While there are a number of specific attributes to consider when choosing a virtual world world for educational purposes, the culture of that world is of particular significance. The Internet still resembles the “Wild West” in some ways, and when venturing into cyberspace with your students you never know who or what you will encounter. Most virtual worlds have a community culture which varies greatly in terms of the ages of the members, common topics of conversation, acceptable behavior and helpfulness. While many high school and college students are Internet savvy and little will surprise or distress them, older students and those with minimal online experience might find some potential encounters bothersome. In addition, the appropriateness of the environment for educational purposes might make some virtual cultures more desirable than others. While public spaces are never free from some risk, there are some virtual cultures that are better bets than others.
Cultural Experience
The suggestions here represent my experiences and feedback from others. Clearly there is some subjectivity involved and your mileage may vary. One of the safest environments is the Active Worlds Educational Universe. It tends to draw primarily students and teachers and others interested in education. In addition, you can make your world a private one, so that only you and class members can enter. The down side to this world is that it is not well populated unless an event is scheduled, so students will be more or less on their own if they come during non-scheduled times.
Second Life has been drawing a great deal of attention as of late, and is well known for its educational applications. However, it is also a highly social world and some of the communication in the public areas can be of an adult nature. You can have students meet in a specific area if you are concerned about this issue, and it is possible to create your own island that is private, but there is a cost to land ownership.
There.com appears to have a very friendly, helpful community with guides available to assist newcomers. General behavior seems to be moderate in nature, although flirtation is not uncommon.
Nonverbal Communication
Often, the nonverbal animations or “emotes” provided for avatars can give clues to a world’s culture and expected behaviors. If “kiss” is one of the emotes available, you can be sure someone will send you a kiss at one point or another. Many of these worlds, particularly MMOs, will allow your avatar to dance. In World of Warcraft, some of the dances are quite provocative and it’s not unusual to see some avatars dancing nude in a town square. However, in Lord of the Rings Online, one’s dance involves clapping and a bit of a jig and usually occurs in the company of a Minstrel who is playing a tune. They are very different cultures facilitated by the options made available to members.
MMORPG Cultures
World of Warcraft is the largest massive multiplayer online world, but its culture is regarded by many as more immature (see above example) than a number of others. On the other hand, Everquest 2 appears to have a more mature player base and the conversations on the general chat channel are often more related to game related issues. Arguments, “flaming,” and derogatory comments are found much more frequently on the chat channels of some worlds than others. Veteran members of some worlds tend to monitor the chat and someone who steps out of line will frequently hear from others if their comments are not considered acceptable. “Go back to WoW” (World of Warcraft) is a frequent response to a “newbie” (new member) who might be exhibiting what is considered immature behavior in a particular world.
Creating a Culture Within a Culture
Regardless of the world you choose there are measures that increase the chance that students will have a positive experience. It is usually possible to turn off some of the general chat channels if one wishes, and you often have an option to “ignore” someone who may be bothersome to you. Many people more or less ignore the general culture and instead focus on their smaller community, generally known as “guilds”. Since guilds vary significantly in terms of their makeup, one can often find (or create) a small community that provides a good fit, even if the larger culture has its problems. Finally some worlds offer “role-playing” servers which often draw people looking for a more mature player-base.
One of the more interesting communities resides in the related worlds of City of Heroes and City of Villains where one’s avatar is a superhero or super villain. In my experience these are highly social worlds where people collaborate in groups frequently. Instead of describing these worlds in terms of the maturity of the members, I would say these are “open” worlds allowing for a great deal of personal expression, often in a creative way. Generally, I found this to be a positive aspect of the experience, although other aspects of these worlds might make them less suitable for educational use.
Sites that review and discuss virtual worlds such as mmorpg.com will frequently comment on the nature of a world’s culture and can be a good source of information. Spending some time in a world before using it with students is probably the best approach to choosing your educational virtual space.
