Avatars at work and play
Subtitle: collaboration and interaction in shared virtual environments
By: edited by Ralph Schroeder and Ann-Sofie Axelsson
Series: Computer supported cooperative work -- v. 34
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Language: eng
Number of pages: 277
ISBN-13: 9781402038839
Subjects: Internet games; Interactive multimedia; Virtual work teams; Human-computer interaction; Shared virtual environments; Avatars (Virtual reality)
Description: Avatars at Work and Play brings together contributions from leading social scientists and computer scientists who have conducted research on virtual environments used for collaboration and online gaming. They present a well-rounded and state-of-the-art overview of current applications of multi-user virtual environments, ranging from highly immersive virtual reality systems to internet-based virtual environments on personal computers. The volume is a follow-up to a previous essay collection, ‘The Social Life of Avatars’, which explored general issues in this field. This collection goes further, examining uses of shared virtual environments in practical settings such as scientific collaboration, distributed meetings, building models together, and others. It also covers online gaming in virtual environments, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of users and presents an opportunity for studying a myriad of social issues. Covering both ‘work’ and ‘play’, the volume brings together issues common to the two areas, including: What kind of avatar appearance is suitable for different kinds of interaction? How best to foster collaboration and promote usable shared virtual spaces? What kinds of activities work well in different types of virtual environments and systems?
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Work and play in shared virtual environments : overlapping themes and intersecting research agendas / Ralph Schroeder and Ann-Sofie Axelsson; title: Transformed social interaction : exploring the digital plasticity of avatars / Jeremy N. Bailenson and Andrew C. Beall; title: Selective fidelity : investigating priorities for the creation of expressive avatars / Maia Garau; title: Analysis and visualization of social diffusion patterns in three-dimensional virtual worlds / Shashikant Penumarthy and Katy Börner; title: Collaborative virtual environments for scientific collaboration : technical and organizational design frameworks / Diane H. Sonnenwald; title: Analyzing fragments of collaboration in distributed immersive virtual environments / Ilona Heldal ... [et al.]; title: The impact of display system and embodiment on closely coupled collaboration between remote users / David Roberts, Robin Wolff, and Oliver Otto; title: The good inequality : supporting group-work in shared virtual environments / Maria Spante, Ann-Sofie Axelsson, and Ralph Schroeder; title: Consequences of playing violent video games in immersive virtual environments / Susan Persky and Jim Blascovich; title: The psychology of massively multi-user online role-playing games : motivations, emotional investment, relationships, and problematic usage / Nick Yee; title: Questing for knowledge; title: virtual worlds as dynamic processes of social interaction / Mikael Jakobsson; title: Play and sociability in There : some lessons from online games for collaborative virtual environments / Barry Brown and Marek Bell; title: Digital dystopia : player control and strategic innovation in The sims online / Francis F. Steen ... [et al.].