Virtual worlds and online videogames for children and young people : promises and challenges MERCHANT, Guy
This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version MERCHANT, Guy (2015). Virtual worlds and online videogames for children and young people : promises and challenges. In: GUZZETTI, Barbara and MILLINEE, Lesley, (eds.) The handbook of research on the societal impact of social media. Advances in media, entertainment and the arts . Hersey, PA, IGI Global, 291-316.
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Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive http://shura.shu.ac.uk Handbook of Research on the Societal Impact of Digital Media
Barbara Guzzetti Arizona State University, USA
Mellinee Lesley Texas Tech University, USA
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Chapter 12 Virtual Worlds and Online Videogames for Children and Young People: Promises and Challenges
Guy Merchant Sheffield Hallam University, UK
ABSTRACT
Online virtual worlds and games provide opportunities for new kinds of interaction, and new forms of play and learning, and they are becoming a common feature in the lives of many children and young people. This chapter explores the issues that this sort of virtual play raises for researchers and educa- tors, and the main themes that have emerged through empirical investigation. I focus on children and young people within the age range covered by compulsory schooling, providing illustrative examples of virtual environments that promote play and learning as a way of underlining some key areas of interest. Drawing on work from a range of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives the chapter emphasises how these environments have much in common with other imagined worlds and suggests that looking at the ways in which the virtual is embedded in everyday contexts for meaning making provides an important direction for future research.
1. WHAT IS A SUCCINCT new kinds of virtual play. Developers and entre- OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH? preneurs are designing increasingly sophisticated virtual environments, and so it seems timely to Virtual worlds and video games are high profile review the key findings that emerge from empirical and popular forms of entertainment in the new and theoretical work, and to address those issues global mediascape. They attract large numbers in meaning making and learning that are of in- of children and young people, and this has led to terest to parents and educators. In what follows I interest in some quarters and concern in others as contribute to this endeavour by looking critically we grapple with the promises and challenges of at the specific promises and challenges of using
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8310-5.ch012
Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Virtual Worlds and Online Videogames for Children and Young People
computer-generated virtual worlds and online Of course it may not always do this - it may not videogames with children and young people for touch everyone equally, and there is evidently educational purposes. The research base in this enough ‘good’ and ‘bad’ drama performance to area is still in its infancy, but we can now draw on create lucrative livelihoods for critics! Nonethe- studies of children in the early years, of teenagers less the enduring popularity of drama and other and adults – studies located in a range of differ- narrative media such as books, films and video- ent settings and jurisdictions. This body of work games reminds us of the significance of imagined outlines the kinds of understandings that virtual worlds in our lives. I want to argue that virtual play can foster, and points to how it is integrated worlds and video games, rather than being radi- into everyday lives, as well as how it might be cally new and hard to comprehend, are simply a absorbed into more formal educational practice. recent manifestation of this same phenomenon. However, first hand experience of virtual worlds Although their realisation is new – in the sense and videogames is alien to many parents and that virtual worlds are created from pixels and educators and the media reaction to immersive mediated through screens - the desire to engage online play is often one of moral panic (Gillen in world building, and the cognitive processes & Merchant, 2013). As a result it is necessary to involved in meaning making are inherently similar be clear about what constitutes or defines these to those at work in constructing other imagined environments, and to explore some of the popular worlds (Gillen & Merchant, 2013). myths and misconceptions that have attached to But for all this similarity, virtual worlds and these new forms of play. I begin with a focus on videogames have introduced a new dimension. We these issues. now no longer simply consume the text, we ‘play’ or create it as we go along (Mackey, 2002). It is ‘This Insubstantial Pageant’: as if we had taken on a role in the drama and can Understanding Virtual Worlds then dictate the course of events, seeing things from our character’s point of view, or indeed from In Shakespeare’s Tempest, the magician Prospero multiple points of view. In short our actions can refers to the play itself as an ‘insubstantial pageant’ influence what we see on the screen. In this way and in a much-quoted speech draws out parallels virtual worlds and videogames have many similari- between theatre and life itself. The dramatic per- ties to each other, both being computer-mediated formance, and the imaginary world that is conjured environments in which players have at least some up by it, is seen as an insubstantial pageant, a cast degree of agency. This agency, dictated of course of characters involved in a sequence of events that by opportunities and constraints imposed by the we temporarily believe in. A play could be seen game design, is often achieved by adopting a as a prototypical virtual world. As an event it is character, or avatar, that can be moved around real enough, it takes place in space and time with the screen and can interact with other characters all the material supports of a theatre or similar or objects. Although it is possible to engage with venue; members of the audience are embodied virtual worlds and videogames offline, their cur- and present, but yet the world they are transported rent popularity can be largely attributed to the fact into is constructed in their individual imagina- that online connectivity provides opportunities tions, and filtered through their own particular for play and interaction with others who are not lived experiences. in the same location, as well as those who are. Drama, in common with other art forms, has The technical literature on virtual play draws the potential to entertain and enrich our lives as a distinction between Massively Multiplayer well as to educate and enlighten us, even to the Online Games (MMOGs) and Multi-User Vir- extent of challenging or changing our world view. tual Environments (MUVEs). MMOGs include
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the hugely popular World of Warcraft with its 7 protest against them, and experiment with self- million active accounts (Satista, 2014) as well government. (Morningstar & Farmer, [1991] as newcomers like Clash of the Clans, currently 2008, p.1.) strong in the rapidly expanding mobile games market. The most popular MUVEs are usually In Habitat, users were shown on-screen as referred to as virtual worlds (Second Life and Ac- a simple figure or avatar. This idea of an ava- tive Worlds are popular examples), and they are tar that represents or in some accounts ‘is’ the distinguished from videogames by the simple fact user, strongly associates with both MUVEs and that they “have no prescribed structuring of activity MMOGs. With technological development both and allow varying degrees of creative freedom” avatar design and on-screen movement have be- (White & Le Cornu, 2010, p. 184). So, although come ever more sophisticated, enabling players to games may develop in virtual world environments, develop both life-like and fantastic representations they are not part of the basic architecture. In this (see Figure 1) and movement. way, virtual worlds place a greater overt emphasis In Second Life, for example, it is possible to on sociality, the building of community, and the create a wide range of avatars using human and co-construction of the environment itself (as in animal forms (see Boellstorff, 2008). Body shapes, Minecraft). skin tones and attire can be exchanged or bought Morningstar and Farmer who designed one at any time. Some ‘residents’ spend a lot of time of the first virtual worlds, Lucasfilm’s Habitat, developing and modifying their avatar’s appear- imagined the growth of a virtual world commu- ance, although this isn’t exactly a pre-requisite for nity in which: participation. By way of contrast, another popular virtual world, Club Penguin, focuses on different … users can communicate, play games, go on features, and all users are represented in the same adventures, fall in love, get married, get divorced, way, by the same basic avatar – a penguin - although start businesses, found religions, wage wars, as we shall see later, this can be ‘personalised’
Figure 1. A meeting in Second Life showing a range of avatars
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too. In MMOGs avatar representation is usually under consideration are any more risky than other linked to the game genre. So, in World of Warcraft sites. Internet addiction, just like TV addiction dwarves, elves and orcs tie in with the fantasy- before it, seems to be more of a reaction to new adventure theme, whereas the videogame family media than an actual condition. Furthermore, Grand Theft Auto uses a contemporary American video gaming and virtual world play, once seen look for its playable characters’ escapades in as solitary, anti-social and isolated pursuits, turn Liberty City (Merchant, 2014). out to be highly social, collaborative activities In a similar way, the screen environment (Schott & Kambouri, 2006). of virtual worlds varies considerably from the The idea that virtual environments are simply flat cartoon-like scenes in Club Penguin to the about banal and passive entertainment has been elaborate three-dimensional universe of Second challenged by a number of academic researchers. Life. In Second Life residents have constructed The work of Gee (2003) has been particularly complex environments that replicate houses, influential in arguing that popular videogames huts, public buildings and shopping malls as well are often built on sound learning principles and as more fanciful settings. As the technology has promote sophisticated reasoning and problem developed, so the possibilities have increased, and solving. This has undoubtedly contributed to the these various virtual environments have created growth in educational research on virtual play, their own niche audiences, often on a global scale, as well as the rising popularity of ‘gamification’, spawning a significant fan-base usually connected in which game principles are applied to drive in both on- and off-line communities (Steinkue- formal or informal learning (Abrams & Walsh, hler, 2007). It is not untypical, then, for virtual 2014). As video gaming comes of age, there is a world and gaming activity to involve side-by-side growing impulse to recognise their textual pos- collaboration with friends, either informally or in sibilities, sometimes as a way of supporting more after-school clubs, as well as online (see Burnett familiar curricular goals such as those associated & Bailey, 2014). with the English curriculum (Beavis, 2014) and at Despite their obvious popularity and attraction, others as a new art form requiring new methods both virtual worlds and online video games have of analysis. In the latter case the emergence of provoked negative reactions from mainstream literary videogames, which use game mechan- media (Gillen & Merchant, 2013). On the one ics and digital media to drive the narrative are hand their immersive quality has generated the fear a striking example of a new hybrid textual form that large numbers of children and young people (Enslinn, 2014). are spending endless hours online, squandering To summarise then, I have argued that vid- money on upgrades and accessories, and on the eogames and virtual worlds, rather than being other that they are becoming morally degenerate radically new, are best seen as the most recent through over-exposure to sex and violence. There technologies for creating imagined worlds. Their is little evidence to support any of these claims, distinctiveness lies in their dependence on the but they do build on isolated cases, and play into screen and in their potential for engaging par- a more generalised moral panic in which narra- ticipants in shaping the text, by modifying the tives about the Internet and new technology as environment, interacting with others and dictating a ‘corrosive’ force in society predominate (see the course of events. In this respect, the centrality Palmer, 2006 for example). Although there are of avatars in virtual play is worthy of note, and clear safety and security issues associated with further exploration. Although videogames and any online activity (Livingstone, 2009), there virtual worlds have much in common, the em- is little to indicate that the virtual environments phasis on an underlying game narrative and a set
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of objectives or challenges is what distinguishes ing, showing how even player-to-game interactions the former from the latter. However, it remains often take place in front of a real-time audience of the case that players often use game environments peers. Furthermore, the increasing popularity of simply to ‘hang out’; and conversely virtual world virtual worlds and games has led some to think of residents may introduce game elements into their them as ‘new play spaces’ (Kafai, 2010, p.4) and environments. The boundary between MUVEs and given the global spread of virtual play (Apperley, MMOGs is then fuzzy, to say the least. Finally, 2014) it is easy to imagine that their appeal is a I have suggested that concerns about addiction, universal phenomenon. Surprisingly though, there over-exposure to sex and violence, and social is a shortage of detailed demographic evidence for isolation are rooted in moral panics – reactions to this, although there are plenty of headline-grabbing what appear to be new and unfamiliar practices. statistics. Organisations like the US-based Pew Empirical research on these online environ- Internet Project provide regular, impressionistic ments crosses disciplinary boundaries and yet updates on a whole range of related issues. For there is no comprehensive and systematic lit- instance, in an influential report on video games, erature review currently available. Despite this Pew’s researchers claimed that: researchers have looked at specific themes such as the literature on the use of video games for Video gaming is pervasive in the lives of American learning (e.g.: Mitchell & Savill-Smith, 2004), that teens—young teens and older teens, girls and boys, on possible links between aggression and video and teens from across the socioeconomic spec- games (e.g.: Bensley & Van Eenwyk, 2001), and trum. Opportunities for gaming are everywhere, the use of virtual worlds in education (e.g.: Kim, and teens are playing video games frequently. Lee & Thomas, 2012). Arguably the current state When asked, half of all teens reported playing a of research is one of diversity rather than depth. video game “yesterday.” Those who play daily But yet there are a number of emerging themes typically play for an hour or more. (Lenhart, et. in virtual world and video game research that al., 2008, p.1.) relate to the focus of this chapter. These concern the social dimensions of virtual play – who is Whilst this undoubtedly helps us to think playing and who they are playing with; what they about the growing significance of video gaming, are playing and learning and how their learning it also restricts our view to a particular time and might be related to other areas of activity; and place. Given the rapid changes that sweep through how we might better understand the nature of popular digital culture, it is difficult to know if virtual play itself. this is still the case, or whether and how factors such as the rise of social networking and the take The Social Dimensions up of mobile technology have impacted on this. of Virtual Play In their critical review of this and similar work, Warschauer & Matuchniak (2010) encourage us Popular perceptions of gaming and virtual world to take a closer look at how race, gender, and play as a solitary activity have been largely discred- socio-economic status pattern access and use of ited through empirical research. For example, Tu- technology. The implication being that we would ukkanen et al. (2010) observed how young people be well advised to be somewhat cautious in rela- are socially active in virtual worlds, and Schott & tion to claims about the widespread popularity of Kambouri (2003) in their ethnography of gamers virtual play - it is significant in different ways to argue for a focus on the ‘social envelope’ of gam- different segments of the population.
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One pressing area of concern is the apparent that 73% of parents talk about games with their gendered nature of virtual play, although there is children (IGEA 2014). Yet, in another initiative, some evidence to suggest that this is changing. Livingstone et al. (2011), who surveyed children For instance, video game players are no longer and their parents in 25 countries in Europe, point predominantly male teenagers (Casell & Jenkins, to a less-dramatic take up. Admittedly their work 1998) – in a recent report the average age of an is broader in focus – but they do profile children’s American video game player was estimated as engagement in virtual play and note that this was 31, with nearly half of the gamers being female represented in only 23% of their sample. (Entertainment Software Association, 2014). Making international comparisons is, of However, it is still generally accepted that girls course, fraught with difficulty and perhaps quib- gaming habits and practices are different to boys, bling over percentages is not particularly helpful they prefer different kinds of games and that boys in this instance. However, what does seem clear play more frequently and for longer periods of is that online gaming is increasing in popular- time (Hayes, 2013). Given that some sources ity, although perhaps unevenly across different suggest that 75% of game developers are male populations. Put together with industry figures this is perhaps not surprising. There is some for the number of subscriptions for MUVEs, resistance to this, particularly with the growing virtual play seems to be part of the everyday life interest in text-based games using software like of many children and young people. Having said Twine which has provided an important space for this we cannot assume that this is the case for all women designers. children or even that it is experienced in the same Research on specific genres and populations way and to the same frequency by those who do highlights key variations in virtual play. For ex- engage. For this reason, the accounts, that follow ample, Stein et al. (2012) in a survey of over a are predominantly qualitative, and focus on the thousand sports gamers between the ages of 18 situated practices associated with video games and 31 found that they were predominantly white and virtual worlds. and male; Bertozzi (2012; 2014) has carefully charted the significance of first person shooter What Are They Playing and and other predation games in the lives of young What Are They Learning? women, noting their increased popularity and their potential for empowerment; whereas Marsh’s As scholars begin to acknowledge the hetero- (2013) study of young children’s play in a virtual geneous nature of virtual play, researchers are world which is discussed in the next section adds illuminating the range of learning that takes place to this complex and diverse picture. These sorts in and around these environments. Whilst early of studies point to the patterning of interest and work followed Gee’s (2003) ideas about the learn- activity and contribute to a nuanced understanding ing principles enshrined in ‘good’ games, more of an increasingly popular pursuit. recent studies highlight specific kinds of learning The rise of virtual play is consistently reported that emerge from game play. Following Carpenter in larger studies. A recent survey of children and (2009), who identified the parallels between so- young people between the ages of 5 and 15 in cial networks and social learning environments, the UK shows the growing popularity of online researchers have focused on such diverse topics games (OfCom, 20013) whilst the Interactive as civic participation and learning about citizen- Games and Entertainment Association in Aus- ship (Tuukkanen et al., 2010), the development tralia claims that 93% of homes in their study of epistemic games (Boots & Strobel, 2014), the have a device for playing computer games, and use of virtual worlds in higher education (Beck
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& Perkins, 2014; Kirriemuir, 2010), and virtual emphasis on the ‘social envelope’ of gaming is one play in the development of elementary school such approach, whereas the micro-ethnographic literacy (Merchant, 2009). In short, attention has focus on events, human and non-human actors shifted from an interest in what is learnt in and offered by Giddings (2009) is an alternative. Le- about games to describing the kinds of learning ander & McKim (2003) grapple with the central that might be achieved through playing them. As issue of how learners move between and across a result it is not uncommon to find discussions online and offline contexts, and their ‘connec- of the role of game play in promoting anything tive ethnography’ offers some important ways of from health awareness to legal studies, from sports conceptualising this movement. science to STEM subjects. Elsewhere it has been suggested that research- Although the notion of learning transfer has ers ignore game design at their peril (Sheridan exercised the best minds in psychology and educa- & Rowsell, 2010), and that our understanding of tion, the relationship between what we might call virtual worlds and online games must take ac- virtual learning and everyday life has, as a result, count of what sorts of play, agency and identity become a key area of interest. Whilst research on performance is prompted, possible, or proscribed sports gaming may not address formal learning, it by their design. This has led to research on game serves to highlight how such activity is interwoven design (e.g.: Thorhague, 2013), on game-related with on-going interest, other forms of play and fan- practices such as modding (Gee & Hayes, 2011) dom (Stein et al. 2012). So whilst there is no single and the use of cheats. Further work has followed template to describe how virtual play relates to other the idea of design principles for serious games aspects of gamers’ lives (see Lange, 2011), current and this is reflected in the work of Annetta (2010) thinking has begun to problematise the virtual/real and Boots & Strobel (2014). binary (Merchant et al., 2014). As Lemke observes in his commentary on research on Whyville: 2. WHAT ARE THE CURRENT Too often we hear it argued that what players learn ISSUES IN THE FIELD RAISED in virtual spaces is worthless because it has no BY THESE STUDIES? application in the “real’ world – a world, these critics seem to assume, where what is real to us Most of the research referred to here is influenced excludes our experience of the virtual. (Lemke, either directly or indirectly by ideas about 2010, p. 151) ‘new literacies’ (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006) and ‘media literacies’ (Buckingham, 2003). Perspectives of this sort are encouraging re- Together they represent a perspective on the searchers to think about how virtual spaces are meaning making practices involved in the con- embedded in people’s lives and how we can de- sumption, production and distribution of new velop more sophisticated understandings of virtual media and the habits of mind that have grown play and, in turn, the sorts of research methods that up around them. Given the multimodal nature of are going to most productive in this endeavour. new media (Kress, 2003) there has been plenty of debate about how this re-defines the term How Might We Better literacy, the implications for education, and Understand Virtual Play? even conjecture about the future of alphabetic print literacy (Merchant, 2007). These issues As we have seen, a number of influential studies are not of immediate concern, but yet they do have focused on the detailed description of specif- serve as background to what follows. ic, situated practices. Schott & Kambouri’s (2003)
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New literacy practices have certainly diversi- of situated insider practices in everyday contexts. fied over the last ten years and often academic There is less work that traces these practices as research has struggled to keep pace. Despite this, they cross into the official domains of educa- virtual play has attracted considerable attention, tion, or explores how they might be translated partly because of its apparent ‘newness’, but also or adapted to address specifically educational because the environments in which it takes place purposes. The ambitions of texts like Carr et al.’s seem to capture the attention and imagination (2006) work on computer games and my own on of large numbers of children and young people. virtual worlds (Merchant, 2009; 2010) move in this As indicated above, Gee’s (2003) work has been direction, and invite further sustained empirical a major influence, and although this focuses on investigation. More detailed accounts, however, the world of video gaming, much of it is equally remain the province of insider researchers, such applicable to virtual worlds. The sophistication as Boellstorff (2008), Pearce & Artemesia (2010) of his body of work is such that it speaks to other and Nardi (2010), who have become participants new literacy practices, too, if not to education as in the virtual environments they study. a whole. The fact that not all children and young The meaning making practices associated with people are avid gamers does not disturb Gee’s basic computer gameplay and virtual worlds constitute argument, although the suggestion that gaming a distinct subset of the research on new literacies. can be more rewarding than school is provocative Steinkuehler (2006; 2007) makes a contribution to say the least. to our understanding of this with her exploration I do not attempt a detailed summary of Gee’s of the ‘constellation of literacy practices’ that are ideas here, but focus instead on two central claims involved in and associated with gaming, whereas that are made in his work. They are most clearly Marsh’s (2008) work on Club Penguin, Gillen’s articulated in the book What Video Games Have (2009) study of Teen Second Life, and my own to Teach us about Learning and Literacy (2003), explorations of Active Worlds (Merchant, 2009) and are as follows: 1) video games can be powerful investigate the diverse literacy practices that learning environments because they are based on constitute and accompany virtual play. These, and a sophisticated understanding of how we learn; other similar studies, show that young people find and 2) the learning principles involved in video these virtual environments compelling, and that game design can be applied to other environments they engage in sophisticated multimedia practices such as schools. Of these two claims, it is probably that often spill out into different aspects of their the first that has attracted the most attention, if life including real world play, traditional forms only because it is a very positive statement about of writing and other online activity (Burnett & a popular practice that is often, as we have seen, Merchant, 2014). The implications of this work demonized in public debate. My concern here for formal education are considerable, particularly with exploring the use of online videogames and if the growth trends of the ‘metaverse’ continue virtual worlds resonates with this first claim – (see fig. 2). Educators may need to take these that is, that they can both be powerful learning new experiences of literacy into account if only environments (see Dede et al., 2006), although I to acknowledge their role in learners’ lives. But do consider the second claim later on. they may also want to incorporate some gaming In the discipline of education, the notion that and some virtual world play into school life, and new technologies require new literacies is widely in this respect the claims made by Gee (2003) debated (eg: Lankshear& Knobel, 2006; Merchant, about the learning that takes place in gaming are 2007) and often draws on observations and studies important.
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Figure 2. A screenshot from Club Penguin showing the arctic environment and penguin avatars
In another strand of research and scholarship, 1. With relatively low barriers to artistic and the media theorist Henry Jenkins has developed civic engagement the idea that technological innovation, coupled 2. With strong support for creating and sharing with wider societal trends, has led to the emer- one’s creations with others gence of what he calls ‘participatory culture’. 3. With some type of informal mentorship An influential publication, often referred to as whereby what is known by the most expe- The White Paper, offers the following defini- rienced is passed along to novices tion: a participatory culture is “one in which 4. Where members believe their contribution members believe their contributions matter, matters and feel some degree of social connection 5. Where members feel some degree of social with one another.” (Jenkins et al., 2006, p.3). connection with one another (at least they The argument made is that the shift from indi- care what other people think about what they vidual expression to collaborative community have created). (Jenkins, et al., 2006, p.7) involvement characterises both youth engage- ment with new media and the skills that will If Jenkins’ thesis about participatory culture be necessary for future economic success and is right then developing such practices and the civic engagement. Virtual world and video game habits of mind, skills and competences that are research, such as that undertaken by Black, 2010; involved become an essential part of what have Marsh, 2010; Steinkuehler, 2011; and Ochsner been described as C21st literacies (Burnett et al., & Martin, 2013, has described and illustrated 2014). Gameplay in virtual environments and the the mechanics of this participation and how it constellation of literacy practices involved are an works in establishing communities: arena for the development of this kind of partici-
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pation. The importance of making pedagogical and varied, and shows an increased tendency to connections with virtual play then becomes sig- reach out into niche markets (KZero, 2013). The nificant. The burning questions for educators will three environments I explore highlight facets of be about what kinds of digital work to develop this expanding metaverse. I begin by looking at a and how to go about it. Squire identifies this in virtual world that is specifically aimed at young his study of video games in the classroom when children. Club Penguin, which is owned by the he outlines the challenge for educators in terms Disney Corporation, is widely considered to be of “how we can use games more effectively as the most popular virtual world in the under-10 educational tools” (Squire, 2005, n.p). age range. This is followed by an exploration In my own work I have drawn attention to of Skillville, a rather different type of virtual some of the obstacles to embedding virtual world environment - one that employs the principles of gameplay in the classroom (Merchant, 2009, gamification to develop economic awareness in 2010) making similar points to those advanced teenagers. I conclude by reflecting on the virtual by O’Brien & Scharber, who argue that: world Barnsborough, created locally, in the UK, with colleagues using the Active Worlds platform. A major pothole in digital literacies is that the This virtual world was designed for classrooms, institutionalized structures of schools are often and specifically aimed to develop literacy with incompatible with the purposes and enactments of elementary school students. digital literacies. Many digital literacies practices The work of Pearce and Artemisia (2010) defy the traditional scheduling or organizational provides a useful lens to look at these examples routines of schools. (O’Brien & Scharber, 2008, through. Pearce argues that we should pay atten- p.67) tion to the ways in which virtual environments are designed - the implication being that design In some respects the same argument surfaces both enables and constrains what is possible. again in Squire’s collection of case studies of Of course, in some environments users become educational games (Squire, 2012). He seems to designers as they build, modify and variously suggest that despite all their benefits for learning, contribute to that environment as well as how their most natural home is in after-school clubs it is used and described – but this could simply and other non-formal settings. However, Squire be seen as an extension of the design principle, does offer the sort of detail that has, to date, been since even in environments like Second Life and missing from the field. For instance, he is clear Minecraft, in which building is highly prized, that there are specific features and properties that players are limited to the in-world tools that are can be used to describe and define ‘educational available. Pearce suggests that virtual environ- games’, he provides a useful model to account ments are emergent in nature, in that the cultures for game-based learning, and outlines a learning that grow up in and around them are continuously trajectory. forming and re-forming, often on a global or In what follows I consider three rather different transnational scale. Finally, Pearce develops the virtual environments that demonstrate some of the idea of ‘communities of play’. She argues that such key characteristics of virtual world and video game communities have a long and important history, play. They are chosen in order to illustrate what has but that they have adapted and in some senses gone before and to highlight specific issues – but been transformed through online interaction. not because they are in any sense representative. Whilst acknowledging that these communities What is sometimes referred to as the ‘metaverse’, arise in a variety of contexts, for the purpose of the totality of virtual environments, is both sizeable this chapter, I follow Pearce in using the term to
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describe groups in which digital and networked Because of Club Penguin’s focus on young media such as MUVEs and MMOGs support play children it prides itself on its safety procedures and play-related activities and interactions. – and these are wide-ranging, including the above- mentioned moderator contact, chat vocabulary Penguin Adventures: Young restrictions, and identity protection protocols. Children in Virtual Worlds Moderators are active and online all the time (al- though not necessarily visible) and have the power The virtual world, Club Penguin, is aimed at 6-14 to ban, mute or expel users from Club Penguin. year olds and provides a safe, ad-free environment So although it is possible to join Club Penguin in which children can “play games, have fun and as an adult, all activity is carefully monitored. interact” (Club Penguin, n.d.). Joining the world Inappropriate behaviour is not tolerated - the involves adopting and naming a penguin, inhabit- environment is designed with the principles of ing an igloo, and exploring the arctic environment. online safety in mind. With something in the region of 170 million Up to this point I have referred to Club Pen- registered accounts, Club Penguin has members guin as a virtual world, but in-world games and spread across 190 countries (KZero, 2013). The activities are released at regular intervals, and by majority of these accounts are free, although paid virtue of this, the world is sometimes described membership gives access to additional features as a MMOG. Clearly it boasts a large play com- allowing members to purchase virtual clothing, munity and incorporates gaming elements, and furniture, and pets called “puffles” using an in- certainly the way in which games are refreshed, game currency. Unlike Second Life, Club Penguin and news updates appear in Club Penguin Times, does not simulate a three dimensional world (as work together to convey the sense of emergence. Figure 2 shows), but yet it is designed to represent Although its basic design lacks a game structure movement, and uses different screens to create a – there is no over-arching purpose or trajectory, it varied environment for penguin-avatars. could well be that the events that are staged sup- As Marsh observes, the fact that the design port its emergent nature and may have contributed uses icons and symbols, rather than written text to its popularity. Marsh’s (2013) study of 5-11 makes it easy for very young children to navigate: year old members of Club Penguin outlines key features of the learning that occurs in the world. Symbols, such as arrows, are used throughout the Through games and interaction she suggests that world to guide penguins and every page contains children develop the new literacies associated icons that link to a map of the world, the newspaper with participatory culture and that these enable Club Penguin Times and a ‘Moderator,’ who can children to productively engage with the online be contacted if penguins wish to complain about environment, ‘to make friends, to express them- the behaviour of others in the world. The naviga- selves and to engage in pleasurable interactions tion bar at the bottom of the screen contains icons with a variety of multimodal texts on a regular that enable children to chat with other penguins, basis.’ (Marsh, 2013, p.84). to use emoticons, to throw snowballs, to contact Despite all this, Club Penguin is not without other penguins in order to request that they become its critics. Some have argued that, as another arm friends, and to navigate to their avatar’s home, of the Disney empire, it is further evidence of the their igloo. (Marsh, 2013, p.79.) disneyfication of childhood (see Giroux, 2001), in
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which a consumerist ideology is promulgated and Skillville was developed by the EdICT group continually recycled. For instance, as in Second at Limburg Catholic University and provides a Life, the use of an in-world currency implicitly virtual environment for Belgian schools and their values the accumulation of wealth, which enables students, to address this particular challenge. The members to buy clothing and enhance their avatar’s EdICT group, with support from KBC, one of home. Another related, but more subtle critique of Belgium’s largest banks, designed Skillville us- Club Penguin centres on the use of the so-called ing the principles of game mechanics. Skillville ‘freemium’ model, in which the service is initially demands little from teachers and is predicated on made free of charge, but requires a subscription the idea that students will learn from online en- for additional functionality and virtual goods. gagement, peer interaction and reflection on their Because Club Penguin is aimed at children it has real world experience. The design team drew on been suggested that this revenue is dependent on current literature on game mechanics (see Table pester power – once ‘hooked’, children will put 1, below) in building Skillville. pressure on adults to buy them a subscription. Aimed at students between the ages of 12 and Nonetheless, these criticisms aside, Club Penguin 18, Skillville is based on activities and events re- still enjoys huge popularity and clearly provides a lated to the players’ ages. For example, they receive focus for a new form of digital play which appears weekly ‘pocket money’, apply for a student job to have a range of benefits (Marsh, 2010; 2013). when they are 16 - or a real job, with taxable pay, when they are 18. Although everyday financial Pedagogic Innovation: Gamification management is important in Skillville, other factors and Economic Awareness come into play, too. For example, players might lose their wallet, or crash their scooter, thus incur- Earlier in this chapter, we saw how Gee claims ring unexpected costs. They also have to manage that the learning principles embedded in video their health, and make ‘sensible’ choices when game design could be applied in or transferred shopping for food. In this way real-life elements to other contexts (Gee, 2003). This idea has been are integrated into the game. Score bars, leader taken up by the ‘gamification’ movement which boards and challenges are also built in to the game argues that applying ‘game mechanics’ to a range design in order to motivate the students. of different contexts improves user-engagement Figure 3 shows the Skillville home screen. On and can stimulate behaviour change and conceptual the bottom left is the player’s avatar and clickable learning (Hamari, et al., 2014). In the following icons for various functions. Rotating clockwise example, gamification is used to solve a specific from the left of the screen there is: educational problem - the teaching of economic awareness in schools in Belgium. Economic • An exit button: to leave Skillville. awareness, and specifically financial literacy, • The budget controller: to register incoming is a required part of cross-curricular study in and outgoing transactions. this context (Flemish Ministry of Education and • Skillville Bank: to transfer money between Training, 2010). However, schools find it almost bank accounts and the wallet. impossible to meet these expectations for two • Skillville Shop: to buy foods, electronics, reasons. Firstly, because the curriculum is already and other virtual goods. overcrowded there is little time to include another • My purchases: to provide an overview of dimension, and secondly, because most teachers all items purchased. feel that they are not properly qualified to teach financial literacy (Palmaers, 2014).
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Table 1. Example of game mechanics
Fast Feedback • Encourage users to continue or adjust their activities • Congratulate users for reaching goals • Encourage the next step to a milestone Transparency • Show users exactly where they stand in relation to others • Use individual and team profiles to show progress in real-time and historically • Use leader boards to show ranking and other metrics Goals • Have clear short and long term goals • Use challenges to give users a purpose for interaction • Underline what is possible and what is valued Badges Use badges as an indicator of accomplishment of a skill Levelling • Provide levels to indicate achievements and progression • Use levels to identify status within a community • Use levels to introduce new missions and challenges On-Boarding • Provide easy entry-level play • Encourage users to learn by playing Competition • Raise the stakes for accomplishing a goal by showing users how they compare to others, as individuals or in teams. • Encourage competition with time-based, team and individualized leader boards. (Where do I rank? How can I overtake my closest competitor?) Collaboration • Connect users as a team to accomplish larger tasks • Encourage knowledge-sharing Community Build community in such as way that it gives meaning to other game mechanics (badges, leader board etc.) Points • Save scores to recognise status and accumulate to purchase real or virtual goods • Earn points through activities, sharing, contributing (Adapted from Bunchball, 2014)
Figure 3. Screenshot of Skillville showing, financial management data and avatar functions
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In addition to this, players can access the Crossing Boundaries: Virtual Skillville Library which contains web resources, Worlds in the Classroom and reference documents as well as Skillville Training for resources for assessing and develop- The final example is based on my own work on the ing life-skills. use of the three dimensional virtual world Barn- Central to Skillville is the way in which it sborough with elementary school children. Like has been designed to develop age-appropriate Skillville, Barnsborough was designed by a group financial literacy, and we have seen how it uses of educators working in collaboration with private game mechanics to achieve this. But developing sector developers. It was built with Active Worlds a community of play remains in the hands of the software, and can be navigated from a standard key- school students who are using it. In common board by directing the movement of onscreen avatars. with many other educational resources, creating As Figure 4 shows, this virtual world simulates a a context that supports the game’s underpinning contemporary urban environment. A number of lit- values and a community that gives meaning to eracies are designed into the environment including: the game mechanics is a considerable challenge. tool tips, available by mousing-over objects, envi- This contrasts with successful commercial games ronmental texts, such as shop signs, graffiti, logos, that already have an established play community posters, and advertisements, and hyperlinks, such as that newcomers are apprenticed to, and which is webpages, phone messages, and music clips. Off the supported by a network of communication sys- shelf avatars, each with a unique point of view in tems both in the virtual world itself, and in the the world, can be used by children to communicate constellation of literacy practices that surround with each other through a ‘chat’ function, which is it (Steinkuehler, 2007). displayed in instant-message format beneath the main display, with recent utterances also appearing in speech balloons above their heads.
Figure 4. An annotated screenshot of Barnsborough showing some of its features.
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In a succession of classroom-based projects systems of accountability. The climate has not (Merchant, 2009, Merchant, 2010 & Burnett & been particularly favourable for other innovations, Merchant, 2014) teachers introduced Barnsbor- and clearly something as different as virtual world ough by suggesting that it had been hurriedly and gameplay raises all sorts of challenges. Despite mysteriously abandoned by its previous inhabit- this, creative teachers are hard to discourage, and ants. The broad objective for children was to solve in successive Barnsborough projects there have this mystery by collecting evidence available in been no shortage of volunteers. But immersive the world in a number of media and textual forms. gameplay takes time, its benefits are hard to mea- The texts located in the virtual world provided sure, and teachers are often left with the question child-avatars with a number of possible accounts of how to justify the time spent in virtual play in and solutions to the problem of why Barnsborough what has become a highly structured curriculum. had been abandoned, which included a major Finally, even though there has been considerable biohazard, an alien abduction, and a political or investment in school computing in England and big business disaster. Wales, virtual world work was often beset by in- In some ways our work in Barnsborough suc- termittent hardware problems. Keeping class sets ceeded in demonstrating how new literacies could of desktop or laptop computers serviceable poses be embedded in the classroom – children were a considerable institutional challenge, particularly engaged in problem-solving in a virtual environ- in times of economic uncertainty. ment, meeting and communicating with onscreen As with Skillville it was difficult to establish a avatars, and interacting through synchronous strong community of play in Barnsborough. Where small-group chat. It also provided good illustra- this did occur it was often manufactured by the tions of the collaborative potential of virtual play teacher - through class discussion and related writ- with children often working in teams or temporary ing projects, but often because of the constraints groupings to explore the environment. It was noted of the school timetable this was time-limited. It that they became immersed in the world in ways seems then that Pearce’s notion of the emergent that are sometimes observed in drama activities quality of a virtual play culture is particularly and gaming (Carroll, 2002; Merchant, 2009). Not difficult to replicate in the school environment. only did children find Barnsborough enjoyable, Current organisational structures and institutional teachers were enthusiastic, too. Yet it was also practices in schools do seem incompatible with clear that the teachers’ enthusiasm for Barnsbor- the rhythms and characteristics of virtual play, and ough was tempered by other factors – factors that this is probably why some of the more productive were not directly concerned with the concept of educational research now takes place in after- new literacies or the use of a virtual world per se. school clubs and other settings (see, for example The first of these was to do with the fall-out from Hollett & Ehret, 2014; Wohlwend, 2013) curriculum reform, and the associated innovation fatigue; the second was about curriculum ‘fit’; and the third about access to hardware. These are 3. WHAT ARE THE GAPS IN explored below. THE EXTANT RESEARCH Successive waves of reforms have buffeted the AND DIRECTIONS FOR English school system in recent years, and teach- FUTURE RESEARCH? ers have borne the brunt of this, writing schemes of work to comply with new curriculum require- As we have seen, video games and virtual worlds ments, adapting to new modes and criteria for as- occupy an important place in the lives of many sessment, and being subject to ever more exacting children and young people. Imaginary realms are
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culturally significant in that they educate and en- schools, have the potential to engage the young tertain us, and have the capacity to enrich our lives. in powerful learning, but they often find it dif- In this sense these virtual environments provide a ficult to grow authentic communities of play and context for the development of new communities struggle to find a place in standard educational of play (Pearce & Artemisia, 2010) – communi- routines. Identifying what is educational in virtual ties that may be co-present, dispersed or a hybrid play remains a priority, and models for how such of both. The alleged dangers of virtual play are play can cross the boundaries between formal and predominantly based on moral panics that have non-formal, on- and off-line contexts is needed if little empirical validity. Throughout this chapter it our understanding is to develop further. has been argued that these virtual spaces provide Researchers need to generate more in-depth opportunities for the sorts of active engagement, studies of virtual play, and particularly those that production and interaction that are hallmarks of focus on how this is situated in the day to day an emerging participatory culture (Jenkins et al., lives of children and young people. A particular 2006). At their best they nurture communicative gap concerns young children. As we have seen, experiences that are important in contemporary the work of Marsh (2002; 2010) on Club Penguin life, and provide an arena for problem-solving begins to chart the territory, but this is a rapidly and higher order thinking skills (Squire, 2012). expanding market and there is certainly more scope However, not all videogames do this, and like for the rich description of young children’s virtual some virtual worlds, they may simply entertain play. Children of all ages can now access virtual their players. At their worst they provide unhelp- worlds, and their activity is far from passive. As ful models of consumerism or gender (Carrington Burnett & Bailey’s (2014) work on Minecraft & Hodgetts, 2010). As a result both parents and shows, making in-world content involves a com- educators will want to know the conditions and plex of technical skill and creativity that connects characteristics that can make engagement in virtual screen-based activity with real world interaction. environments productive for those in their care. Understanding more about how design and con- Unfortunately, there is little overall evidence to go tent creation skills develop is another important on here, and certainly insufficient to make judge- area. In the world of gaming, Burn (2009) makes ments about specific games or worlds. an important contribution, and studies of game In the previous section I looked at three ex- making, such as that produced by Buckingham, amples of virtual environments to highlight some Burn & Pelletier (2011) need to be built upon so of the pressing issues in this field. Based on this that we can identify possible learning trajectories. it might be concluded that popular, commercial If virtual play is to be seen as a new kind of games and virtual worlds have more potential digital capital (Merchant, 2007) – as a way of than their educational equivalents. In the world developing foundational literacies for social and of media entertainment the level of investment cultural participation, then it is important to know allows for a degree of design sophistication, how this capital is currently distributed. Follow- product development and customer care that are ing from the work of Warschauer & Matuchniak beyond the reach of most educational environ- (2010), careful analysis of how access and use is ments. However, they are forced to compete in patterned can complement more situated studies the open market and because of this their aims of communities of play to build up a picture of and values may not necessarily be primarily how practices vary in and between social groups. educational. In contrast, online environments that It may then be necessary to take steps to ensure promote virtual play with a specific educational that digital technology does not perpetuate or purpose, particularly when they are targeted at magnify existing social inequities.
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4. WHAT ARE THE more successful games, like Grand Theft Auto, RECOMMENDATIONS/ continue to thrive. Acknowledging the ephemeral IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION, nature of these virtual environments seems to be CIVIC ENGAGEMENT (GLOBAL a necessary condition for researching this field. AND LOCAL), SOCIAL Part of this can be attributed to rapid changes in PRACTICE, AND POLICY? technology, but part, I suspect, is due to the restless nature of popular taste in a fluid cultural climate. In this chapter I have tried to illustrate the diversity Shifts in the political economy are influential too, of virtual environments, focusing on those that fall since they determine developers’ appetite to invest into the rather loose categories of MUVEs and in innovation. In the entertainment industry a new MMOGs. This diversity is, of course, strongly product must sell, and in the increasingly marke- determined by the design affordances of differ- tised world of education a new product must be ent worlds, and these affordances construct and shown to ‘make a difference’ – more often than not constrain the ways in which meanings are made, in the narrowly defined measures of high stakes as well as the parameters for action and interac- testing. But despite all this, when we consider the tion. For example, the interactive dimension of skills that will be important for education and civic virtual worlds, such as Barnsborough, contrasts engagement in the future, there is little doubt that with the highly individualised avatar work of they will involve the sorts of literacies that are Skillville. But even though Barnsborough allows developed in and through virtual play. for plenty of user interaction, opportunities for In their landmark text, Lankshear & Knobel modifying the world, uploading content, or build- (2006) describe these literacies as new communi- ing (as in Minecraft) are not available. There are cative practices and new mindsets, and show how also contrasting aesthetics across these virtual they underpin a wide range of activity that crosses spaces. The cartoon-like designs of Club Penguin the boundaries of formal/informal learning, of differ sharply from the representational qualities work/play and of on/offline. Characterised by fluid of Second Life. Such diversity confounds attempts movement across different spaces, new literacies to see virtual worlds or video games as a singular involve actions and interactions that interweave phenomenon. This all goes to illustrate some of with activity in the physical environment, creat- the difficulties that attach to the work of building ing a rich tapestry of meanings (see Martin et al., robust categories in an area that is developing so 2013). So although the boundary between online rapidly and unpredictably. It also supports the and offline activity has been described as a porous view that life online is as diverse as life offline, membrane (Castronova, 2005), I suggest that there if indeed the two can be held separate in the first is even more fluidity than the membrane metaphor place. Perhaps it could be argued that the essence implies – perhaps a state of affairs that is, in es- of meaning making remains relatively stable - at sence, little different from the way in which we least from a cognitive perspective - but the rapid navigate our way through the rich textual spaces of multiplication and diversification of textual spaces the contemporary urban environment, as a largely produces new forms and these certainly warrant continuous experience. All this suggests a kind of more sophisticated description. educational experience which is far removed from Virtual worlds and video games are part of a that currently provided by the Anglophone school digital culture that is in a constant state of flux. systems of North America, the UK and Australasia, BarbieGirls and Teen Second Life no longer exist, in which literacy is predominantly conceived of World of Warcraft membership is in decline, while in terms of the logic of alphabetic print.
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In the opening section of this chapter I reflected remains an important feature. Underscoring this on the cultural significance of imagined worlds, is a restatement of the relationship between play and the ways in which they entertain, enrich and and learning. As Vygotsky (1987) suggested, op- educate us. The role of the imagination, and the portunities for creative and imaginative explora- capacity for creative engagement offered by new tion are important, not only for our psychological media, has been described in detail by Willett, wellbeing, but also in providing opportunities to Robinson, & Marsh (2008). By looking more reflect upon or critique other aspects of our lives; specifically at virtual interactions we can see how these opportunities are an important and often imagination, learning and learner identities can be undervalued part of learning. shaped through playful, and often self-motivated, Identity play such as that involved in develop- activity. This is perhaps best illustrated through ing the appearance and activity of one’s avatar, or the descriptions of informal and less-bounded building and furnishing a virtual home are signifi- practices, such as those that constellate around cant aspects of the imaginative act of world mak- virtual worlds and gaming ‘in the wild’ (Beavis, ing. In some environments, such as Club Penguin, 2013). But it does seem that innovative educators dressing a character and acquiring possessions or are able to draw on these practices in classrooms, attributes can become part of developing a sort of although they may experience some conflict with narrative history. The avatars that stand for us, but entrenched routines and structures (Merchant, are not us, are representations that may not quite 2010; Beavis, 2013). The extent to which new have a life of their own, or exist independently, habits of mind imply new school pedagogies cer- but yet they quickly develop characteristics and tainly warrants further investigation (see Squire, recognizable routines and collect around them a 2005). In general, though, it seems to be the case history of use that patterns interactions with others. that more tightly defined conceptions of learning, Often, virtual play has an immersive quality coupled with more extensive controls – often as a in which players are drawn into their imaginary response to discourses of risk – continue to char- worlds in what Coleridge once described as the acterize educational initiatives that incorporate ‘willing suspension of disbelief’, and this has virtual play. To counter this, I suggest that we many similarities to the traditional forms of play need to re-state the value of play in learning, and observed in young children. But at the same time to acknowledge its inherently social nature. But we have seen how this virtual play spills out into, of course, education also has a role in develop- and enriches more familiar kinds of play (see Wil- ing learners’ critical faculties and this requires let et al., 2013). But it is not simply the case of careful consideration, too. I explore these three considering young children’s play since, as Pearce themes below, before looking in more depth at & Artemesia (2009) point out, play is not just the what schools systems might address. province of childhood. Adolescents and adults are deeply involved in communities of play, too. Recognising the Importance of Play In fact it could be argued that some of our most powerful learning experiences grow out of these I have argued that on- and off-line play is impor- social affiliations. tant in developing the sorts of understandings of multimodal texts that are central to participatory The Social Nature of Virtual Play culture (Jenkins et al., 2006). Whether virtual play involves an element of production, such as It has long been thought that social interaction planning and design, or whether it is simply un- and learning are inextricably linked. The social dertaken as a participant, the game-like quality dimension of virtual play could well increase
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learning opportunities, and in some cases it norms and values. When considering commercial clearly enables collaborative problem solving and or institutional environments, it is important, strategizing. Challenges such as those set up in then, to acknowledge the pedagogical dimension, Barnsborough, or the invitation to organize a raid whether that is explicit or hidden. In this sense I in World of Warcraft (see Martin, et al. 2013), or follow Giroux and Pollock in suggesting that it is simply the need to collect or trade objects invari- crucially important not lose sight of ably depends upon collaboration and interaction. Such challenges can be complex and demanding. ... how learning occurs by providing the ideas and In fact, the level of challenge may be something narratives that shape how people see the world akin to what Gee describes as being pleasantly and themselves... (Giroux & Pollock, 2010, p.5) frustrating. This is certainly true for video games and Learning works best when new challenges are virtual worlds in which these ideas and narratives pleasantly frustrating in the sense of being felt are often foregrounded, providing significant and by learners to be at the outer edge of, but within, powerful opportunities for critique. Although such their ‘regime of competence’. That is, these chal- work may seem pressing when we look at gen- lenges feel hard, but ‘doable’. (Gee, 2005, p. 10) dered consumerism in Barbie Girls, (Carrington & Hodgetts, 2010), or more straightforward when In many of the studies described in this chap- we consider educational projects such as Barns- ter, challenges become ‘doable’ only through the borough or Skillville, the underlying concern is collective action of networked individuals. In the same. Individuals enact their identities in and short, the virtual spaces I have described work through their interactions with each other; but to mediate social interaction, and to extend real- these identity performances are strongly shaped world connections and they are united by the ways by the contexts that they operate within. in which new literacies are being used to create, This raises the question of whether there is space develop and populate virtual spaces. I suggest for critical practice in virtual play and other social then, that sophisticated uses of video games and media. It may be the case that the sort of approach virtual worlds are by nature social as individuals described by Burnett & Merchant (2011) constitutes become embedded in communities of play. a way forward. Here we argued that existing para- digms of critical literacy and critical media literacy Developing a Critical Perspective are restricted in their ability to engage with the fluid and densely interwoven spaces of social media. In For all the possibilities and learning benefits they its place we proposed a practice-based model that may offer, virtual environments are not, however, focuses on the interplay between purposes, contexts, value-free. As with any designed space they are and resources. This conception of social media prac- informed by a worldview in which particular tice is based on a view of how identities are formed identity positions are favoured (and others not), and performed, and how these are in turn embedded and particular representations are made available in social networks and has important implications for (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 2001). This both parents and educators. Whether this model offers is not to say that individuals, such as the children a way forward is as yet untested, but the centrality of and young people in the studies reported here, encouraging a critical perspective remains. Parents do not have agency – in fact I argue strongly that and educators have a moral duty to encourage safe, they do – but we must recognize that this agency ethical and advantageous practice, and children and is acted out along or against, the grain of a set of young people have a right to expect their guidance.
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Table 2. A Charter for Literacy Education
Dimensions of Literacy in Experience Qualities of Empowering Literacy Education and Action Literacies as multiple Empowering literacy education involves recognition of the linguistic, social and cultural resources learners bring to the classroom, whilst encouraging them to diversify the range of communicative practices in which they participate. Multiple modes and media Empowering literacy education involves understanding how socially recognisable meanings are produced through the orchestration of semiotic resources. Provisionality Empowering literacy education involves a range of activity that includes improvisation and experimentation as well as the production of polished texts. Multiple authorship Empowering literacy education values collaboration in text making and is emancipatory in the way is facilitates access to others’ texts and ideas. Objects, bodies and affect Empowering literacy education involves recognition of the affective, embodied and material dimensions of meaning making. Social Empowering literacy education involves engaging with others in a variety of different ways. Socially-situated Empowering literacy education involves exploring how you position yourself and how you are positioned by others through texts. Unruly Empowering literacy education occurs within safe, supportive spaces that promote experimentation. Changing Empowering literacy education involves developing an understanding of the changing nature of meaning making. (From Burnett et al., 2014)
Back to School: Policy Development virtual world research there is a clear overlap. A pedagogy and school curriculum that is built In recent years, there have been a number of influ- on the qualities identified here as ‘empowering’ ential proposals from educators and researchers could well embrace virtual play, as well as other working in the field of new literacies aimed at social media, addressing some of the promises generating curricular and pedagogical designs and challenges that have been explored. In the that incorporate new communicative practices meantime, we are dependent on the hard work (e.g. Cope & Kalantzis, 1999; Jenkins et al, and enthusiasm of lone innovators within the 2006; Lankshear & Knobel, 2010). Burnett et al. education system, as well as the creative work (2014) add to this work by using research-based done outside of formal schooling. It is, of course, notions of literacy to inform ongoing national and vitally important that we continue to document transnational debates about 21st Century skills. and celebrate this, because it helps to build a They have generated a set of foundational prin- body of evidence that demonstrates how we can ciples – described as a charter - that sit well with build on the positive features of these virtual the sorts of understandings developed through environments to create meaningful and motivat- video games and virtual worlds (see Table 2). ing educational experiences for all children and When we look at the dimensions and quali- young people. ties listed in the charter in the light of what this chapter has to say about video game and
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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Online Video Game: A digitally-mediated game that depends on its players being online. Avatar: The on screen image or character used Predation Game: A video game that involves to represent an individual player in a virtual world activity related to chasing, capturing other players or online game. or game-based characters. Gamification: The use of video game prin- Social Envelope: A term used by Schott & ciples or designs in the structuring of a learning Kambouri (2003) to describe the social activity experience (see Abrams & Walsh, 2014). that takes place in and around a video game. MMOG: Abbreviation of ‘massively mul- Sports Game: A video game based on actions tiplayer online game’ referring to a persistent and activities associated with the world of sport. Internet-based game played by large numbers. Virtual Play: Onscreen activity that takes MUVE: Abbreviation of ‘multi-user vir- place in a videogame or virtual world (see Pearce tual virtual environment’ referring to a persis- & Artemesia, 2010). tent internet-based virtual world characterised Virtual World: An internet based MUVE by community and world-building activity (see that has no prescribed structuring of activity (see virtual world). White & LeCornu, 2010). New Literacies: Communicative practices as- sociated with new digital media, often described as new mindsets (see Lankshear & Knobel, 2006; 2010).
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