More to read about this story here…

[Technorati Tags: gaming - virtual world - commerce]

This concept is an interesting one because of its impact on digital identity. I don’t mean here the process of authentication or identity management within a database or other more complex system / environment. Digital identity is the identity we form about us in the digital sphere. In the case of MMORPGs or synthetic worlds, that’s the avatar identity. it consists of digital fragments here and there. It’s difficult to assemble them to present oneself as one identity, which is true for the visitor to one of these fragments. From the real life (RL) we know the concept of life streams, but this can’t be transferred to avatars just by that. The most important aspect of an lifestream is that this is the life stream of an existing, natural person. Avatars are not only representations, but also roles we (want to) play. Therefore we don’t want always to interconnect the real person and her/his avatars. So we’re not sure about their true identity, and that’s where the livestream falls apart. Who’s lifestream do we follow then? Of a role?

An avatar ePortfolio is designed to create identity, something we don’t need to immediately in real life situations (we are exisiting already!). In the digital sphere, we can design our identity to a certain extent, and like Serge Ravet said in his keynote, we can re-invent ourself. ePortfolios are not only about the past, but also about the future. Avatars are real and fictious at the same time. And they offer us one thing: to re-invent us, many times.

[Technorati Tags: avatar - virtual world - digital identity - ePortfolio]

On the crossroads of both developments is a new game called Parallel Kingdom, which takes advantage of the new series of GPS-enabled phones like iPhone or Nokia N95. It’s designed as a MMOG, mixing the actual position of the player (transmitted by the mobile phone) and some game-inherent objects, rules and stories. Although the graphics are not the best yet, it’s a trend to watch.

[Technorati Tags: 3D - virtual world - GPS]

This book feeded my head with ideas, very good and short presentations of major theories and many tipps for the daily ethnographic business. One of the best values of this book are the precise locations of the main ideas within the scientific research and literature. It’s easy to ready and great to learn.

A special benefit are the three case studies offered by the author. All of them reveal methodological traps, ethical issues and comon errors and solutions to ethnographic projects.

‘Critical ethnography’ is an excellent book for all who understands that ethnography is more than observation. It is action.

Bibliographic reference:
Madison D. Soyini: Critical Ethnography. Method, Ethics, and Performance
2005
Thousand Oaks, US: Sage Publications

One aspect of digital identity is our representation in synthetic worlds (for a classification of such worlds, see my cultural classification of synthetic worlds) - you name it - the avatar. Avatars play an interesting and important role in such worlds as they are the main point of communication and socialization with others. Without, social aspects in synthetic worlds are not impossible, but limited in various ways.

Identity means also something continuous and coherent, something which is badly considered in modern game design. There are many tweaks and tricks to build an avatar identity, but often, there are very limited in social range. ePortfolios for avatars could change that dramatically, and that’s one of my research focus. And that are the basic ideas behind an avatar ePortfolio:

• In synthetic worlds, where authentication systems are often unreliable or not wanted (in the sense to identify the player behind his/her agent), another way of identity proof is needed: reputation. An ePortfolio is suited to provide a place of reputation transfer.
• Avatar ePortfolios should tell the story of the avatar, create identity (process as proof of growth or history) and collect artifacts as showcases of achievement.
• Avatar ePortfolios should add other voices to the story to enrich and validate identity and the story told.

I will follow with more of this in the next weeks and months to come. You’re maybe also interested in another blog I participate: ePortfolio Research. It will be bi-lingual in german and english and I published 2-3 posts on it yet. But it’s really fresh ;D

There are no dates given when the Online Gallaxy called virtual game will be available.

[Technorati Tags: robots - robotgalaxy ]

I found an interesting piece of information on Venture Beat about Apple’s ‘Multitouch-Data-Funsion’ patent. As a consequence, we could see a complete new generation of “realistic” gaming. Wii is maybe the best example for this game genre right now. It brings reality as a simulation to the player, but as a difference to holodeck games, we could combine simulation (skill transfer) with role playing. I wish I could enjoy this one day in my life ;D

A few weeks ago, I found some time to read through a very comprehensive book about online research methods. Here some of the main ideas / important quotes I took out of the context:

1. “Online relationships can be highly potent ways of conducting research. Contrary to previous doubts, effective qualitative research relationships can be forged online. Online presence can be a means to enhanced understanding in and through it.”
2. “Researchers have to pay considerble attention to their self-presentation. Establishing one’s presence as a bona fide researcher and trusworthy recipient of confidences is not automatic, and varies depending on the cultural context under investigation. The doubts of informants, the risks to which they feel research may expose the, and their expectations of online relationships may vary widely between settings”
3. “Modes of internet behaviour indicate that individuals are willing to disclose more of their personality on the web than in real situations. [...] This has implications for online research, becausse the method used (online or paper&pencil) may produce different results by asking the same questions.”
4. Self-disclosure tends to be reciprocated.
5. Diffusion of responsibility: single persons tend to help when asked separately, “nobody” (=bystander) will help when asked a group / community of people
6. Foot in the door technique: start with small tasks, and later with the bigger ones. The posivite reaction is much bigger than to ask for big tasks the very first time.
7. The combination of high power request (”chancellor”) and personal salutation (”Dear Mark”) had the highest effect as an call to action.
8. Email interviews: a method free of cost, travel and transcription concerns, but email interviewing is an interpersonal journey that demands from both the interviewer and interviewees a strong commitment towards the subject under stundy.
9. Online ethnographers need to be very cuatious about the where that we are studying. Defining the field, conceptualizing how the research setting was to be constituted, turned out to be an issue never far away from the routine ethnogrpahic work.
10. How can a researcher negotiate informed consent when virtual environments change constantly (persons go and come, often unnoticed)?

Reference:

Hine, Christine. 2005. Virtual Methods: Issues in Social Research on the Internet. Oxford: Berg Publ Books Intl.

There are some shooter and jump ‘n run games that makes fun and will see playing them again!