Immersive simulation games a case study of learning in a 3d multi user virtual environment

JOHN YAP YIN GWEE BA Multimedia Design, Curtin University of Technology IMMERSIVE SIMULATION GAMES: A CASE STUDY OF LEARNING IN A 3-DIMENSIONAL MULTI-USER VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT A THES

JOHN YAP YIN GWEE

(BA Multimedia Design, Curtin University of Technology)

IMMERSIVE SIMULATION GAMES:

A CASE STUDY OF LEARNING IN A 3-DIMENSIONAL

MULTI-USER VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT

A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND NEW MEDIA

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

2012

A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND NEW MEDIA

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

2012

JOHN YAP YIN GWEE

(BA MULTIMEDIA DESIGN, CURTIN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY)

A CASE STUDY OF LEARNING IN A 3-DIMENSIONAL MULTI-USER VIRTUAL

ENVIRONMENT

Name: John Yap Yin Gwee

Matric No.: HT081332A

Date: 12 April 2013

Table of Contents

Summary

Chapter 1.0: Introduction - 1

1.1: Context of Study - 2

1.2: Relevance of Study - 4

Chapter 2.0: Literature Review - 7

2.1: Serious Games: Games and Immersive Environments - 7

2.2: Presence - 15

2.3: Flow, Immersiveness and Engagement - 20

2.4: Research Questions - 25

Chapter 3.0: Methodology - 26

3.1: Overview - 26

3.2: Virtual Ethnography - 27

3.3: Proposed Design of The Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) - 29

3.4: Data Sources - 34

3.4.1: Screen captures of in-progress simulation game - 34

3.4.2: Participant-observations - 37

3.4.3: Interviews (post exercise) with 36 students - 38

3.4.4: Interviews (post exercise) with lecturer - 38

3.5: Data Collection Process - 39

Chapter 4.0: Findings - 44

4.1: Virtual Identity: Choice of Avatars - 44

4.2: First Contact: Accessing the VLE - 48

4.3: Local Chat Activity - 54

4.4: Avatar Behaviours - 58

4.5: Presence of Other Avatars - 61

4.6: Sense of Time and Immersive Engagement - 65

4.7: Challenges in the Game - 65

4.8: Strategy and Sense of Competition in the Game - 66

4.9: Affordance of Activities Not Possible in Real Life - 69

4.10: Assessment of Students’ Learning Objectives and Outcomes - 74

Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion - 78

References - 90

Appendix A - Simulation Game Brief

Summary

Playing online games is a pervasive phenomenon observed in our daily lives of today’s evolving digital age As online games like World of Warcraft, Diablo and online virtual environments like Second Life begin to emerge as some of the biggest gaming communities that we indulge in, it became evidently possible that learning could take place

in such an influential digital medium Such game play concepts begin to emerge

progressively as educational technology enabled for learning, particularly Serious Games, a

game-based learning concept targeted at specific learning other than entertainment The Serious Games initiative was popularly identified as the new education technology wave that will fulfil the learning ambitions which edutainment has failed to achieve in past experiences

This thesis seeks to develop a case study of a design of a robust virtual learning environment in the form of a simulation game, using the serious games concept in a 3-dimensional multi-user virtual environment The design of the game, based on a real life case study, will also leverage on the affordances of the virtual environment and be heavily influenced by the significant factors of presence, flow, immersive and engagement theories

in a virtual environment The game will first actively engage the students of an academic module in a fun and challenging task, thereafter, to empower and afford them the ability to test out various decision options in the environment without any consequences in reality Students were then academically assessed in their turning in of a reflective essay, based on their heuristic experience of the game in relation to the real life case study

An eclectic mix of data was consequently collected in a qualitative perspective to build up the case study, including online ethnography, avatar-participant observations, communication transcripts and post-exercise, in-depth interviews with the lecturer and a sample of 36 undergraduate students from the module The thesis hopes to design a fun and engaging game that can leverage on affordances of a multi-user virtual environment to encourage emotional reactions for the real life case, predicted to be able to derive a positive learning outcome for reflective and critical thinking that was challenging to achieve in traditional methods of learning Students’ behaviour was found to be generally neutral or positive towards virtual simulation of games for learning Though communications can be a

such communicative challenges between themselves Their perceptions and attitudes towards presence of virtual elements and interactivity were positively reflected in demands for more challenges and loss of consciousness of time in the game Lastly, the assessment of the learning outcomes achieved by the participation in the simulated game generated significant and positive learning engagement in the submissions of their post-experience reflective essays

Acknowledgments

This research was never conceived to be an academic thesis at first It was my deep foray into this parallel universe of Second Life that opened my eyes to a world that I had always only imagined in dreams and fantasy The experience and subsequent encounters made me want to write this so that the world will know the immense potential of what this world could do for our world today Most people steered clear of virtual and game environments with the paranoia of being sucked into a stereotyped world of crazy delusions, thus their disbelief that true friendships or relationships can never exist in such

virtual circumstances That is NOT TRUE I want to first and foremost thank Mr Eric Kostal, a

current research faculty in Mississippi State University, also known as Indigo Lucerne in Second Life, for he, whom we have never met in person, has inspired me and selflessly shared such levels of intelligence, creativity and character that made us friends for life despite our geographical distance apart Thank you, my friend, for all our crazy discussions about simulations, about avatars and life in the middle of those nights My gratitude for this lifelong friendship cannot be described enough in this short paragraph

Its amazingly bizarre how a chanced encounter with Antonio, son of Ms Sofia Morales, in Second Life, sparked off this entire opportunity to realistically use this platform

for research in learning My deepest heartfelt gratitude for Sofia, for it was your tenacity,

faith and risks that you took that made all these possible Thanks also go to Mr Alvin Saw Teong Chin, my creative friend, classmate and fellow compatriot in the vision that one day

games will change and shape the landscape we live today

My most sincere thanks also goes out to Associate Professor Milagros Rivera, for

taking that second chance in me, for believing in my passion for this concept and that I will make this thesis work against all odds of my medical condition, crazy work schedules at work and family

Extra thanks go to my 2 supervisors, Dr Zhang Weiyu and Dr Anne Marie Schleiner,

who have in spite of their hectic teaching schedules in the department, were always patient and made time for me to steer me towards the right direction and focus to complete this academic thesis

Special thanks goes to Associate Professor Cho Hichang, for having taken his module

on Computer Mediated Environments, his most important teachings also eventually became the appleseed of theories and analogies of communications that inspired the direction of a large part of this thesis Thank you for sharing this amazing wealth of knowledge and inspiration

To my fellow coursemate and BFF, Kintu Annie Joseph, I wonder what would I do

without you For that tenaciously loyal friendship, you are the 1 pillar of strength that I could not have asked for more in life Thanks for being there for me when the going gets tough

Last but definitely not least, I want to specially mention the appearance and

entrance of the Karasu in my life Without you, life would be meaningless Without you, I

would not have done anything right My eternal thanks to you for becoming the love and centre of my life Hooray!

Digital games are prevalent in everyday contemporary life ranging from the simplest gaming engagements from children on various forms of digital media to the intense indulgence in role-playing gaming communities by the adults A report from the Entertainment Software Association reflects such pervasiveness of gaming, stating “75% of heads in households play games, and that 62% of the game players are over 18 with a mean age of 30” (Gibson, Aldrich, & Prensky, 2007) Evidently, the leisure hours that gamers spend

in such popular online games like World of Warcraft1

McGonigal, 2011

(WoW), amounts to a staggering 5.93 million years to its community yearly ( ) Gaming advocators like Gonzalo Frasca and Jane McGonigal proposed that such gaming phenomenon could possibly be used

to help us find solutions to our real world problems by playing these games (Frasca, 2001; McGonigal, 2011)

Online games can also be understood as virtual environments, for example, Club Penguin, Habbo, Gaia (Wankel & Kingsley, 2009) has a thriving teenage population and both adults and young players populate the realms of Open Wonderland (previously funded by Sun Microsystem Laboratories), Activeworlds and Second Life2

2 Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab, launched since June 23, 2003 Free client programs, or viewers enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars Residents can explore the world (known as the grid), meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another It is a virtual world intended for people aged 16 and over

Collins, & Giordano, 2009) Multi-User Virtual Environments3

Schiller, 2009

(MUVEs) like SL, amongst the largest of virtual environments with over 21,000 simulators since March 2009 (

), can be deployed in an enhanced learning mode for learners to encourage

“communication, interaction, collaboration, teamwork, feedback, engagement and constructivist learning activities” (Hodge, et al., 2009) Various modes of communication and learning can now be implemented in such virtual spaces to achieve learning objectives when engaging, appropriate and effective pedagogical practices and learning theories are implemented

1.1 Context of Study

One of the ways that digital or online games are helpful in a real world context is in the industry of education As of summer 2009, over 4000 educators have joined the SL Educators List, and more and more educational institutes joining the SL grid (Wankel & Kingsley, 2009) After their initial stage of establishing presence in the virtual world, schools using SL have started to lean towards the vision of providing “student-centred, especially collaborative activities” (Atkins, 2009) The fact that SL, unlike most mainstream commercial games like WoW, has neither game rules to abide by, nor any hierarchy in gaining gaming credits or progress experience in “levels” (Jones, 2008), makes it a popular choice among virtual worlds for education especially since it is cost free and this encourages many interested educators to get started (Wankel & Kingsley, 2009) From University of

California’s Davis Medical Centre to language learning with The British Council to cultural heritage learning of Singapore in Temasek, innovative researchers in the virtual education frontier have pioneered and paved the way for the vast possibilities of virtual education in MUVEs like SL (Rufer-Bach, 2009) In the last few years in education, the gradual acceptance

of educational games in the curriculum has helped engage students in learning (possibly further fuelled by the novelty of its introduction), and has also led to a lower attrition rate of learning students generally (Moreno-Ger, Burgos, & Torrente, 2009) The virtual engagement of attending classes in virtual environments is also now provided for students

in the universities today (Wang & Hsu, 2009), and is usually offered as an overlapping concept commonly known as ‘e-learning’, for enhanced learning or even distance education (Susi, Johannesson, & Backlund, 2007)

Notwithstanding SL as a 3-Dimensional (3D) MUVE with advanced capabilities in a virtual environment, there has been an increase in popularity of other mainstream social networking sites on the internet, like “blogs, facebook and wiki” (L Jin, Wen, & Gough, 2010) However, the emergence of these networking and social software like Facebook are noted to be still limited to the heavy use of “text, image and video” media By contrast, in a MUVE like SL, the 3D simulation of live human gestures and spatial navigations appeals to our natural reactions to non-verbal behaviours in synchronous communications (L Jin, et al., 2010) In “social virtual worlds” like SL, players can “explore, meet others, socialise and participate in individual or group activities for education or business purposes”(L Jin, et al., 2010) It might appear that MUVEs like SL, possess some relevant qualities and affordances for learners which other technologies lack The affordance referred here can be defined as

“attributes of something in the environment to an interactive activity by an agent who has

some ability” (Dalgarno & Lee, 2010; Greeno, 1994) In this context, we infer the meaning of affordance in association to the ability learners are given in a VLE (Dalgarno & Lee, 2010)

1.2 Relevance of the Study

The objective of most game-based learning is largely to yield a better and deeper understanding of the teaching content This study will draw on a few different areas of observed behaviours, phenomenon, and new media paradigms through the study of a simulation game made for learning One of the more pedagogical tools educators draw upon is the case method approach Through the case method of teaching, students can try

to further understand teaching contents based on related research in various publications and the internet Developed in 1870 at Harvard University, the case method of teaching has been practised and associated particularly with law schools and most business schools (Shugan, 2006) Critics of the method alleged that such case contents are sometimes not written in pertinence to the actual social impact, cause and effects of real life situations They also contend that the selection case tends to overemphasize or underwhelm the underlying connections and correlations of illustrated scenarios (Flyvbjerg, 2006) It might appear to be highly engaging to partake in such a typical case in reality, but it does not necessarily translate into knowledge transfer that students can associate with in their cognitive or affective domains of learning (Anderson, Krathwohl, & Bloom, 2001), since it really is just written texts to be analyzed and discussed in a class, with little engagement emotionally It is also time consuming to synthesize large amounts of contents in illustrated cases(Heskett, 2008) and neither possible nor feasible for the students to revisit an actual industrial accident site due to geographical distances or other hazardous threats

In our current demanding climate of innovative education, the pervasiveness of games in the lives of high school and college students made it a popular “medium of choice” for education (Jenkins, Klopfer, Squire, & Tan, 2003) MUVEs like SL, are fast becoming one

of the few known virtual 3D environments that academic institutes have been leveraging on for their new technologies in education recently Using avatars, which are essentially 3D digital representations of its users, educators saw the justification of deploying the technology when simulating environments and its affordances for education Since a MUVE

is “conceptually” built up mirroring what the real physical world looks like, a 3D MUVE

would also serve to provide an “enhanced feeling of presence” of themselves in an

environment (Park, Hwang, & Choi, 2009) With more advancements in technology that enable the customization of contents and environments, these gaming platforms now empower game designers and even amateur players with a large amount of flexibility and a powerful decision making ability to “play out consequences” (Jenkins, et al., 2003) Such natural advantages of the gaming platforms make a 3D MUVE, conducive vehicles to expose students to the learning process James Paul Gee established that a simulated military video game like “Full Spectrum Warrior”4

Gee, 2005

can be beneficial for learning, since a basic simulation game can embody “values, identity and doctrines” in context, thereby enabling learners to examine all possible actions and decisions that could eventually bring about a consequence ( ) With a highly immersive environment that allows for zero life-threatening consequence in simulating our physical world in all possible scenarios, the MUVE becomes a learning environment with such learning affordances

This research, would firstly assume the significance of the current gaming phenomenon’s impact in our lives, and therefore highlight and examine the learning derivatives and impacts of serious game design in a MUVE like SL Secondly, by leveraging the affordances of the unique nature of the virtual reality, this study will attempt to introduce the notion of game play to exploit and experience the simulated learning from the serious game without real life consequences, to examine 3D virtual environment as a game-based learning environment as a viable resource for such educational purposes The design

of the simulation game will attempt to encapsulate the factors leveraging on the exploitation of presence in an asynchronous mode of learning for multi-users in a virtual environment Considerations of other factors of heuristic design will also include the psychological influences of flow and engagement Various ethnographic methods of online observation and qualitative techniques of query through in-depth interviews will be applied

to the field for the anthropological study of a cohort of students subscribed to a real learning module in an institute of higher learning Data will subsequently be collated and analyzed to isolate relevant themes from a representative sample that will support or relate itself to the existing literature in games research The research would then finally analyze and present the factors, issues, phenomenon, potentials and impacts of such a virtual learning environment through a serious game perspective

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 Serious Games: Games and Immersive Environments

In the mid-60s, retrospective observations has indicated in academic publications, that games had shown immense possibilities in shifting the learning paradigm with the evolvement of digital and simulation games in the social sciences (Gibson, et al., 2007) However, this research will need to exclude the review of game literature published from the 1980s and early 1990s because of the lightning-speed evolvement in digital game technology that has rendered most of these past publications obsolete and inapplicable to our current state of technology The other reason for excluding them here is ultimately, that games that were built in the earlier era have little relevance and had mostly failed to deliver much expectations of possible learning (Becker, 2010) This review is not intended to be an exhaustive repertoire of all studies on game research but a broad selection of relevant ones covering the field of serious games for learning The aim of this presentation will eventually highlight the possibility and impacts of the implementation of learning using a MUVE as a virtual learning environment

In the monumental year of 2002, serious games first gained the world’s attention when it was founded as an establishment, at the “Serious Games Initiative” by Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholar in Washington, D.C.; despite the commercial failure

of previous edutainment software as an educational technology (Michael & Chen, 2006;

Susi, et al., 2007) Serious Games have since come a long way by sustaining a slow but

incremental progress in extending substantial foothold in the potentials of the convergence

of both learning and gaming into teaching contents in schools In an effort to present this change of our learning paradigm, this chapter will seek to build a body of knowledge by

exploring and understanding the representations, significance and impacts of serious games

in the domains of learning today

There are various definitions, analogies and related concepts drawn on the current meaning of serious games These perspectives were established in the current applications

of games and their derived definitions from the various industries of entertainment, government, corporate, healthcare, military, educational etc, none of which have led to a commonly accepted definition of serious games as yet (Susi, et al., 2007) One of the most common understanding of serious games defined simply by most serious games advocators is: “a game in which education (in various forms) is the primary goal, rather than entertainment” (de Freitas, 2006; Michael & Chen, 2006) A more detailed but direct definition from Crookall defined the concept as, “computerized simulation/game for training and learning” which leverages on computing power with its superior video graphics for the education (Crookall, 2010)

The concept of serious games as a means of enhanced education has also often been directly associated with other educational phenomenon like game-based learning and digital game-based learning established by the likes of James Paul Gee and Marc Prensky respectively Gee, referred to learning games as “problem solving spaces” that enables the learning of individuals in a variety of domains, skills and disciplines (Gee, 2009) If built with the correct features and implementation, game-based learning environments would become such a vehicle for players to experience the combination of both entertainment and learning (Gee, 2009) With similar optimism to this gaming phenomenon in education, Prensky’s vision of a “digital game-based learning” (DGBL) evolution also seeks transforming the education system on the premise of coupling entertainment and engagement of games

with learning contents (Prensky, 2007) Prensky believed that maintaining a high level of constant learning style and motivation needed to sustain engagement, will result in a good digital game-based learning system With this, Prensky conclusively alleges that even serious games must be entertaining, for the youth of today he calls “digital natives”, and the “game generations” (Prensky, 2007)

In another critical and important comparison of serious games with computer games made for entertainment, Zyda, critically addressed the existence and significance of more substantial components like “story, art and software” in contrast of those serious games which only emphasize pedagogy Like Prensky’s notion of DGBL in emphasizing learners’ engagement through fun or entertainment elements, this approach was highly controversial This is because it contrasted most educators who emphasized heavily on pedagogy over story, where the latter is usually the driver of the entertainment in most games (Zyda, 2005) Zyda proposes that in the future, through the assimilation of serious games into the education system, learning can become visceral and intuitive Zyda’s vision was of a future perfect “emotion-cognizant” game mechanism designed to reduce or diminish the conventional questions and answers tutoring system that schools practiced traditionally today (Zyda, 2007) This hypothesis was grounded in the game developers’ measurement of “immersive experience” using presence, where the dichotomy of serious game conspicuously excludes pedagogy, as a subordinate and separate factor, to implement instructional design into the gaming experience (Zyda, 2005) Most educators misunderstood and deemed it a frivolous perspective that undermined pedagogy when what Zyda really was asserting, was that it is through the addition of pedagogy as means to instruct for learning, that makes any form of game a serious game (Susi, et al., 2007)

Despite the surgence of serious games and development of numerous overlapping or related concepts of education technology, many areas of learning games research have yet

to be fully conducted, theorized and explored (Gibson, et al., 2007) Serious games, alongside with the advancement of technology brought forward by the commercial developers of the game industry, will in essence transform learning by deploying “scenarios

to fail safely and creating memories through suspended disbelief that improve performance through recall” (Harris, 2009) Thus the importance of the players’ allowance and tolerance for failure during the learning process becomes paramount in leveraging on such affordances of the learning environment

Before we go further into the affordances of the virtual simulation as a game made for learning, it is crucial for us to understand the nature of the medium of digital games, its capabilities and its representation Janet Murray introduced a popular analogy of video games as a medium, alongside with a few other digital mediums, and isolated 3 critical factors: immersion, agency and transformation (Murray, 1997) In this similar digital context drawn in parallel to simulation games, Murray theorised that in an immersion, the digital medium although assumed to be making its players suspend disbelief, was actually actively aiding them in the construction of a belief in the unreal world instead (Frasca, 2001; Murray, 1997) This theory also alleged that it was always the players’ subconscious inclination to accept and partake in a make-believe world and not to doubt the realism of it which led us to fortify this belief of the imagined (McGonigal, 2003; Murray, 1997) McGonigal also conceptualised a similar factor of this “longing to believe” in the imagined despite the consciousness of reality as “the Pinocchio effect” (McGonigal, 2003) Consequently, we would begin to desire a perceptible result in the environment, where we

experience ‘agency’, which Murray referred as our need for the medium to carry out a meaningful action and to witness the cause and effects of that representation (Murray, 1997) Finally, Murray asserted that with the belief of the imagined and ability of seeing the consequences in the immersion, it therefore empowered us an ability to transform and comprehend the consequences as new, multifaceted forms of representations (Murray, 1997) In extending the cultural representation of digital games, Murray also concurred with Michael Tomsasello’s earlier findings which identified insightful benefits derived under

“joint attentional scenes”, a cognitive framework which shapes the basic cognitive development in humans (Murray, 2006, 2007; Tomasello, 1999) In this theory, Tomasello established 3 beneficial cognitive reinforcements in the “core adaptive benefits” of games which included: the awareness of the self as an entity agent and object with others, the ability to empathise with another being and the ability to impart knowledge and learn from

it (Murray, 2006, 2007; Tomasello, 1999)

In what could be seen as an extension to the establishment of Murray’s theory, her former Masters student Gonzalo Frasca, further examined the influence of video games and simulations in his foundation study of ludology (studies in video games) He alleged that digital games can be used as a method to represent simulation which has immense potential

to “foster critical thinking, creating personal empowerment and effecting social change” (Frasca, 2001) Frasca highlighted an important fact through his differing perception with Murray, of Tetris as a simulation, which concluded in a fact that as a player of the Tetris game, one could test out consequences of its rules while as an observer, the rules remained limited as how it was being portrayed (Frasca, 2001) This further proved that the meanings behind any simulation game was never dictated entirely by the author but is instead

deciphered individually and uniquely by each observer’s or participant’s perceptions (Frasca,

2001, 2003) The participants in particular, when in the game, often have such control over the consequences via the reactive response to an impetus (for example: joystick, gamepad, keyboard keys) by the player and then they form differing representations through this behaviour (Frasca, 2003)

The way video games, digital games or simulation games are visually represented might not be original environmental designs that are out of this world, since they inherited these from models existing in reality In similar representation to serious games used for experiential learning (Kolb, 1984) in education, digital games can be designed to model our reality and at the same time strategically devised with rules and procedures to achieve goals Such games can be designed to impart skills and learning through a player’s heuristic process of the causes and effects exacted in the environment (Gee, 2009) With the accessibility and availability of such games in the age of internet, particularly serious games like “Darfur is Dying”5

Huang & Tettegah, 2010

, they can also provide an avenue for learning through activism for social change of a real situation in Africa The learning objectives of a serious game like

“Darfur is dying” has encapsulated various dangerous consequences that can happen to the specific playable characters while carrying out familiar, domestic tasks These were devised and designed in the hope of engaging its players to incite empathy for victims exposed to such environments filled with fear and hardship in light of perils of genocide (

In earlier scholar reviews, it was also discovered that in the eclectic use of games for education which includes a multitude of disciplines like healthcare and common literacy, there were signs in the prevalent usage of simulations, particularly to achieve learning by experience (Becker, 2010; Mitchell & Savill-Smith, 2004) One successful simulated game by Jesse Schell and students from Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center,

“Biohazrd: Hotzone”, is an example of how education leverages on its technology to engage their students in such learning by experience (Squire & Jenkins, 2003) The obvious fact that

a dangerously simulated environment cannot be replicated nor experienced in reality makes the game a suitable answer to the constraint of risks involved With the ability to simulate various settings in the hazardous environment of exposed toxin, students who experienced the game could, individually or use group strategies, to learn essential survival and evacuation management skills in a crisis like these Skills they could learn included observing signs and symptoms in victims, formulate how to deploy emergency remedies by trying out different alternatives or predicting outcomes in familiarly simulated environments like, a shopping mall (Squire & Jenkins, 2003)

What MUVEs have essentially brought to us, is the ability to host learners as players

in “worlds where we experience things” thus making the virtual state of a serious game a much “deeper and abstract space” of learning (Gee, 2009) Galarneau and Zibit quoted Kelly, who described that players in games have progressed at a deeper level,

“ they are making progress on an emotional level They’re not just getting ahead in the virtual world, but actually maturing, growing, learning from their experiments with behaviour, and reformulating their views of themselves and

their fellow human beings as a result of their experiences in the virtual world” (Galarneau & Zibit, 2007; Kelly, 2004)

Such game experiences in the virtual environment can also take players into a psychological and emotionally-charged learning journey, which could ultimately bring about

an attitude change that shifts one’s values and belief system (Hung & Van Eck, 2010) In order to study how players emotionally perceive their characters and how they detect their sense of ownership to its social perspectives, we can examine how they personalize their virtual outlook to carry out game tasks to solve problems (Huang & Tettegah, 2010) Through the use of a virtual representation in games like “Darfur is Dying”, “Biohazard: Hotzone” and even “Full Spectrum Warrior”, digital games afford us the ability to put players into the dimension of learning through problem solving (Gee, 2009) The players’ virtual representations in digital games are also known as the avatars, often referred to as a personal digital and graphical representation of their real self Celia Pearce inferred that in games, the “addition of the avatar gave the player a specific, customizable identity and sense of embodiment” that empowered “all players to enjoy a new kind of inhabitation and agency in the world, of which they are now physically and representationally a part (of each other)” (Celia Pearce, 2007)

Unlike most video games or massively multiplayer online role-playing games, SL avatars were highly customisable and can exist in various forms ranging from fantasy states

to forms that resemble our human selves With the absence of typical restrictive game rules, avatars in SL also did not require health replenishments to survive and would not perish or reduce any survival vitalities like games such as WoW (Clark, 2011) Besides these characteristics, MUVEs like SL also empowered its avatars with abilities that are not possible

in real life, including navigation and movement without physical exhaustion (by flying, walking or running) and the ability to communicate and interact with multiple people using text, gesture and voice within the environment (Reeves & Minocha, 2011)

Arguably, the biggest benefit these games bring to learning is the possibility of accessing such rich immersion in a learning environment by a much wider mass of people (McGonigal, 2011) “Learning communities” could be evolved organically by leveraging on the natural advantage of the MUVE being asynchronous and by assuring respectful communication practices that gives players a sense of social community and bonding to one another in a virtual environment for learning (Riedl, McClannon, & Cheney, 2011) Such a communal nature also enabled a common virtual experience, making it attractive to communicate in when it resembled familiar elements that learners could have experienced

in a typical classroom in reality (Brown, 2008) Furthermore, with each student experiencing the dynamic environment differently, it makes class discussions more reflective when students discuss individual experience of their choices played in an off-game mode (Jenkins,

et al., 2003) The affordances of the environment which fostered social communication, development of behaviours, enhanced interactivity evolved will bring us further into another important aspect of discussion in the virtual learning environment

2.2 Presence

The concept of presence has been often been used to measure the immersiveness and to detect engagement of human subjects of “being there”, in a virtual environment mediated by technology (Klimmt & Vorderer, 2003) It is important that we understand the

explication of the presence concept by notable scholars before we discuss the occurrence of this phenomenon in human experiences in virtual environments like SL

The human experience becomes virtual in 2 perspectives: When the process of experience is “mediated by a man-made technology” or when objectification of the experience is “artificially created or simulated by technology” (Lee, 2004) The result of such

a virtual experience when engaged by its users has been defined as any “presence caused by virtual technologies” (Lee, 2004; Sheridan, 1992) The significance of such impacts of presence has been a constant factor identified and emphasized by scholars from various disciplines for measuring experience and interactions of users of such technologies (Biocca, 1997; Biocca, Harms, & Burgoon, 2003; Lee, 2004)

According to Biocca and Lee, the experience of humans in simulations resulting from technology has been known to broadly exists in 3 forms of presence: physical, social and self (Biocca, 1997; Lee, 2004) There is manifestation of physical presence, when the psychological state of human sense virtual or simulated objects as how they would of physical objects in reality (Lee, 2004) Physical presence also disregards sense of transportation since it does not warrant for “feeling of self-existence” in the virtual reality, resulting in its possible inclusion of virtual experiences resulting from both low and high-tech media (Lee, 2004)

Social presence is evident in psychological states where the human sense of the

“virtual social actors” (avatars as non-human intelligences) in the virtual environment are perceived to be no different from the human self in reality (Lee, 2004) This is particularly prevalent in MUVEs dominated by the interactions and exchanges of the avatars However, social presence defined here by Lee, should not be confused with another common

interpretation of the presence concept which refers it to the degree of “social richness in the interpersonal interaction of its users that a medium could bring” (Lee, 2004; Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976)

Self presence is referred as the psychological state of humans in their virtual self (eg their avatar) being experienced just like its true self in reality (Lee, 2004) When technology users of MUVEs experienced self presence in the environment, they do not realise any difference between their virtual self (eg an avatar), be it “para-authentic” or artificially created by the virtual environment as any different from their real self (Lee, 2004)

In a nutshell, Lee’s explication has established the assumption that presence can exist in a multitude of experiences by users when they become indifferent and oblivious to the nature of its artificial presentation, or its mediation in objects, agents and environments

It became clear that the way humans experience the virtual environment, is depended largely on how they would perceive the physicality and environment of the game, the artificial characters involved and the human’s own game avatar forged in the environment (Lee, 2004) Biocca, Harms and Burgoon also established an important fact that the social presence or copresence in an environment is usually determined by the ability to sense another avatar in virtual reality This also meant that the computer mediated communications (CMC) that gave birth to the interactivity between avatars are mandatory factors that dictate the experience of “being there” with another being (Biocca, et al., 2003) Lee et al conducted another recent noteworthy experiment which compared online educational games made up of multi-players with offline games and standalone games using traditional mediums The results from this study have established the positive impacts of social presence with multi-players in online games since these studies observed a mediated

process of networked interactivity between players which influenced positivity in the learning process, eventually leading to multiple significantly favourable learning outcomes (Lee, Jeong, Park, & Ryu, 2011)

When compared to face-to-face encounters, CMC has been established to exclude the significance of physical appearances, gestures, or even voice of the virtual graphical appearance of avatars It was argued that such social factors of CMC played a more substantial role in the factors influencing “trust, attraction and friendships” between users

of mediated technology (Schroeder, 2010) There were also differing studies that shown the emphasis of presence has always been about the ability of people to concentrate within a virtual space and not their intentional omission of non-verbal cues in the environment (Wrench & Punyanunt-Carter, 2007) Notwithstanding these, in “embodied social presence” established by Mennecke et al, it was alleged that in their study of avatars in virtual environments, players can embody their virtual representations in a deep way which included “avatar characteristics, body visualizations and movements/gestures” This virtual embodiment has significance in tasks that are goal and activity based (Mennecke, Triplett, Hassall, Conde, & Heer, 2011) Additionally, data findings from research on CMC between avatars often still sighted casual conversations of communications that scrutinize the physical appearances of the corresponding avatars and even their movements and positioning within the virtual environment (Schroeder, 2010) Results from other studies also show that perceived aesthetics of interactive avatars in a MUVE have a significant influence to engagement in the virtual environment(van Vugt, Konijn, Hoorn, Keur, & Eliëns, 2007)

On the other end of the spectrum of avatars being controlled by a human, there also exist non-player characters (NPC) also known as “computer-controlled agents”, purposefully designed and placed strategically in games, often bearing striking resemblance to any other human-controlled avatars (Shapiro, Pena-Herborn, & Hancock, 2006) NPCs or sometimes also known as “animated pedagogical agents”, serve highly useful functions within a game, usually to enhance realism and to perform increasingly intelligent functions of interactivity

in collaborative activities with the human-controlled avatars in the environment (Rickel, 2001) Studies have also since concluded that when game players knew distinctly of differences between avatars and NPCs, they were found open to interact with avatars that are believed to be human more than they would with NPCs (Shapiro, et al., 2006) It appears there is critical CMC involved here related to social and copresence between the NPCs with its players that needs to be further examined

Social presence in a MUVE made for learning could also be defined from a different perspective The engagement of learners in an online learning environment can be affected

by the lack of social presence The disengagement is often discovered in users with the absence of or lack of social affinity to other learners or the teacher in a typical online asynchronous learning environments when compared to their usual face-to-face learning environments (Garrison, Cleveland-Innes, & Fung, 2004) Therefore, it becomes crucial for students to be encouraged to stay engaged by meeting their lecturers and peers frequently,

to bond themselves with stronger social community ties in the virtual learning environment since it encourages interactions with one another using various synchronous communication tools like text and voice chat, using non-verbal communication functions like poses, animations et al, all experiencing through their own personalised avatars (Wang

& Hsu, 2009) Thus, this research will focus on the social ‘synchronous’ live immersion and the interactivity between avatars in a virtual environment, also interpreted here as

“presence”

This study would boldly predict that with mediated sense of presence and engagement in the simulation game, virtual environments could possibly provide for an accessible and media rich platform that enables players to learn constructively and experience simulations, scenarios that are often impossible in our real world today due to the various cost and safety constraints (Squire & Jenkins, 2003) There has also been major research that has indicated that the satisfaction of games are multiplied when copresence and social presence of other players are prevalent in games and that it further intensified the relevant factors of “immersion, engagement and flow” (Gajadhar, deKort, & Ijsselsteijn, 2011) The next section shall discuss these other factors of engagement in the context of the learning experience in a VLE within a 3D MUVE

2.3 Flow, Immersiveness and Engagement

To understand the state of mind in the game players’ engagement in an immersive simulation made for digital game-based learning, this study will elaborate on the crucial occurrence of fundamental factors in the experience of “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008; Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1992) It is inferred that the flow is a mental state of intense focus, accompanied by the satisfaction of the senses and a liberated sense of consciousness of self and time, all of which occurs during the process of such an enriching experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008) The experience of flow has been concluded to give rise

to the engagement of an activity while this engagement is known to be a significant contributory factor to an effective learning process (Shute, Ventura, Bauer, & Zapata-Rivera, 2009) Game play, as advocated by various scholars, emphasized that in the abundance of the flow experience during the activities, will also generate positive impacts on its players (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008; Kiili, 2005; McGonigal, 2011) The absence of flow would consequently incur negative perceptions from the players and results in the player’s disengagement and eventual exit from the game (Van Eck, 2006)

The state of engagement in the mind can also be referred as a psychological condition where the user undergoes an uninterrupted experience which captivates him/her sufficiently to unreservedly dispel any incredulity of an imitatively simulated environment (Schuurink & Toet, 2010) Noted in the affective influence of engagement, is also the readiness of the user to “think and feel both in terms of the contents and context” when immersed in the simulated environment (Schuurink & Toet, 2010) Game play particularly in virtual worlds, often introduce the intentional accompaniment of interactive stories in order

to facilitate contextual background for problems solving in tasks and laying out learning or assessment objectives to enhance the immersion of its players (Shute, et al., 2009) Murray defined immersion in simulation games by its participatory nature designed for its game players, granting them this ability to bring them out of its once apparently impossible boundaries:

“The experience of being transported to an elaborately simulated

place is pleasurable in itself, regardless of the fantasy content We

refer to this experience as immersion .We enjoy the movement out

of our familiar world, the feeling of alertness that comes from being in

the new place, and the delight that comes from learning to move

within it.” (Murray, 1997)

In the crafting of virtual and game-based learning environments, there is the need for the game’s design to be “intrinsically motivating” (Malone, 1981) to learners in order to better engage them for its maximum effectiveness Malone identified 4 such major features (Malone, 1981; Toro-Troconis, Meeran, Higham, Mellström, & Partridge, 2010, p 114) which were similar to Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008) Therefore

by ensuring that these features are considered in the context of the proposed design in the

game play, learners will be fully engaged with the basis of “fantasy, challenge, control and

curiosity” (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008; Malone, 1981; Malone & Lepper, 1987; Toro-Troconis, et

al., 2010, p 114) It is often through these identified factors combined in the design of games that gives the experience its optimal immersion and for its players to experience

“flow” (Shute, et al., 2009)

When in games, particularly when simulation games often allowed players to take on

a special blend of identity that intertwined their real selves with their virtual characters into what is known as “projective identity”(Gee, 2005) According to Gee, this fantasy identity in game play, is firstly a depiction of the player’s “values and its desires” and secondly, a purposeful character forged to become an accomplishment or achievement of an aspired self (Gee, 2005) Jane McGonigal defined our modern day’s digital representation as avatars,

“Avatars are a way to express our true selves, our most heroic,

idealized version of who we might become.” (McGonigal, 2012)

The prevalence of such identities can be found particularly intense in role-playing games which usually reflects players’ real world fantasy and ideals of a better world (Gee, 2005) It was found that learning through games would be truly fortified if students can identify with their projective identities so much that they believe they could become that aspired self over progression of time, to be assimilated into the learning process (Gee, 2005) Such fantasy affordances in games also provided its players the ability disregard the consequences it has in reality, further enhancing the immersion and allowing the experience

of the game play take on a new dimension of possibility (Garris, Ahlers, & Driskell, 2002)

Challenges in the games can be strategized in a variety of creative avenues in sustaining engagement in games With meaningful goals being explicitly indicated in the design of the game, players of the game could be introduced to the engagement of challenges gradually to attain the ultimate goals through a blend of balance in ambiguity of results and a stable, exponential progression of its difficulty in achieving them (Garris, et al., 2002; Kiili, 2005) Games design, particularly in its level of difficulty, has been advised not to

be made too easy (not engaging) nor too difficult (too daunting) and should consider carefully and sufficiently balanced feedback timed to respond according to the performance (Van Eck, 2006) Shute et al formulated their game design’s challenge strategy as “Each level

‘dances around the outer limits of the player’s abilities’, seeking at every point to be hard enough to be just doable” (Shute, et al., 2009), to incite players of games to consistently and persistently push themselves over their threshold of perceived competency

The amount of control a player is provided during game play can also affect the players’ engagement in the experience A clear definition of this significant form of game play motivation is “Control refers to the exercise of authority or the ability to regulate,

direct, or command something.” (Garris, et al., 2002) Game play is often motivated by the latitude provided in the game’s ability to regulate player’s own performance at levels that are comfortable enough for challenges to be persistently present (Kiili, 2005) This important factor is also found to be much based on our inherent self-esteem and sense of self ability (Ullén et al., 2012) This becomes necessary if we wish to empower players with a sense of control in games that allows for the execution of different solutions which greatly enhances the knowledge associated with the reflective topic, and also allows them to discover better and creative solutions (Kiili, 2005) Another point to note here is during the experience of flow, a good game always has an immediate feedback mechanism that will interact and keep its players engage in its control of the game progress (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008; Ermi & Mäyrä, 2005)

The sense of mystery in games is often used to inciting a sense of curiosity and enthusiasm that encourages the continuation of flow in games (Garris, et al., 2002; Malone

& Lepper, 1987) Studies has shown that this sense of excitement in external experiences not possible in our reality, drives players in their constant engagement in games, especially

in exploration-based simulation games (Ermi & Mäyrä, 2005) Curiosity is a natural reflection

of human’s need to comprehend what is not explainable or possible in our world and having such “sensory stimuli” created in games, satisfied the sensation of players’ need for the knowledge behind it (Garris, et al., 2002; Malone, 1981)

2.4 Research Questions

The present studies of serious games, presence and theories and analogies of immersiveness, engagement and flow acknowledges the impacts of digital games and video games in the field of education The challenge remains how we can leverage on the best of the advantages identified in digital and video games that can be weaved into a design and instruction made for learning, particularly in the education for higher learning This thesis will therefore aim to use this study, to explore and evaluate the support in education technology with its communication, design and instruction of a VLE, in SL to achieve the targeted learning outcomes The research proposed to examine and study the affordances and the influences of a virtual learning environment in a 3D MUVE, SL, using a virtual game simulation concept with various communication considerations designed as a serious game

To sum up the discussion, the main research questions the thesis seeks to address are as follows:

RQ1: What factors of presence are significant in the engagement of learners in a serious game?

RQ2: How can we leverage on the design and affordances of a serious game to effect learning in a MUVE?

3.0 Methodology

3.1 Overview

This research features the construction of a descriptive study with emphasis on exploring the design of a VLE, in order to gain insights to the process of its communications and suitability for academic delivery Virtual ethnography is the recommended anthropological approach here, can be described as the “multiscaled approach of studying both the individual players and the system as a whole, our repeating theme of looking at the forest and the trees concurrently”(C Pearce, 2009a) The research via virtual ethnography, which is in its unique element of researching by passive observations in a 3-D virtual reality environment and inquiry thereafter, thus becomes paramount to the research objectives of studying behaviours of human controlled representation used for learning within a simulation game system The study derived its findings from a simulation game exercise with an undergraduate academic module NM3202: Governance and New Media, run yearly

by the Department of Communications and New Media, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore The academic module under this research runs from January to May 2012, attended by 88 undergraduate students, of which 67 are females and

21 are males between the ages of 21 – 26 years old The research capitalises on the ease of access to a student population in a higher learning institute, applying convenience sampling

to its participants since all students subscribed to the module are required to complete this simulation game as part of their mandatory assessment for credits to graduate Out of the

88 students subscribed to the module, 20 female and 16 male respondents eventually accepted the call for involvement in a more intimate study; forming the final sample of 36 respondents, where individual, face-to-face, post-exercise interviews were conducted

immediately in the weeks after the simulation game This simulation game is not made to enable the cognitive development of knowledge but more designed with the objective of engaging students affectively through experiential learning(Becker, 2010; Mitchell & Savill-Smith, 2004), to incite empathy to a real life scenario (Gee, 2009; Squire & Jenkins, 2003) similar to typical serious games like “Darfur is Dying” (Huang & Tettegah, 2010), made to assess their development for critical thinking

3.2 Virtual Ethnography

In the current internet bound state of our lives, there exist identities that transcend beyond the typical CMC of textual formats, what we know as the avatars, accompanied by corresponding graphical visuals of idealised selves and gestures Such communicative selves and their actions became an area of study that the researcher found richness in the limits of the virtual environment like how a typical research would be applied in a face-to-face situation(Williams, 2007) The important reason for adopting a more anthropological methodology like virtual ethnography is that the reality of the students’ learning behaviours today are so closely related to their social lifestyles and communications of today where no single student’s observation can justify for a complete discovery; it calls for more in-depth explorative research in the interconnectivity to each other in a broader perspective(Berg, 2001; C Pearce, 2009b; Williams, 2007; Yin, 2009)

With an unique context of a virtual environment filled with computer-mediated communications and game-based learning, there was an obvious need for the study to be conducted by ethnographical immersion in the field, to participate critically as an observer

in order to gather more insights into this phenomenon This research seeks to derive its qualitative data collected from the virtual ethnography of the students’ learning experience particularly because of the intricacies of how learning activities are being carried out in a VLE like SL(Lazar, Feng, & Hochheiser, 2010) 3D MUVEs like SL are highly immersive, rich environments and communications occur through rich graphical modes of identity and consequence of actions in visual forms of a digital avatar in a simulated VLE With such a unique nature of the virtual environment, the manifestations of any phenomenon in the communications and learning experience becomes the undiscovered nature of the technology that calls for more in-depth study

Using researcher’s observatory reflections plus the analysis of students’ feedback, the qualitative aspect of this study may uncover the implicit meanings behind game player behaviours when students are exposed to designed environments made to encourage curiosity and thinking (P Jin, 2011) This study would seek to examine, solicit and collate all relevant raw data from the virtual environment, to subsequently analyze for any patterns of occurrence, insights into behaviours, communications or phenomenon that can be explained by theories in an inductive manner(Lazar, et al., 2010) The fieldwork here included accounts for ethnographic observations of participants in their 3D virtual avatars during the simulation game exercise, transcripts of avatars’ chat communications in the virtual environment and the solicitation of qualitative data via in-depth face-to-face interviews immediately after the academic assessment These are further supplemented by detailed tracing of procedures and instructions leading to the students’ eventual exposure

to the simulation game exercise

3.3 Proposed Design of The Virtual Learning Environment(VLE)

Most educators today are accustomed and exposed to 2-dimensional (2D) technologically enhanced environments for teaching that exists commonly in likes of virtual chat rooms, forums and various web-based classrooms Introducing a 3D virtual environment like SL to an academic curriculum is a radical enhancement to the traditional way to carry out the typical academic delivery SL, is a 3D digital virtual environment that allows students and faculty to co-exist as avatars, to interact and carry out activities, like how typical game players would engage in a typical MMORPG The limitation, however, is that most MMORPGs, like WoW, are restrictive of its players’ activities as avatars and almost does not allow any customizations, reconstructions or manipulation of its interactive elements within the environment The silver lining for enabling such virtual affordances was the emergence of a MUVE like SL, engineered to resemble a typical MMORPG equipped to perform activities in a game-like virtual environment, only with abundance of latitude and liberty for users’ content creation and customizations In the media-richness of the virtual environment of SL, an “online 3D virtual world, imagined, and created by its residents” as described in www.secondlife.com, where players in their 3D avatars’ are empowered to do anything desired is the essence of the digital life of its residents within the virtual environment; users and their avatars are able to carry out the following basic functions (Tapley, 2007):

1) Customize and personalize a digital representation of themselves as an avatar 2) Ability of flight as a means of movement in the virtual space

3) Teleport to different locations and simulators/island as mode of transportation

4) Interact with objects through touch, visuals and other experiential functions 5) Communicate via chats, socialize, make friends and build/join community

groups of specific interests 6) Create, build, design, customize, script and programme interactive objects

and digital consumables for avatars and its environment The background of the proposed simulation game was designed in reference to a real life industrial accident introduced as a reading supplement in the suggested readings of the module The design of the game stems from the tragic industrial accident in Bhopal, India, circa 1984, which killed many of its people in a toxic gas leak The obvious lack of governance and legislation of preventive measures against such industrial accidents at that time, coupled with the corrupted nature of its apparent remedies, have caused the people and its environment suffer prolonged languishing effects till today As this industrial accident’s legislative woes continue to rage on in reality with its social and economic repercussions on the people, there appeared to be no appropriate resolutions or corrective actions of governance to improve the dire situation of its victims The proposed game will simulate this real life accident with reference to this example study in a similar toxic, hazardous environment, designed with a game-based learning quest objective The students will first complete a simple but engaging task of the quest of exploration within the simulation game, and thereafter, write a reflective essay on their choice of a proposed corrective action to the simulated situation, based entirely on their personal interaction and experience in the game

The learning objectives, as established by the lecturer for the module, Ms Morales, Sofia, were to encapsulate a heuristic and holistic curriculum that will empower the

students to not just apply what they have learnt from the concepts taught in the course, but also to objectively analyze the reality of their choices to solve problems of today In past experiences of students in this module, it was observed that they have solicited the typical illustrations conveniently from their prescribed readings or the transpired lectures with minimal independent thinking and little critical analysis of any underlying problems or consequences The game-based learning in SL was strategically designed as a serious game, leveraging on this ubiquitous mode of learning that enables a simulation of extreme realities

we see today that are often impossible to be experienced or revisit in real life By exposing students to this game-based learning environment, this study hoped to engage the students

in a way that will enable the students to first be affectively invested in a game-like simulation of a similar or familiar reality With the engagement and immersion in the VLE, these students can learn to apply independent and critical analysis to a range of options with their empowerment of testing the available options with zero consequences in reality Using these affective involvements in the exercise, the students could consequently be catapulted into an independent evaluation of a scenario and then analyze critically what the likely consequences of actions are before deriving individualized solutions in a reflective essay for assessment of their learning

The simulation game of the toxic plant is designed and strategically built 1200ft above ground, in the skies on a private simulator of NUS, 65,536 square metres in size, capable of supporting up to 15,000 3D prims As the flying height limit of all avatars in SL is set at 4096m, avatars in the simulation will not be able to fly up beyond this height since the location is already situated at 1200 ft above ground This will enable the simulation to restrict the site’s height limits and prevent the students from flying off the tangent of focus,

away from the buildings and the simulation, which they will obviously be distracted and lose their way The toxic plant is a simple rectangular space protected by barbed fences on the perimeter, with 2 main plant buildings in the middle Adding to the realism of a simulated plant, are several transportation vehicles scattered in the middle and a toilet building at the northwest corner (see Figure M1 and M2) There are highly interactive elements here where the shutters will open or shut upon the avatars’ touch Each building has a total of 6 co-joining shutters, where 1 out of the 6 shutters will open to reveal a machinery control room, while the other 5 shutters open to smaller storage units filled with simulations of fixtures and fittings one will commonly find in a plant Out of the 12 shutters in total, only 1 shutter will open to reveal the toxic waste evidence and the informant, whom will be discovered to

be deceased due to unknown reasons

Figure M1: Bird’s Eye View of Simulation Game Site