The Future of Interaction in the “Metaverse” (Stephenson, 1992)

Players from a World of Warcraft Guild known as Awakened work together to defeat common enemies

            There is a group of people who have already found one possible solution although they were not searching for it.  Computer gamers have been using an interface that is almost entirely designed to mimic real life: Virtual Reality.  To define what I mean by virtual reality (VR) I must dispel the image that most commonly comes to mind, awkward vision goggles and wired gloves.  This vision of virtual reality is only one possibility and is already nearly obsolete, technologically speaking.  The definition of virtual reality used in this paper is any virtual (computer mediated) environment (visual and audible) that gives one the feeling of “being there” in a cognitive sense.  This definition is largely borrowed from Jonathan Steuer who states “A virtual reality is defined as a real or simulated environment in which a perceiver experiences telepresence.” (1992)  While this leaves some room for interpretation, it should give enough of a solid foundation of VR to help envision the end result of my project.
            There are currently two types of people who are using VR to collaborate.  The first type is primarily composed of technologically savvy educators and designers.  The second type is computer gamers.  Educators and designers primarily use VR engines such as Second Life where all environment content is generated by users of that environment.  Gamers playing massive multiplayer online (MMO) games, particularly of the role-playing variety (MMORPG), participate in environments that were designed by the publishers of the software.  This distinction is important only insofar as the users’ ability to adapt their environment to suit their own needs.  My project is primarily concerned with the first type of VR environment but will be highly informed by the second.
           Who these individuals are and what they manage to do in these environments may be somewhat surprising.  The average age of MMO players is between 25 and 29 years.  The male to female ratio is approximately 3:2, which amounts to 60% males and 40% females.  Folks who play MMORPGs tend to play with friends, family, and often complete strangers whom they know exclusively through the game.  On average, MMORPG players spend 20+ hours per week in-game collaborating, adventuring, training, and planning for the next series of group activities. (Yee 2005)  Since the alternate type of VR environment with user generated content is so new, little research has been done on the demographics and typical uses of these environments.  However, it is known that the gender makeup of Second Life is approximately 50% males and 50% females.

           Being a serious computer gamer myself as well as an educator and aspiring designer I have been fascinated to see how participants have affected change in their chosen environment.  Even more interesting is the change that the environment has had on many of the individual participants (figure 1).  I have seen collaborative VR environments where participants as young as six years of age and others well over sixty have collaborated side-by-side without the slightest prejudice or judgment toward the other.  In VR environments there is little concept of real life race, religion, or any of the vast array of personal differences or regional biases that have so seriously segmented the human population.  Each individual can select their avatar and all associated traits.  Most VR environments allow the user to select a wide variety of skin tones ranging from “chocolate” (brown to dark brown), to “mocha” (light brown to tan), or “vanilla” (yellow to white or pink) while some offer options well outside human norms including green orc, blue troll, or black and white “furry*”.  Anonymity has been shown to have an overall positive effect on computer mediated collaboration (Connolly, 1990) while fantasy, choice, and personalization have been shown to have a strong motivating effect (Cordova, 1996, Malone, 1987).  Bringing these aspects together should logically create an effective learning environment.