Why Learn to Type With Mavis Beacon When You Could Learn Game Design With Second Life?

by Louis Bedigian

 

“We've had classes in architecture, urban planning, and game design.  People who were studying virtual worlds.”

 

You knew this was going to happen.  Once colleges and universities took an interest in game development, they immediately started offering classes in game programming and design.  Every year more schools announce game-specific classes and degree programs.  We’re even starting to see classes in video game journalism.

 

One of the most unique classes to come out of the gaming revolution is a class within a class using Second Life.

 

 

 

 

Second Life is an open-ended simulation game from Linden Lab.  They’ve put so much into it that gamers are now able to add their own creative ideas and produce something that was not intended, expected, or even anticipated.  It’s the kind of experience you’ll never get from a game like RPG Maker, a title with built-in limitations.

 

Using the limitless power of Second Life, some universities began offering their students the chance to play and manipulate the game while in class.  Hence Linden Lab’s latest project – Campus: Second Life.

 

Things sure have changed haven’t they?  College used to mean big books and long hours of studying.  Now it means playing video games.  If that isn’t the ultimate sign for a bright future, nothing is.

 

Where is this project going?  What’s it all about?  How can you be a part of it?  Robin Harper, VP of Community Development, took time away from her second life to talk with us in her first.

 

 

Start by introducing yourself and Campus: Second Life to our readers.

 

Robin Harper: My name is Robin Harper and I'm responsible at Linden Labs for marketing and for the development and support of the Second Life community.

 

Campus: Second Life kind of grew out of the fact that we have had over the last couple of years classes from several different universities visit Second Life and realized that there was an opportunity to take advantage of the tool in Second Life as part of their curriculum.

 

We had been helping them out informally and using Second Life as a formalization of that effort.

 

How far has it gone?  What has it expanded to?

 

RH: The program allows a professor to bring up to 25 students into Second Life.  The professor and the students get complementary accounts for the duration of the class which can be anywhere from two weeks to a full semester.  If it's something that would help them we also give them some land to use, again on a temporary basis during the time that they're in Second Life.  We've had classes in architecture, urban planning, and game design.  People who were studying virtual worlds.  A variety of different kinds of classes.  For the most part classes where someone in one way or another are looking to use the simulation aspects of Second Life to do various types of prototyping.

 

For example, we had a class from Trinity University (it's a school in Texas) in Second Life studying game design.  They came to Second Life, and used how to use the scripting language and how to use the 3D modeling tool.  Their assignment was to break into three groups and each group builds a game within Second Life.

 

 

Rock on students.  Rock on.

 

 

What have your results been so far?  How much have people gained from using this?

 

RH: You're probably better off asking the teachers that question.  The feedback I've had from the teachers is that it's given their students an opportunity to prototype and have an experienced-based learning that they wouldn't be able to have in the real world. 

 

How many teachers are currently using it?

 

RH: This semester there are three.  There's a class from the University of Pittsburgh, one from USC, and the third one is from the University of Illinois.

 

How long has this been running for?

 

RH: I just made the program official this semester, but we've had classes that were using Second Life since we were in the alpha stage, so all along for the most part.  There's a professor at the University of Texas in Austin.  She's in the department of urban planning and architecture.  She has had classes in Second Life twice.  They look at things like how transportation has developed in Second Life and density patterns and things like that.  So what they're doing is taking ideas in the real world about how city development and what makes things work in an urban environment and see how that's developed in Second Life.

 

How much coordination is there between students?  Is this intended to be an individual thing, where if I'm a student I work solely on my project, or are there projects where they all work together?

 

RH: That depends on the teacher and what that particular teacher is trying to do.  I've seen both of those things happen.  With the game design class at Trinity University, the teacher had them work in work in three different groups and each team built a game.  We had a class in Media Studies that was studying virtual reality.  They looked at Second Life as one among several different kinds of digital worlds.  They were in Second Life, they were in There.com, they were in active worlds.  They were asked to the world and do a project.  One group of four students chose Second Life and built this theater and put on a play.  So it really depends on what the goals of the class are.

 

Now when they put on the play, did they use voice-overs or anything?  How did they present it?

 

RH: They used the tools in Second Life, so it was chat-based.  They made a theater, they had costumes, they did a play from A Mid Summer Night's Dream and typed in the lines of dialogue.

 

 

That’s quite a hat.

 

 

And then how was that presented?  Did they present it to the class?

 

RH: They presented it in Second Life.  So people from Second Life went and watched the play.  They announced the event and had an audience and I believe they video taped it.

 

Wow, that's very cool.  How do you plan to help Campus: Second Life grow?

 

RH: For the time being we're just going to continue the way that we're going.  We made an announcement in several academic areas and we've had a lot of interest.  Our goal is really just to allow classes to come in and take advantage of the simulation tools and the ability to have a very real experience in a world that's free of some of the constraints of the real world.  I don't know that we're going to anytime soon expand the program beyond where it is right now.  Right now I can take up to three classes per semester.  I don't have any plans for taking any more classes than that.

 

Spread over three classes, you can take up to 75 students?

 

RH: Yes.

 

What else do you guys have planned for Second Life?

 

RH: We're gonna do the game developer's contest again.  It'll be five months, and we'll get another game developer to judge [if not Harvey Smith].  The fun thing about that was that he was able to give each team feedback on their game.  I think that was probably more valuable than winning a prize.  They got some good design feedback which was terrific.

 

You know some of what happens in Second Life isn't planned by us, it's planned by the people in Second Life.  Because they have the ability to take their ideas in any direction they want, they're constantly coming up with new things.  One thing grows into something else.  The Campus: Second Life program was really just a way to formalize something that was emerging in Second Life anyway.  The recognition that's in the academic community - here was a place where they could provide their students with a very real but manageable experience.  A place to take real-world ideas and test them out in a digital world.

 

It's hard to know what will come next.  We are always looking for to support new projects.  I don't know if you were aware, but several months ago we had a team re-create the [Wizard of] Oz experience.  Now that same team has built Neverland.  The Neverland area, complete with pirates and lost boys, we'll be able to show that for about three weeks.  Then they'll take it down and I'm sure they'll come up with another idea.

 

 

“Class, for your next assignment I want you to copy this house… EXACTLY! 

No mistakes, I expect perfection.”—Professor Nitpicky, University of Insanity

 

 

What are the requirements going to be for the next contest?

 

RH: I imagine they'll be the same as they were.  What we asked people to do last time is to submit ideas.  Then we chose from among those ideas a smaller group to develop games that we felt showed either a good deal of promise or would somehow work well within Second Life.  Then Harvey judged the finals.  The teams built the games, their traffic was measured, and then we picked the four that had the most traffic, which we assumed meant it was the most fun or at least had the most people playing them.

 

Is there a certain amount skill that's needed to do really well at this?  Let's say I'm brand-new to Second Life, I've never really worked on a game before, etc. - what do I need to do to prepare myself?

 

RH: We have found that the scripting language has been learned by people who have no programming background.  We've got people who are creating beautiful things who say to us, "I never knew I had it in me."  So I suspect it has much to do with the individual and how much time and energy they want to put into learning the tools.  The tools are not difficult to use.

 

Where should players begin?  Is there a Web site with information on how to use the Second Life tools?

 

RH: When people come into Second Life they have access to all the tools and there are lots of classes that are held in Second Life by people who volunteer to do that.  There are classes in building, texturing, and the scripting language.  And they're offered at different levels - beginning, intermediate, and advanced.  So I think that anybody who came into Second Life would find very quickly that there's more than sufficient help available.

 

On top of that, a group of Second Life users started a WIKI called Bad Geometry, which is posted at www.BadGeometry.com.  That WIKI fully documents the scripting language and gives examples of how it's used.

 

Thanks for your time Robin!