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In amongst articles about explaining chrondrule formation, intracellular signaling, and discussions of hatchling crocodile habits, Science Magazine online is hosting a writeup about a very unique event. The latest "Gonzo Scientist" column is all about the first scientific conference held in the World of Warcraft. Scientists from around the globe descended on Blizzard's gameworld of Azeroth to discuss topics of real scientific import, kill a few hyenas, and even participate in a pirates vs. ninjas dance-off.

The article is as insightful as it is amusing, with author John Bohannon offering real hope for meaningful discource via virtual worlds. From the sounds of things some real work was accomplished via this virtual meeting, with a number of interesting topics discussed. Even the logistics behind setting up the conference (locations in-world, communication methods, etc) make for interesting reading. Check it out, and be especially sure to see the accompanying machinima presentation. It's clear that with respect for not only academic pursuits and scientific education but gameworlds and online cultures, real progress is being made to bridge the gap between utility offline and online.
[Via WoW Insider]

Supernova 2008, an annual conference on how pervasive connectivity and decentralization is changing the world, decided to take a look at how massively multiplayer games "offer glimpses of how social interactions and work will develop in the Network Age." On the panel were Doug Thomas, Dave Elfving, and Metaplace's Raph Koster. Koster pointed out that there's a natural desire on the part of MMO players for "transgressive" gameplay -- for doing things the game designers never intended. For instance, raiding was not an original part of EverQuest, but something created by players and later made by the developers into a central part of gameplay. Doug Thomas predicted that gamers will become more successful than non-gamers in the workplace, as we are more focused on getting things done, as well as being more open to diversity. Dave Elfving brought up the topic of hikaru dorodango, shiny balls of mud that Japanese children obsessively mold and polish for hours, and how the grind that most MMOs encourage might be tying in to a basic human compulsion.

Uptake's Elliot Ng was there for (almost) the full panel, and has the complete write-up on his blog. Raph has his own take on the panel, and points out the similarities to an earlier talk he gave at Project Horseshoe.

There's a natural desire to justify the games we love by insisting they will give us an edge in business, or that we are merely expressing natural human behavior in a new way. Is this the case, or is this just wish fulfillment?

With dozens of companies jumping on the virtual world bandwagon, being seen now as a natural extension of the marketing for a new IP, it seems virtual worlds are healthier since they have been in ten years. But what if it isn't? What if Second Life does not have as many "hardcore" users as they claim? What if dozens or hundreds of competing virtual worlds are fragmenting an already small market so much that none can survive? What if the various virtual worlds fail to standardize on base technologies and are continually forced to develop each virtual world from scratch? What if the virtual world industry is headed for a "winter" where every virtual world must struggle for survival -- and where most will inevitably perish?

These questions, and others, are posed by Bruce Damer in his paper, "A New Virtual World Winter?".In part 1, he looks at the signs that the VW industry is headed toward a chasm from which few will emerge. In part 2, he will examine ways in which the industry can cross the chasm without falling in, as happened in the years between 2000 and 2003, when all the groundbreaking work in Virtual Worlds done in the 80s and 90s stumbled, fell into a chasm, and disappeared.

Like a child taking his first step, a non-gamer encountering his first MMO is something to be cherished. Two wolves, one cow, and one top-heavy avatar later, Patrick Howe's first foray into "so-called" massively multiplayer games already has him wondering about addiction. Why, usually it takes at least four or five wolves before the average MMO gamer starts checking for the aggro radii of farmyard animals. (Patrick, when you want to know how best to take care of those pesky snow rabbits, we here at Massively.com can point you in the right direction). It's no easy thing to tip a virtual cow and realize you are suddenly standing on the lip of an abyss that contains games that can thrill you, addict you, train soldiers and fight cancer.

Did you know that "there are games that require teams of people -- real people, from all over the world -- to work together to solve problems (although those problems often involve killing monsters)?" It's true! Perhaps one of the things that most surprises Patrick is that there are any benefits to playing MMOs. It's hardly surprising, considering the backdrop for his wolf-slaying excursion was an all-day conference on video game compulsion held at Cuesta College last May. It's easy to throw around that word, compulsion. Some people feel compelled to play. Do MMOs, by requiring long periods of play to build up a character and become part of a raiding guild and take part in raids, to have people depend on you, create compulsion in people otherwise compulsion-free? Or is this just the hysteria that accompanies any new leisure time activity, like music, movies, television or football?

From the outside, non-gamers see us as addicted troglodytes, sitting in silence as we puppet over-stylized characters into ritual murder games. From the inside, we see it as a fun time with friends. But we all know people who really are a little "too" into their game, and need to take a step or two back, before they find themselves seized by eager psychologists hot to warn the unaware public of the latest danger to their poor children's fragile psyches.

It's one of those little Melbourne bars, not so much wider than the bar that runs much of the length of it, with some seating near the front for the smokers (who are nearly out in the cold, literally), and a smaller lounge area in the back with a tiny little stage.

It's poorly lit (too dark for clean photography), and the cramped space is moderately crowded. The focus is, strangely, two men, and their laptops. Their laptop screens are projected against the walls, and strange ambient music is circulating through the room. This is a living performance in Second Life created solely for an audience in the physical world.

Orange Island (home of French global telecommunications franchise, Orange) is hosting a week of gaming and game-related events and discussions in Second Life this coming week, including (of course) some games. Starting Monday, 26 May on Orange Island, there's a packed schedule of events.

Some particularly not-to-be-missed sessions include An Overview of Games in Second Life by the redoubtable Onder Skall at 11AM Monday, 26 May; Second Life as a Gaming Platform : challenges & opportunities, moderated by our very own Akela Talamasca at Noon Tuesday, 27 May; Midgar & World of Hogwarts with Luthien Biziou at 1:30PM Tuesday, 27 May; Roleplaying in SL moderated by Fab Outlander. All times are in SLT (US Pacific time).

There's plenty for gaming aficionados of all stripes from video game music covers and jousting to an arcade gaming and an art display.

Since around the middle of 2006 a debate has swirled back and forth, over Immersion vs Augmentation, sparked by Henrik Bennetsen. Discussion groups in Second Life have wrangled over it, blogs have argued the point in no less than three directions, papers have been presented on the topic. We've been a part of that ourselves, in the past.

The curious thing about the debate, though, was just how spectacularly varied the positions were, and how none of them seemed to form divisional boundaries-- a very curious thing in what you'd expect to be such a polarized topic.

And then, just recently, we finally realized ourselves that the reason was that the terms of reference were essentially flawed and as a result, more than half the material written on the topic is invalid for all practical purposes.

Doctor Helen Farley (Lecturer in Studies in Religion and Esotericism) and Doctor Rick Strelan (Senior Lecturer in Studies in Religion) were awarded a $30,000AUD Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant by the University of Queensland (Australia) in October of last year to construct an island in Second Life for Studies in Religion.

Dr Farley has already had practice teaching meditation via Second Life, and used it successfully for student work thus far. The new University of Queensland island will be attached to the New Media Consortium region, which has over 250 educational institutions involved.

As Professor Bordnick points out, imagination alone isn't a particularly powerful tool to recreate the situations in which a recovering addict learns to say 'no': 'As a therapist, I can tell you to pretend my office is a bar, and I can ask you to close your eyes and imagine the environment, but you'll know that it's not real'.

Rather than ask the patient to visualise a bar stocked with alcohol or a party where cigarettes are on offer, Bordnick uses a VR helmet along with other components such as olfactory stimulation and actor participation to create a highly plausible and immersive environment. Although the patient consciously knows he is taking part in a VR simulation, the immersion has proven sufficient to build intense cravings, just as if the focus of the addiction had really been present.

By supplying an enviroment that is realistic enough to stimulate cravings but remains controlled and safe, Bordnick can gradually train patients in the use of coping skills. As those skills will have been developed in the face of a close analogue of the real thing, the patient is much better equipped to contend with the challenge of the real-world situation.

Dubai Women's College is, as far as we can tell, the first educational institution in the Middle East to open a campus in Second Life (are we wrong? There's a lot of educational institutions with setups and sites on the grid).

The island, Dubai Women's College, isn't, as yet, a whole lot to write home about -- a mosque, some signs, some classroom-platforms, out in the middle of community-college-ocean. There's a college map, and a museum-under-construction.

Oh, and a sign out front that proclaims: 'The extent of a teacher's imagination is the only limit to what or how teaching can take place in this learning environment.' Well, that and a functional grid gets you a virtual-world-enabled education.

The London School of Journalism is taking their budding journos in-world. This great British institution has joined a long list of educational institutions and set up a college in Second Life, where they plan to offer free lectures on writing and journalism and industry issues to anyone who's interested.

The school's director says the mixed-medium of sound, text and the ability to see avatars' faces will enhance their teachings. 'We've already had an enormous response on Second Life, with between 500 and 1,000 people visiting our area each day,' LSJ director Michael Winckworth told industry blog www.Journalism.co.uk

Unfortunately he displayed some less-than-investigative journalistic skills by also saying 'I know of no-one else on Second Life offering open lectures,' despite the veritable plethora of same. But we all have our off days.

Genome Island in Second Life is a real treat if you're a genetics geek or a science geek. If you're not, it's still an amazingly cool place to visit. Max Chatnoir (Dr M. A Clark, Professor of Biology, Texas Wesleyan University) has brought this site to life along with the help of some skilled and able assistants, most notably Elizabeth Gloucester (Professor of Microbial Molecular Genetics at a medica school in New England), and Apaul Balut (Professor of Microbiology at a medical school in the Midwest USA).

Three-dimensional protein sequences hang in the air, among educational displays and trivia games, and giant reproductions of individual cells, with labeled structures in motion and larger than your head.

Richard Bartle dips in and out of Second Life. He likens it as going to London. He might not be there for months, and then multiple times in a week. To him, Second Life is a place, much like many others.

Bartle was in that place on 11 March, as a part of the Metanomics series, hosted by professor Robert J Bloomfield. Bartle often regarded as the father of the first MUD. In a sense he's the progenitor of all existing virtual worlds, both those based on games and those that are game-free.

The Inquirer is carrying news of a soon-to-be-published study by Nottingham Trent University called Gender Swapping and Socialising in Cyberspace, which is expected to be published in the US Journal Cyberpsychology and Behavior.

The study shows that women were more likely than men to select a male avatar, with half of men (54%) choosing female avatars, and 70% of women crossing the gender divide as male avatars.

The study explores the reasons given by participants for selecting avatars/characters across genders, and the differences between male and female motivations for selecting alternate genders.

[Thanks to Megatonik for catching this one as "Study says MMO players are gender-confused" - even though it actually never says anything like that. Thanks also to the Plywood Webcomic archives for the image.]

Second Life celebrity, thinker, developer and blogger, Gwyneth Llewelyn takes a look a white paper by Proximity London on virtual worlds. The white paper is based on some 4,000 interviews with people and builds up a picture of the realities of these synthetic environments.

The paper's author, John Urpeth, basically rounds up six of the most popular claims about virtual worlds, and basically finds them all to be pretty much so much smoke - and you don't need to ask where that smoke is blown or why.

Llewelyn goes through all six and the results are well worth your time reading. If you only know virtual worlds from TV, newspapers, and major news sites - then the odds are you've learned little that's actually true. You can find interesting and energetic discussion on the topic at Digado.