Arden Institute For Virtual World Research Formed

[Jackal]

This is especially exciting for me considering it is almost exactly what I wrote my Honors thesis proposal on.


(from gamasutra.com)
Edward Castronova, Associate Professor of Telecommunications at Indiana University and noted for his research into the economies of MMO titles, has announced the formation of The Arden Institute.

The Institute is a research center at Indiana University whose aim is to promote innovative research on synthetic worlds, the most prominent of which are MMOs such as World Of WarCraft or virtual words such as Second Life. It intends to support research activities and hosts an annual conference, the Ludium, and the Institute's output will be published exclusively on its official website.

The first findings of the Institute, which is not yet formally funded as a separate entity, are a written report and filmed documentary on the first Ludium, which was held at Indiana University, Bloomington, from September 29 to October 1. As part of the Ludium, a selected group of academics and game designers were formed into five teams to play a competitive game of concept generation.

According to the website, the long-run ambition of the Institute is to develop a massively-multi-user game world at a university, and deploy it for basic social science research. Castronova suggests: "The research opportunity derives from the fact that synthetic worlds are genuine human societies operating under circumstances that researchers can tightly control. Humanity has never before had the opportunity to conduct macro-level social science experiments; numerous grand-theoretic disasters (communism, for example) might readily have been avoided if their precepts had been subjected to experimental test."

[hate]

who cares

[+JuggerNaut+]

that's interesting, although this would lead to more people being anti-social and less inclined to be a part of a real society. (i.e. getting out of the house)

look at what WoW is doing to the weak-minded.

[Jackal]

On the contrary, it is also a place for socially inept people to meet people in a virtual space which then has the potential to turn into a real relationship.

[+JuggerNaut+]

On the contrary, it is also a place for socially inept people to meet people in a virtual space which then has the potential to turn into a real relationship.

i can see that, although i think that those sort of people need counseling, not software.. i'm still afraid for the weak minded in an environment like this though.

[prince1000]

On the contrary, it is also a place for socially inept people to meet people in a virtual space which then has the potential to turn into a real relationship.

are you talking about relationships solely based in cyberspace? or are those that started in virtual reality but then continued in non-virtual reality included as well?

[Jackal]

On the contrary, it is also a place for socially inept people to meet people in a virtual space which then has the potential to turn into a real relationship.

are you talking about relationships solely based in cyberspace? or are those that started in virtual reality but then continued in non-virtual reality included as well?

Both, though I think society would tend to view the latter as a more healthy sort of thing.

[[xeno]Julios]

very interesting idea.

[prince1000]

On the contrary, it is also a place for socially inept people to meet people in a virtual space which then has the potential to turn into a real relationship.

are you talking about relationships solely based in cyberspace? or are those that started in virtual reality but then continued in non-virtual reality included as well?

Both, though I think society would tend to view the latter as a more healthy sort of thing.

definitely. i know i do myself. i know a few people that have met significant others online and moved thousands of miles eventually to be together. one couple actually got married a couple years ago, but they were living in the same city to begin with.

the other couples i speak of have not found what they're looking for and some have split and continued to move to other parts of the country to be with different people they've met online.

this pretty much solidifies my feelings on the matter. i don't feel that what these people are looking for is embodied in another person (which is the same as marriage in a lot of instances, or rather people's reasoning for getting married these last few years and the social pressures accompanied) or can be fostered maybe even in a traditional relationship but rather a search for identity, something not often encouraged to be explored in western society.

[Ryoki]

That is actually very interesting. Hmm!

[Dave]

"The research opportunity derives from the fact that synthetic worlds are genuine human societies operating under circumstances that researchers can tightly control. Humanity has never before had the opportunity to conduct macro-level social science experiments; numerous grand-theoretic disasters (communism, for example) might readily have been avoided if their precepts had been subjected to experimental test."

The part in bold is an accident waiting to happen

[Foo]

I think it would be more valuable if they set out to create 'the' virtual 3d environment, then after the fact used it to conduct research.

ATM the biggest threat to the generation of a sucessful, persistent virtual world is that there are so many of them.

[mjrpes]

I think it would be more valuable if they set out to create 'the' virtual 3d environment, then after the fact used it to conduct research.

ATM the biggest threat to the generation of a sucessful, persistent virtual world is that there are so many of them.

google has not failed us before.

google will binds all these seperate virtual worlds together.

google will not fail us in our hour of need.

[Ryoki]

Our Google, who art online,
Dot commed be thy name
Thy search results own,
Thy intersuggestions will be clicked upon from home as well as from work
Give us our daily information
And forgive us for our naughty searches
As we forgive those who do not use the internet at all
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from Yahoo!

For the Internets, the Bandwiths, and the Mbits are yours
Now and forever

[MKJ]

jesus christ ryoki

[mjrpes]

On the contrary, it is also a place for socially inept people to meet people in a virtual space which then has the potential to turn into a real relationship.

Let me put this thought out to you, which you can critique as may.

Although relationships can be started in virtual worlds, the nature of the relationship is artificial, especially in MMORPGs. The ruleset that defines MMORPG relationships centers around gameplay, meaning that any sort of development or intrinsic value in the relationship is dependent upon this ruleset, which, in turn, is dependent upon the game. This mean the difference between virtual-life relationships and real-life relationships can be dramatic, since real-life relationships runs on a different ruleset. In real-life relationships, you don't have an arsenal of spells and techniques at hand that allows you and your teammates to achieve a specific goal. How easy is it, then, to transition to real-life relationships if its foundation is based on an artificial ruleset? I'd say it has its difficulties, moreso depending on how much of a person's life revolves around MMORPGs, as greater dependence on this sort of relationship makes it harder to freely decide to pursue real-life relationships, which aren't as clear cut in their goals.

[mjrpes]

jesus christ ryoki

That was magnificent. I've always worshipped google, but now I finally have a prayer I can't recite at night before I go to bed.

[seremtan]

"...numerous grand-theoretic disasters (communism, for example) might readily have been avoided if their precepts had been subjected to experimental test...."

you don't need a computer model to figure this one out. communism failed because the unnecessary repression accompanying it prevented negative feedback from the places where decisions were implemented, preventing the revision of those decisions in the light of new data. also, the centralisation of decision-making meant that the decision-makers were isolated from the consequences of their decisions, a factor with predictable consequences. as a result, the incentive to falsify results of decisions was high, which bred the corruption (bribery) necessary to maintain the fiction

[Ryoki]

Wait, i think you just discribed the inner workings of the Bush administration.

[Jackal]

On the contrary, it is also a place for socially inept people to meet people in a virtual space which then has the potential to turn into a real relationship.

Let me put this thought out to you, which you can critique as may.

Although relationships can be started in virtual worlds, the nature of the relationship is artificial, especially in MMORPGs. The ruleset that defines MMORPG relationships centers around gameplay, meaning that any sort of development or intrinsic value in the relationship is dependent upon this ruleset, which, in turn, is dependent upon the game. This mean the difference between virtual-life relationships and real-life relationships can be dramatic, since real-life relationships runs on a different ruleset. In real-life relationships, you don't have an arsenal of spells and techniques at hand that allows you and your teammates to achieve a specific goal. How easy is it, then, to transition to real-life relationships if its foundation is based on an artificial ruleset? I'd say it has its difficulties, moreso depending on how much of a person's life revolves around MMORPGs, as greater dependence on this sort of relationship makes it harder to freely decide to pursue real-life relationships, which aren't as clear cut in their goals.

I think that's a fair assessment, though I don't agree with it. The research work I did took the mmorpg model and expanded from there. My conception of online society stems from a conception of online community (as it does in the real world as well, a community births a society). So something like this message board (which I would view as a community) has the potential to grow into a society.
Ultimately it's relationships that make these things work. I'm not really sure if what that relationship is based on will really affect anything. It is what it is afterall.
I'm also not really sure to what extent friends mutually try to reach goals together. The only goals I set with my friends are along the lines of "We need to get to the liquor store", or at the worst "We need to organize in order to go see this concert".