ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
SUMMARY
䉬
Provides characteristics of game virtual worlds
and social virtual worlds
䉬 Explores four key issues in using virtual worlds
to communicate technical and learning content
䉬 Provides resources for more information on
Second Life and other virtual worlds
What the Literature Says About
Using Game Worlds and Social
Worlds in Cyberspace for
Communicating Technical and
Educational Content
MARCI ARAKI AND SAUL CARLINER
INTRODUCTION
W
hen Marci first joined Second Life, she called
her friend Tim, who often talked about a
virtual world he played called EverQuest.
Eager to share his EverQuest experience with her, he
asked what kind of character she created, noting of his
own, “I’ve got a level 30 barbarian!”
Marci responded, “I decided to be female, and her
name is Lola. She loves shopping. Where do you buy stuff
for your. . . um. . . barbarian?”
“Buy things for him?” he laughed. “He needs to earn
them in battle! So, have you killed any monsters yet?”
“Monsters? All the people I’ve met have been nice and
very helpful.”
“So no battles or monsters to kill in Second Life?”
“And no shopping for clothes in EverQuest?”
Marci realized that, although they were both talking
about virtual worlds, they were talking about two very different worlds. Virtual worlds are persistent online environments
in which several users simultaneously interact with one another through a digital character that represents them. This
character is called an avatar. These online environments are
called “persistent” because the environment does not shut
down when individual users logoff, and the identity and
history of their avatar remains intact the next time they log on.
That is where the similarity ends for many virtual
worlds. One of the most popular is Second Life, which was
introduced in 2002 and achieved significant market recognition in 2006 (Hafner 2008; Hof 2006; Lamb 2006; Lavallee
2006; McCarthy 2007). Second Life is a social world, which
is open-ended and lets users shop, socialize, and create
content. Others worlds, like EverQuest and World of Warcraft, are games that require users to participate in a role
play to achieve a specified goal.
Although many virtual worlds are designed for entertainment purposes, users are finding ways to integrate
them into professional and learning activities. For example,
colleges and universities are offering online courses in
Second Life (about any topic, not just Second Life) (Eshleman 2007). Other organizations are creating online orientations and guided tours in Second Life (Levine 2007).
Sloodle, a merger of Second Life and Moodle (the open
source course management system that is widely used in
Manuscript received 12 February 2008; revised 6 April 2008;
accepted 8 April 2008.
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Araki and Carliner
universities), opens the door to further efforts to combine
Second Life and the content and learning management
systems that technical communicators are more likely to
interact with in their work.
Because virtual worlds are relatively new, best practices for even the most established use— entertainment—
are still being developed, much less emerging uses, like the
communication of technical and educational content. Even
at these early stages of use, however, the literature is
showing that the difference between game virtual worlds
and social virtual worlds is significant.
This article explores issues in using both game and
social virtual worlds to communicate technical and educational content, and explains their impact on the field of
technical communication. It first explains how the literature
informing this article was systematically collected and
background concepts of virtual worlds that are essential for
comprehending the literature. Next, this article explores
four key issues in using virtual worlds to communicate
technical and learning content. This article concludes with
some final thoughts about virtual worlds and technical
communicators, as well as resources for more information
about Second Life and virtual worlds.
that nearly all articles focused on one or the other. Very few
(Turkle 1995) addressed both types of virtual worlds, clarifying the need to distinguish between the two types of
worlds in this article.
An analysis of the themes of the articles indicated that
four distinct, yet interrelated topics defined the differences
between the two worlds for technical communicators.
The body of literature addressing game worlds was
stronger than the literature addressing social worlds. The
main reason is that game worlds, such as EverQuest, became popular earlier than social worlds, such as Second
Life. Consequently, more empirical studies and articles appearing in peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations dedicated to game worlds are available.
SELECTING LITERATURE FOR THIS REVIEW
Basic characteristics of virtual worlds
The synthesis of the literature presented here is intended to
serve one of the four purposes of literature reviews: synthesizing new knowledge on a topic (Toracco 2005). Such a
synthesis is useful because not only are virtual worlds a new
topic generating increasing levels of interest, but also the
work is being performed in a number of disciplines, including
game studies, educational technology, communication, information studies, and new media. Because few people are
familiar with the emerging work in all of these disciplines, a
formal effort to synthesize the work is essential.
We began the literature review by searching for material on virtual worlds in each of the disciplines named.
Because the purpose of this review was on empirically
derived evidence, empirical studies were given priority,
although conceptual articles from peer-reviewed sources
also were included as they inform thinking on the topic.
The literature included in this review focused on virtual
world design, user experience, interactivity, information
delivery and learning, social life, and communities.
In terms of the time period covered by the literature,
preliminary work indicated that commercially released virtual
worlds are a relatively new application to be studied by
academics; the first articles appeared in the early 1990s (Dibbell 1993). Therefore, articles from all dates were reviewed.
After a complete reading of the literature, key topics
were entered into a spreadsheet to easily organize and
compare details. Articles were further coded as focusing on
game worlds, social worlds, or both. This activity indicated
According to the 2007 Horizon Report on emerging technologies for teaching and learning, “Virtual worlds are
richly immersive and highly scalable [three-dimensional]
(3D) environments. People enter these worlds via an avatar, which is their representation in that space, moving their
avatar through the space as if they were physically walking— or in some cases, flying. The most popular virtual
worlds are multi-user spaces, meaning that many people
can be in the same virtual space and interact with one
another in real time” (The Horizon Report 2007, 18).
The first virtual world appeared in the late 1970s
(Bartle 1990). A text-based environment known as a multiuser dungeon (MUD) provided users with a description of
the environment when they logged on. Users communicated with each other through chat (Dibbell 1993).
The first virtual world to use a graphical interface was
Ultima Online, launched in 1997. It is a fantasy adventure
game more commonly referred to as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) or a massively
multiplayer online game (MMOG). It is considered to be
massively multiplayer because thousands of people can
play at the same time (Castronova 2005). The distinction
between the two terms refers to the extent of role playing
that is enforced in the game.
In contrast, Second Life is a social virtual world and not a
game, insists Philip Rosedale, Chief Executive Officer of Linden Lab, developers of Second Life. He adds, “I’m not a
gamer, and Second Life isn’t a game. From the start, we/
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A BRIEF BACKGROUND ON VIRTUAL WORLDS
Although virtual worlds are often associated with games,
and some people use the terms synonymously, they are not
the same. Other types of virtual worlds exist. So what, then,
are virtual worlds? This section defines them. It first describes the basic characteristics of virtual worlds and then
describes the characteristics of two types of virtual worlds:
game and social.
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[Linden Labs] LL observed that something like Second Life
would have its first uses in entertainment, and then grow
beyond those uses and people became more confident in the
capabilities of the new platform/[operating system] OS/
whatever-we-want-to-call-it” (Second Life Wiki). Second Life
currently has seven million registered users, more than 70% of
whom live outside of the United States (Ondrejka 2007).
Both game worlds and social worlds share certain
characteristics. Book (2004) identified these as follows:
䉬 Shared space. Several users, each represented by their
own unique avatars, share the same environment.
䉬 Graphical user interface (GUI). GUIs can be either
2D or 3D.
䉬 Immediacy. Interaction occurs in real time through
chat, instant messaging, or voice.
䉬 Interactivity. Users interact with other users, nonplayer
characters, and the content of the virtual world.
䉬 Persistence. The world never shuts down. It continues on whether the user is logged on or not, and
users cannot reset the environment or save the
“world” so they can return to it in exactly the same
state they left it.
䉬 Socialization and community. The environment provides a way for users to meet and form communities.
A characteristic related to immediacy and interactivity
is presence, which Schubert, Friedmann, and Regenbrecht
(1999) define as “the subjective sense of being in the virtual
place” (268). Castronova (2005) describes presence as the
feeling “that you actually think the crafted environment
you’re in is genuine, or, you become so involved mentally
and emotionally in the synthetic world that you stop paying
attention to the fact that it is only synthetic” (4).
Another key characteristic of virtual worlds is that they
merge work and play (Ondrejka 2007; Yee 2006). Advancement to higher levels in many games requires a large
amount of time and energy. The empirical research of Yee
(2006) on game players found that many regarded playing
the game “as obligation, tedium, and more like a second
job than entertainment” (68). Ondrejka (2007) noted that,
because Second Life offers building and scripting tools and
allows users to retain copyright over their creations, play
often takes the form of design. The opportunity to make
“real” money through virtual transactions with the Linden
dollar has led many residents to become entrepreneurs,
making it “unclear what parts of the activity were play and
what parts work” (Ondrejka 2007, 33).
Characteristics of game worlds
Game worlds possess all of the characteristics of virtual
worlds but also possess these characteristics specific to
games (Castronova 2005):
䉬 Roles. Players select roles for themselves that reflect
the storyline of the game.
䉬
Advancement system. A system exists to reward and
punish players. Rewards are given on the basis of
accomplishing tasks and provide players with the
opportunity to achieve higher status for their character. Punishments prevent or delay these rewards.
䉬 Status. Players are accorded social status in the
game, on the basis of their best performance (that is,
the highest level achieved), type of role selected,
and membership in a group (if any). A player’s status is visible to other players and affects the level
and type of challenge encountered in the game.
䉬 Risks and danger. Risks and danger are encounters
with foes who might outnumber or be more powerful than the player. The higher the risk and danger,
the higher level of challenge presented by the game
and the greater the potential rewards.
䉬 Scarcity and forced cooperation. Highly desirable
items are rare and difficult to obtain and are only
achieved through cooperating with other players.
䉬 Personalized content. The artificial intelligence (AI)
in the game regulates the type of content for different roles and levels of players and provides challenges and experiences tailored to these.
Characteristics of social worlds
Social virtual worlds possess all of the characteristics of
virtual worlds but with three characteristics that differentiate them from game worlds (Book 2004). First, they are
open-ended environments that have no rules or storyline to
follow or externally provided goals to achieve. (Users
might have their own goals, but those are self-defined.)
Second is the absence of the “magic circle” (Huizinga
1955)—that is, a distinct separation between the rules of
the virtual world and the rules of the real world, as exists in
game worlds. Last is an environment and culture from
modern settings. Real world references and artifacts that
commonly appear in social worlds include “residences”
where avatars “live”; avatars whose identity includes sex,
race, and age; job roles that are the same as ones in the real
world; and commercial ventures that emphasize consumption of products and services (and can make both fake and
real money from the transaction).
Second Life is an example of a social world. Its developer,
Linden Lab, does not dictate that “residents” follow a storyline
or achieve goals to reach higher levels (Second Life Wiki).
People use Second Life to meet others, shop, and create
content, such as clothing, furniture, and entire buildings. As a
result, the distinction between real life and Second Life is
becoming blurred as residents are finding new ways to merge
the two for entertainment (Ondrejka 2004; 2007) and professional purposes (Fortney 2007; Hayes 2006; Kemp and Livingstone 2006; Monahan, Harvey, and Ullberg 2006; Ondrejka
2004; 2007; Robbins 2006).
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FOUR KEY ISSUES IN CREATING VIRTUAL WORLDS FOR
DELIVERING TECHNICAL AND LEARNING CONTENT
Given these characteristics, how might technical communicators use virtual worlds for delivering technical and
learning content? This section explores possible approaches.
It specifically explores, in-depth, four key issues
emerging from the literature: (1) the role of the developer
in creating environments for the communication and use of
technical content; (2) the delivery of technical content to
users; (3) the formation of groups and communities as
virtual communities of practice; and (4) the creation of
avatars for professional users.
Issue 1: role of the developer in creating
environments for communication and use of
technical content
Designing content for dynamic 3D spaces as opposed to
static 2D spaces raises a number of unique issues, such
as the impact of software developer’s decisions during
the design process on the type of content that can be
used in the virtual world, the ongoing role of the developer in managing that virtual world, and the impact of
policy decisions on the creation and dissemination of
content. Key issues identified in the literature include the
following:
䉬 The amount of control the developer or ownership
group exercises over the world after it has been developed (Ondrejka 2007; Taylor 2006)
䉬 Copyright ownership over any goods or services that
users create in the world (Ondrejka 2007; Taylor
2006)
䉬 Relationship between the organization that develops
the virtual world and its users (Banks 2005; Taylor
2004; 2006).
These issues are significant for technical communicators
because they define the relationship between developers, users, and the content of the virtual world. The rest
of this section explores these issues in detail, first as they
pertain to game worlds and then as they pertain to social
worlds.
In game worlds, developers exert considerable control
over these worlds after they are released (Taylor 2006). The
developers limit the type of content that can be created by
players, such as customized clothing. However, many of
these players are active, willing contributors to the culture
of game worlds, as witnessed by Taylor (2004), in her
ethnographic research of EverQuest. She observed players
participating in game discussion boards, websites, and fan
gatherings, as well as offering ongoing feedback to developers for future improvements (Taylor 2006).
Developers also control game worlds after release
through owning the copyright and trademark of goods and
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services produced in the games (Taylor 2006). In one case,
Sony, which produces EverQuest, banned all online auctions of player avatars after the practice became popular on
eBay (Taylor 2006).
In contrast, some game world developers actively solicit users’ input. For example, the developers of the game
world Star Wars Galaxies solicited player input on characters before launching the game (Taylor 2006), and Auran,
the developer of a railroad train simulation game, incorporated player-created designs of model trains (Banks 2005).
However, these cases are exceptions. Developers of game
worlds and their players usually exist in two distinct communities (Taylor 2006).
As most game developers guard their copyrights and
limit participation from players, developers of educational
gaming-simulations— environments in which learners
practice behaviors in a model of a real world (simulation)
and experience the benefits and consequences of their
behavior in that environment (gaming)—similarly limit
copyright access to users. The purpose, however, is educational. By limiting the ways that outsiders can change an
environment, the developers have greater control over the
learning experience of the gaming simulation and can
ensure that the intended learning outcomes are achieved.
In contrast to the control that game world developers
continue to exert, Linden Lab, developers of Second Life,
takes a much looser attitude as “a sort of laissez-faire
government” (Fitzgerald 2007, 1). Sharing control with users and allowing users to drive the development of the
world was part of Rosedale’s initial vision for Second Life
(Fitzgerald 2007). In keeping with this philosophy, Linden
Lab leaves the community to manage itself and has only
stepped in with policy decisions when questions of respecting U.S. and international law have arisen (Wagner
2007). Linden Lab allows users to retain copyright over any
content they create in Second Life, which has led to a
booming economy with the Linden dollar, the currency of
Second Life that can be converted to U.S. dollars (Hof 2006;
Lavalee 2006).
To accommodate increased demand to create content
from both entertainment and business users, Linden Lab
released the source code for the Second Life interface as
open source (Linden 2007). To further encourage outside
development, Linden Lab also plans to release the server
source code (Wallace 2007). The move is crucial for future
growth, because “Second Life cannot truly succeed as long
as one company controls the Grid” (Wallace 2007, 1).
Although Second Life is just one virtual social world, because it is the best known, its practices are likely to be
adopted by the developers of similar worlds.
In addition to encouraging development of related
software, Second Life also supports the open exchange of
content, with learning and content-sharing spaces, called
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sandboxes, for users to interact with each other and create
new content. Sandboxes are public spaces for users to
practice building and scripting technical content and to
share tips, tricks, and solutions for problems encountered
during those tasks. Experienced users have developed tutorials for novice users and sometimes share the content
they have developed in the sandboxes (Hayes 2006). Such
uses reinforce Ondrejka’s (2007) envisioning of social
worlds as collaborative design spaces.
One particularly interesting example of collaborative
design and open source technologies is the “mashup,” or
merging of different applications. One such example is
Sloodle, a combination of Second Life and Moodle, the
open source course management system. Sloodle combines the document repository and user tracking capabilities of Moodle with the immersive qualities of Second Life
(Kemp and Livingstone 2006). Sloodle features include
tools for managing registration, enrollment, and class attendance, synchronizing live chat between Sloodle and
Second Life, and logging assignments turned in through
Second Life to Sloodle. Similar mashups between Second
Life and content management systems (CMS) could allow
technical communicators to distribute documents using
their own CMSs and use Second Life to provide the immersive environment where users can apply the content addressed in those documents or interact to discuss the content.
Issue 2: delivery of technical and learning
information for users of virtual worlds
In fact, virtual worlds provide many opportunities for creating and disseminating technical and learning content that
users need to experience, such as tutorials, guided tours,
and simulations. (The literature has not identified unique
uses of social worlds for communicating declarative content like policies, reference materials, and step-by-step procedures for tasks.) Specifically, the literature identifies
these issues in creating and communicating content in
virtual worlds. They include the following:
䉬 Modes of communication
䉬 Formal and informal types of communication, including user-to-user and developer-to-user communication,
and dissemination of instructional information to users
䉬 Content creation, including tools for creating, managing, and sharing content, learning to use the tools,
and the re-use of content from sources outside the
virtual world
The rest of this section explores these issues in more detail,
first in terms of how they manifest themselves in game
worlds followed by their manifestation in social worlds.
In game worlds, players communicate with each other
through informal chat. While chatting, users can exchange
game-related objects, such as weapons, and manage dif-
ferent camera views of the environment (Castronova 2005;
Delwiche 2003; Ducheneaut and Moore 2005). Should
players form a group, they can communicate through
group chat, which allows private communication and sharing of experience points that players gain after accomplishing tasks (Ducheneaut and Moore 2005). Voice communication is also used in game worlds, but some feel it might
take away from the role-play aspect (Bartle 2003), and
others feel it causes gender prejudices to arise (Combs
2007).
Informal chat is not only the most common form of
communication in game worlds for meeting others and
forming groups but also for finding game-related information and resources (Ducheneaut and Moore 2005). Research indicates that players communicate most instructional information about playing these games within the
context of the game and not from developers to players
through traditional sources such as a user manual (Ducheneaut and Moore 2005; Jakobsson and Taylor 2003;
Steinkuehler 2004; Turkle 1995). This informal type of
instructional communication often migrates outside of the
game to websites, discussion boards, and fan gatherings as
players share secrets, tips, and tricks—a practice referred to
as metagaming (Galarneau 2005; Taylor 2006).
Although game worlds provide a rich environment for
sharing technical and instructional information, game developers actively discourage creating content within games
and do not provide tools for creating content, causing
game worlds to offer no means for creating and disseminating technical and learning content.
Technical communicators’ likely involvement in game
worlds is in writing the documentation and related training.
To do so effectively, technical communicators might build
on the research findings about players’ metagaming practices (Galarneau 2005; Taylor 2006) and advocate support
for these informal communication channels and develop
tools for facilitating them.
Similar to game worlds, most communication in social
worlds occurs through informal chat. Voice communication is also available in Second Life, as are small text
documents like sticky notes, which are used to send invitations to events or to join a group. These sticky notes
appear on a user’s screen after logging on and can be saved
or discarded once read.
As in game worlds, users consider informal communication in social worlds to be the most valuable learning
resource (Hayes 2006; Ondrejka 2004; 2007). New users
learn about community values and accepted social norms
and behaviors from more experienced users. Formal documentation exists; for example, Linden Lab provides it for
Second Life on the company Web site. However, a practice
similar to metagaming in game worlds has emerged in
social worlds with numerous blogs, wikis, and how-to
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books appearing as Second Life users employ the Web to
share advice with others.
Social worlds demonstrate their strength as tools for
letting users “experience” technical and learning content
through the collaborative design spaces they offer (Ondrejka 2007). For example, Second Life gives users tools for
building and scripting, which they can use to create content in the world. Second Life also provides resources to
learn and practice skills for building and scripting content.
Technical content takes several forms in Second Life,
including (Hayes 2006; Ondrejka 2007; Second Life and
Education 2008a):
䉬 Text-based posters and screens with links to websites and videos
䉬 Large-scale reproductions of equipment and machinery
䉬 Courses and tutorials for different levels of expertise
䉬 Tools to assist with importing and managing content
from outside Second Life such as PowerPoint slides,
Photoshop files, and audio and video clips (Second
Life and Education 2008b)
䉬 Mashups with other applications like Sloodle, which
are showing promise for managing large amounts of
content
䉬 Public sandboxes where users can practice their
skills and learn from others
As this variety suggests, technical communicators can
use Second Life to introduce novice users to physical
environments, demonstrate skills such as installing
equipment and performing simple repairs, and provide
opportunities for practice and coaching on these basic
skills. For intermediate users, technical communicators
might use Second Life to demonstrate short tips and
techniques, especially those that require a physical demonstration like installation and troubleshooting. These
can be presented as recorded sequences, live “training”
sessions, or less formal one-to-one conversations. For
advanced users, technical communicators might create
virtual communities of practice where one experienced
user can demonstrate special techniques to others, and
organizations can host online user group meetings. The
realistic, immersive environment is especially useful for
tasks associated with aircraft use and maintenance, computer hardware installation and maintenance, manufacturing, retail operations, and customer service.
Issue 3: formation of groups and communities for
the purpose of delivering technical content to
users
As suggested in the discussions of the first two issues,
groups are central to communicating technical and learning
content in virtual worlds. Supporting communication
within groups is essential to the success of a virtual world.
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The literature specifically identifies these issues regarding
the use of groups in virtual worlds:
䉬 Whether group affiliation in virtual worlds is a
choice or a necessity
䉬 Group privacy in virtual worlds in general and private spaces for specific groups of users
䉬 Group affiliation, identity, and status
This section explores these issues, first from the perspective of game worlds, and then from the perspective of
social worlds.
Joining a group is necessary for success in game
worlds because advancement to higher levels requires different types of characters to share valuable information,
resources, and skills (Castronova 2005; Ducheneaut and
Moore 2005; Galarneau 2005; Jakobsson and Taylor 2003).
These groups are usually referred to as guilds. Some guilds
are loose collections of players, whereas others have formal entrance requirements and codes of conduct (Jakobsson and Taylor 2003).
Groups communicate through private group chat,
which also lets them distribute items won in “battles” in the
game world (Ducheneaut and Moore 2005). As Jakobsson
and Taylor (2003) discovered in their ethnographic research in EverQuest, being a member of a guild often
requires players to display their guildtag, the logo identifying the name of the guild to which they belong. This tag
is a significant social indicator for players, because it “locates the character in a larger system of reputations, affiliations, favors, and even grievances” (Jakobsson and Taylor
2003, 86).
In terms of applying these practices to the creation
of technical and learning content, technical communicators creating documentation for game companies might
provide players with information about joining groups,
group dynamics, and membership requirements. Technical communicators might also provide guild leaders
with instructions for receiving statistics about their
groups, as well as suggestions for maintaining guilds,
which, despite their status, often do not last very long
(Ducheneaut and others 2007).
In formal learning situations, technical communicators
might try to harness the power of groups in game worlds
by designing knowledge sharing and learning activities
involving the group dynamics, leadership skills, and interpersonal communication that occur naturally during these
games (Ducheneaut and Moore 2005; Ducheneaut and
others 2007; Jakobssen and Taylor 2003).
In social worlds, groups form around common interests and activities, but one does not need to join a group to
interact with others or create content. In some instances,
membership is only required for practical reasons, such as
tracking attendance at an event or managing group ownership of property. Group owners can delegate responsi-
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bilities, such as inviting others to join the group or ejecting
users by assigning privileges to other group members.
Groups in Second Life can communicate through private instant messaging and by creating private spaces with
restricted access, which is particularly important for corporate users who might be discussing confidential information and do not want their discussions to be widely disclosed. Restricting access is especially important in Second
Life because users can “fly around” and “drop through”
“open” buildings—that is, they can easily eavesdrop on
online conversations. For example, when Centrax Corporation created a 3D office environment with meeting
rooms, information kiosks, and an interactive 3D computer
repair tutorial in Second Life, it used the security features to
limit access to its space to company employees because it
was concerned about protecting corporate information and
providing privacy for learners (Fortney 2007).
Although group affiliation in Second Life is not as
meaningful to one’s reputation and status as it is in game
worlds, affiliation does add to one’s identity and profile.
Group affiliations are displayed by default with a user’s
avatar unless turned off, and user profiles can be seen by
right-clicking on the avatar, displaying, among other information, their group affiliations.
Groups in social worlds have direct application to
Society for Technical Communication. Its special interest
groups (SIGs) might use islands to provide virtual meeting
space for their geographically dispersed members. (Geographic chapters, which increasingly have difficulty finding
convenient meeting times and locations, might benefit,
also.)
Issue 4: creating avatars for professional
purposes
Thus far, the discussion has focused on broad issues in
virtual worlds. However, because people present themselves in these worlds through avatars, virtual worlds are
personally felt. Because creating a real world identity is a
complex issue, so is creating one online.
The literature exposes the challenges of creating professional identities in virtual worlds. Three key ones
emerged:
䉬 Freedom over the type of professional avatar one
can create
䉬 Establishing one’s reputation and legitimacy
䉬 Maintaining a professional identity through the avatar
The issue is primarily one that affects social worlds because
users cannot create an avatar for professional purposes in
game worlds, because they do not support professional activities. All of these avatar roles provided to users by developers are linked to the storyline and theme of the game.
In contrast, the issue is a significant one in social worlds,
where users may represent themselves or some imagining of
themselves. Users are free to create any avatar they wish. At
an extreme, a user could choose to be a furry creature or one
without sex (Book 2004). Creating an avatar is intended to be
easy; Second Life provides users with a wizard-like tool for
doing so. This tool first allows users choose the sex and name
of their avatar and then lets users choose the shape, size, and
appearance of its body parts (Book 2004). And if users do not
like the look of their avatar, they can change the appearance
whenever they wish.
Although Second Life offers the flexibility to create and
change appearance, these avatars lack social communication cues that humans rely on in real-life interaction. For
example, when considering avatars for teachers, Robbins
(2006) reflected on the absence of role markers, or traditional ways in which teachers establish their authority and
legitimacy. Visual cues such as age are not as obvious
when many avatars look young and stylish. Online chats
do not convey voice tone and inflection. Gestures such as
waving or nodding can be used in combination with chat,
but Robbins (2006) found finding an appropriate gesture
while typing a message to be distracting.
The presence of professional avatars in Second Life has
prompted IBM to establish guidelines for its employees for
job-related interactions in virtual worlds. The guidelines
state that honesty, accountability, and consistent behavior
are key factors in establishing and maintaining a good
professional reputation in these environments (IBM Virtual
Worlds Guidelines). Switching avatars regularly or abandoning an avatar altogether is frowned on. Indeed, the
practice of letting others “play” one’s avatar is considered
by some to be deceitful (Brown and Bell 2006).
In terms of applying these practices to the creation of
technical and learning content, technical communicators
need to avoid unethical and deceitful practices when creating and using virtual environments.
However, the involvement can go further. When documenting virtual worlds, technical communicators should
provide guidelines and considerations for creating avatars.
This material should go beyond the mere instructional
domain to also address others, including social interactions
and ethical issues in creating and abandoning avatars
(Monahan, Harvey, and Ullberg 2007). Monahan, Harvey,
and Ullberg (2007) described how BP addressed such issues when establishing a counseling site in Second Life as
part of an employee ethics and compliance program. The
designers developed a companion Web site that included
tutorials on getting started in Second Life and using the
virtual counseling site.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ABOUT VIRTUAL WORLDS AND
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATORS
Although virtual worlds are still emerging as possible tools
for communicating technical and learning content, the litVolume 55, Number 3, August 2008 • TechnicalCOMMUNICATION
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Using Game Worlds and Social Worlds in Cyberspace
erature offers four insights that technical communicators
might consider as they move forward. First, social worlds
like Second Life are better suited to creating and disseminating technical and learning content than game worlds
like EverQuest. Users can create a variety of communication materials in Second Life, including simple to complex
models and simulations, guided tours, tutorials, and interactive text documents.
Second, technical communicators need to be clear about
who owns intellectual property created in the virtual world.
Actual practices might vary among “worlds,” so technical
communicators should always verify the ownership of intellectual property before proceeding with a project.
Third, technical communicators need to note that virtual worlds are public spaces. Therefore, technical communicators must determine the sensitivity of the content before developing it and provide appropriate controls for
privacy and security.
Last, because creating and maintaining a professional
avatar and ethically interacting with other users in a virtual
world is a purposeful act, technical communicators must
describe the practical and ethical guidelines for doing so, as
well as model the behavior they promote.
Because virtual worlds are new— both as software to
be used and as tools for communicating technical and
learning content—people who are interested in using them
need to be aware of new developments in this area. See the
sidebar for specific resources that publish research about,
and suggestions for using, virtual worlds.
Sidebar: how to learn more about virtual worlds
1. Experience these worlds yourself. If you have not
already, sign up for a free account in Second Life
and experience it for yourself (http://secondlife.com/). EverQuest also offers a free trial (http://
EverQuest.station.sony.com/), as does World of
Warcraft (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml).
2. To learn about ongoing research and other developments, check out the mailing lists, blogs, wikis,
and news outlets devoted to providing news
about virtual worlds. Here are a few samples:
䉬 Second Life Education Wiki. Linden Lab’s official resource for educators has links to mailing
lists for trainers, researchers, educators, healthcare professionals, and nonprofits; this also includes a list of organizations in Second Life and
academic research: http://www.simteach.com/
wiki/index.php?title ⫽ Second_Life_Education
_Wiki.
䉬 The SaLamander Project. Provides an index of
tools, content, and activities from an educational perspective; it also includes a list of
258
TechnicalCOMMUNICATION • Volume 55, Number 3, August 2008
Araki and Carliner
peer-reviewed journals that publish on virtual
worlds and the literature of virtual worlds:
http://www.eduisland.net/salamanderwiki/index.php?title ⫽ Main_Page#Peer-Reviewed_
Journals.
䉬 Virtual Worlds News. Business news, strategy,
insight, and analysis: http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/.
䉬 Business Communicators of Second Life. A blog
about the potential of Second Life for business
communication, information dissemination, and
innovation: http://freshtakes.typepad.com/
sl_communicators/.
䉬 SLED Blog. A group blog that summarizes issues from the Second Life educators’ mailing
list; it is a good source for Second Life tutorials,
and the latest in content creation tools that educators are developing: http://www.sl
educationblog.org/.
䉬 Sloodle. Second Life and Moodle mashup:
http://www.sloodle.org.
䉬 The Multiverse (http://www.multiverse.net/)
and the Croquet Consortium (http://
croquetproject.org/index.php/Main_Page).
These are open source virtual worlds that allow
developers to create scalable, customized virtual worlds.
䉬 CNN/Second Life. News from Second Life from
CNN: http://secondlife.blogs.cnn.com/.
䉬 Reuters/Second Life. News from Second Life
from Reuters: http://secondlife.reuters.com/. TC
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