to do something a little bit different to what I had been doing. Batman Arkham City takes place in a version of Gotham City that has essentially become one giant prison/insane asylum. Post-apocalyptic in a sense, but not just quite. I also thought it'd be interesting to take a look at another city environment this time. This is actually quite an old game but was (fairly) recently remastered and re-released for current-gen consoles.

A lot of the game heavily relies on Batman's abilities to get around the City, so it can be somewhat redundant to try and walk around and discover new things. Street-level is also crawling with the Joker's goons so can be difficult to have the time to enjoy the little things. There's a big emphasis on stealth gameplay though, which makes this not feel as restrictive as it might in other games. It's a bit of a shame though, because the ground-floor of the city is so well designed and detailed, even for an older game, but most of the action does take place either within the buildings (which are generally only open, or useful, for missions) or on the rooftops.

This shot gives a general idea of what much of the map looks like architecturally. I think Gotham City in general was loosely based off of New York City originally, which is clear when playing the game. It seems very faithful to the general style, while still having its own comic-booky twist. Oh and it's always raining and/or snowing in the game, and never daylight.

The games map is an island so is essentially locked by water, as there is no Batboat or anything like that. If you fall in there is a brief black screen and Batman pulls himself up on to the nearest ledge. There is a portion of the island that the Joker uses as his base so I thought heading down there and walking around at ground level could give a good idea of the level of detail, and specific style of the world.

Pictured above are the sorts of environments that are commonplace in Arkham City. Each alleyway and street has unique shops, signs, and things to discover. It truly feels like a real, living world.

To get a good perspective I tried to find the highest point on the map, which is this tower here. However, it is only accessible on a certain mission and is otherwise locked. So I tried to find some of the next best things to get a good view of the city.

This picture shows just how dense the city is with all of its different buildings and decorations. Even the blimp and the searchlights add a certain amount to the atmosphere making the world feel full.

The above shot shows me, after a bit of a scuffle, trying to get a different camera perspective on the city, albeit from a similar place as the previous shot. It can be a little hard to make out detail from this angle and height, but everything you see has it's own "type" of decay, and must have been a painstaking job for the designers and artists. You can ever see how one of the buildings, a hotel I think, has sunk in to its foundations which wasn't as obvious in the previous shot. The detail on Batman's suit is impressive too, the light reflecting from the material, his cape in particular, really puts a good shine on some of the coolest little details. The constant night time setting really makes these things stand out with the moonlight, neon signs, and rundown street signs providing most of the city's illumination.

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Far Cry 5 is an open-world adventure game that came out only a few weeks ago. It is. obviously, the fifth installment of the series (not including expansions etc.) and takes place in a fictional county in present-day Montana, USA. The main objective is to completely destroy a religious cult that has sprung up in the area and are becoming more and more influential and powerful - with plenty of steady swipes at current political issues and themes. The world has been created extremely well and is one of the most, if not the most, beautiful open world map I've ever experienced. With that in mind, I thought it could be useful to explore a more recent virtual world for this blog, the subtle differences in graphical improvements over the years are enough for me to want to dive right in.

This home off the side of one of the main roads immediately caught my eye. It looks well-detailed, thought through and alive, like any house you might find on a country road here in NZ. Notice that SINNER has been splashed next to the front door, a sign from the cult that that are not very happy with you.

The place is even complete with rubbish waiting outside to be collected.

Heading in, I decided to turn around and grab a snap of what it looks like from the driveway just for some perspective as to the scope of the world.

While I was here quietly walking around, I noticed a deer doing the same thing. The wildlife in this game is something that really has a huge affect on the immersion factor. The animals are generally frightened of loud noises and sudden movements, which makes hunting them, or even just wanting to observe realistically challenging.

This is the front of the house from roughly the same location as I first saw the deer. Again, I'm not sure if the photo does it any justice, but the lighting and shadows give the game a very familiar and lifelike feeling, especially at night time.

Here is the backyard which is also impressively detailed and rendered. I don't think the developers really missed a beat when it came to this location, there's even a hose reeled up on the garage in the background of the image. The grass in this game is extremely impressive, too. It feels full and lush to walk on, somehow the movements of the character genuinely feel softer walking on thick grass as opposed to dirt or tar.

The side of the house. Again, a lot of great details. More rubbish bags, bins, and if you look through the window with the light on, you can make out details on the refrigerator inside.

I went inside the house and had a look around. There wasn't too much of note, pretty much what you'd expect from a house like this in the woods. Some of the rooms weren't enterable either.

This is my view stepping out of the front door to leave. The way the moonlight reflects off things like leaves, flowers, the stepping stones, and the wooden house looks very life-like and at first glance could just be a real photograph. The detail is not just in the surroundings i.e Barbecues, hoses, chairs, rubbish bins etc, but also in the larger assets. The porch, for example, or even just the wood on trees has a realistic grain and depth to it that must have been extremely difficult to achieve.

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Grand Theft Auto V is now the single most successful entertainment product of all time, and since we are exploring virtual worlds, I thought what better place than the most popular! Set in a fictionalised version of Southern California, San Andreas, it has roughly 49 square miles to explore. So I hopped in a car and headed towards the mountain range at the top of the map to see what I could find.

I tore off the highway on to a dirt road and kept following it until I got to some sort of compound where the road ends.

I kept on walking and was confronted by a huge wooden gate, and fence, that circles the entire perimeter. There was no way to get through, or climb through, or even ram a vehicle through. I was intrigued enough that if I couldn't somehow jump a low point in the fence, I'd grab a helicopter and swoop through. I've played the game through many times and know that this location was never utilised in the main story, but I do remember hearing chatter about a Sun-worshipping cult that lives somewhere up in the mountains...

I eventually managed to run up the side of the mountain and sort of fall over the fence, nevertheless, I was in. The compound had a bunch of stone and wood cabins, some water towers, what looks to be a town-hall type building, and various other dwellings. There is smoke coming from some of the homes, but no people around which gave the whole area a very creepy vibe. 

At the very edge of their community, the only part that is unfenced, is what seems to be an altar of some sort, and beyond that a sheer cliff-drop. 

This is the view of the compound from the stone altar, you can make out various graffiti and painted slogans referencing the sun among all the buildings. The mountains in the background give you a little bit of an idea of the scale. This game came out in 2013 and I've always managed to look straight past this community for whatever reason. 

I decided to see what, if anything, else there was to do or explore in this little area. I went through to some of the watchtowers surrounding the compound but found nothing. The only collectible, or pickup, that I found was oddly enough a baseball bat sitting on the stone altar. I eventually climbed one of the water towers and though I tried valiantly to keep climbing, or to see if I could interact with it in anyway, I ended up falling off and dying. 

I ended up at the nearest hospital which is in the town in the far distance in the above screenshot.

 The thought, and attention to detail, that has gone in to this world of San Andreas is, to me, second to none. The world feels real, and alive as if each NPC (non-playable character) is another player like myself just getting on with their lives and tasks. People wait at bus stops, some get on when a bus arrives - others wait for the next one, houses in affluent areas have gardeners, and in the poorer areas grass is overgrown. The thought gone in to this game is palpable and clearly paid off, in 2013, on release day, the game grossed over $1billion, and has since sold over 90 million copies, nearly twice as many as Michael Jackson's Thriller. 

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Tagus Enchanted Forest - Second Life

This place I found, Tagus Enchanted Forest, is probably one of my favourite places I've been to in Second Life. As soon as I teleported in, I landed in among a circle of stones which really emphasises the enchanted vibe - not to mention a chracter riding horse went straight past me as I landed. If you look closely you can see his horse standing on the beach opposite me in the above screenshot.

Here is the 'welcome' area where people can leave donations, thank yous, comments etc. etc. - as well as the rules of Tagus. I decided to keep walking further as I felt that paths guarded with trees were very inviting and encouraged exploration.

My first journey off the beaten path was when I came along this fountain with a small footbridge next to it. Looks exactly like the sort of place I'd like to head on a walk, so I followed through and found a nice little pond (pictured below).

As stated in a previous post, and likely already known by everyone using Second Life, assets do take quite a while to load in some times and usually only load fully once your avatar gets physically close to them. So I wanted to experience what else was surrounding this place as I couldn't see properly with the 'naked eye' i.e without flying up close. This is probably the most impressive place I've seen so far in second life, the foliage, the waterfalls and the general atmosphere make it genuinely feel like a commercial 'game' world, as opposed to something like a hobby.