Virtual Reality Gaming World: An Environment For Learning And Social Research

druids (58)in #gaming • 6 years ago (edited)

After watching several Role Playing Game Animes such as Sword Art Online, DanMachi,No Game No Life and Overlord and reading @sirknight post about using the chimaera blockchain as a foundation for the expansion of the #steemchurch.

As a gamer and anime fan, the infinite potential and possibilities of virtual gaming worlds caught my interest.

Before i begin talking about the learning potential virtual worlds possess, let me begin by explaining what a virtual reality world is.

Virtual Worlds

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A virtual world is a persistent simulated environment filled with players represented by avatars who are provided with tools to act and interect with other players in the simulated world.
The persistence of a VR world is maintained by a network of servers, persistent in the sense that even after several players exit the game the simulated world is still intact.

Like all games,Virtual gaming worlds have the essential quality that is associated with gaming; COMPETITION.

Players using their avatars must overcome adversities to increase points and earn rewards.
Levelling up has always been my favorite part when gaming, levelling up is a source of pride which gives you superiority over other characters and NPC.

Avatars

In the virtual world, Avatars are three dimensional graphical representation of the user which are able to interact with other players and the environment.

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The complexity and diversity of virtual worlds especially role playing worlds has caught my interest; a virtual gaming world is a complexity, combining role playing produces further fascinating complexities.

As individuals, we constantly play roles in real world guided by personal principles and culture,in RPG virtual world the player are also guided by both spoken and unspoken rules, the player must take on the perspective of his/her avatar with some degree of competence,genuiness and improvisation.

Let me explain what i mean;

Competence
The player must possess a certain level of competence in playing the avatar role.
I am a big fan of the druid culture, if i am to play the role of a Druid Priest it is expected i should be able to lead others and perfom the role of an adjudicator in times of religious conflicts.
Genuineness
Your thoughts and actions must match your avatar.
You can't be a Druid Priest and be visiting a brothel in the simulated world.
Improvisation
The degree to which your avatars role are pre-scripted rather than improvised.

A virtual world can have several Shards, shards are likes realms controlled by seperate servers maintaining one instance of a world.
I love to call shards "The World In The World".

A personal favorite of mine back in the day was Mortal Kombat Deception Konquest Mode, this RPG installation of the Mortal Kombat franchise where i played the role of shinjuko, an a warrior from Earthrealm travelling across realms in order to stop Onaga.
MK deception had several realms, each realm having its own distinct property and they can be accessed using portals.
We had the Netherrealm, Chaosrealm,Earthrealm,Edenia and outworld.

If MK deception was a VR world, using portals to access this realms will be similar to jumping from server to server with the portals acting as a jump box.

Non-linearity Of Virtual Worlds

Non-linearity in gaming term offers the player different paths without following a specific order to achieve his goal. The player can make multiple choices when playing the game to achieve his/her goal.

The degree of freedom non-linearity offers in the VR world allow players to rewrite the storyline of the game in achieving the game objective with each decision having its own consequence.

The greater the non-linearity the greater the choices,the more the game becomes a world.
Non linearity encourages virtual world exploration thus a satisfying a wide range of human emotions.

Virtual world as a learning and research environment

Virtual worlds provide an opportunity to interact with other people of different race and gender, with each individual possessing a unique personality and perception.
Players come together to form social groups called guilds or clans, a virtual world can be used as an environment to study the social-scientific behavior of humans.

Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft provided a conducive environment for quantitative and qualitative research on issues concerning the cultural boundaries of virtual worlds; Players Perception of virtual life and death, virtual world addiction, gender specific behavioral norms and the impact of architectural philosophies.

Virtual worlds provide an excellent teaching environments for real world skills acquisition, imagine being able to pilot a plane through practical virtual training and learning how to prepare different dishes.
Research on human learning in virtual worlds can tell us about learning in other environments.

MMORPG can teach us many lessons which are useful in real world organizations, these include ;Teamwork, collaboration, negotiation, trading, development of complex strategies and practical leadership.

Research has confirmed that individuals learn much from others by verbally asking questions and receiving answers. The virtual world promotes social learning by observing the actions of other players.

Players also learn non-verbally through experience or creative imitation of others. The modes of self-education can be perception,modeling and insight.

Perception involves being able to see and hear things,being able to understand/discern.

Modeling is a form of self education that takes place when one person sees another perform an action and imitates it.
Modeling has proven to be an excellent tool for curing phobias and when combined with perception,a great learning tool for breaking the language barrier.

Psychologist can employ virtual world modeling to cure certian phobias,for example ophiophobia which is the fear of snakes can be cured by placing the patient in a controlled VR environment with the reptile.

Learning a new language is made easier if you hear another speak it and you imitate his accent and pronunciation. Being a lover of the japanese language,i can speak little Japanese just from watching numerous animes.
Imagine if you will, placing me in a virtual anime world where most players speak Japanese,using perception and modeling i'll be able to learn the language in no time.

The applications of VR world is endless and i look forward to further exploration in the field.