Ebook: The Social Life of Avatars: Presence and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments

Virtual reality (VR) technology has been developed commercially since the early 1990s [1]. Yet it is only with the growth of the Internet and other high-bandwidth links that VR systems have increasingly become networked to allow users to share the same virtual environment (VE). Shared YEs raise a number of interesting questions: what is the difference between face-to-face interaction and interaction between persons inside YEs? How does the appearance of the "avatar" - as the graphical representation of the user has become known - change the nature of interaction? And what governs the formation of virtual communities? This volume brings together contributions from social scientists and computer scientists who have conducted research on social interaction in various types of YEs. Two previous volumes in this CSCW book series [2, 3] have examined related aspects of research on YEs - social navigation and collaboration - although they do not always deal with VRIVEs in the sense that it is used here (see the definition in Chapter 1). The aim of this volume is to explore how people interact with each other in computer-generated virtual worlds.

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Virtual reality technology has been developed commercially since the early 1990s but it is only recently, with the popularity of the internet, that it has become feasible to link many users simultaneously in shared virtual environments. This raises a number of interesting questions such as: what is the difference between face-to-face and avatar-to-avatar interaction? What patterns govern the formation of virtual communities? How does the appearance of the avatar change the nature of the communication? There has been much speculation about issues such as these but research is still at a relatively early stage. This is the first book to bring together work from relevant disciplines to form a reference guide for practitioners, students and researchers interested in how we interact in computer-generated environments. It contains contributions from most of the key people in this area (including Microsoft Research's Virtual Worlds Group) and presents their findings in a way which is accessible to readers who are new to this field or who come from related areas. It is divided into 2 parts; chapters 2-6 deal with internet-based virtual worlds which have been widely used by the public; chapters 7-10 deal with networked VR systems which have been primarily used in pilot studies and research. Some chapters take the viewpoint of a participant observer, whilst others take a more experimental approach and assess the results of relevant trials. This book will be essential reading for anyone involved in developing, using or researching virtual worlds, and will also be of interest to students on courses such as VR and Computer-mediated communication.

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Virtual reality technology has been developed commercially since the early 1990s but it is only recently, with the popularity of the internet, that it has become feasible to link many users simultaneously in shared virtual environments. This raises a number of interesting questions such as: what is the difference between face-to-face and avatar-to-avatar interaction? What patterns govern the formation of virtual communities? How does the appearance of the avatar change the nature of the communication? There has been much speculation about issues such as these but research is still at a relatively early stage. This is the first book to bring together work from relevant disciplines to form a reference guide for practitioners, students and researchers interested in how we interact in computer-generated environments. It contains contributions from most of the key people in this area (including Microsoft Research's Virtual Worlds Group) and presents their findings in a way which is accessible to readers who are new to this field or who come from related areas. It is divided into 2 parts; chapters 2-6 deal with internet-based virtual worlds which have been widely used by the public; chapters 7-10 deal with networked VR systems which have been primarily used in pilot studies and research. Some chapters take the viewpoint of a participant observer, whilst others take a more experimental approach and assess the results of relevant trials. This book will be essential reading for anyone involved in developing, using or researching virtual worlds, and will also be of interest to students on courses such as VR and Computer-mediated communication.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xiv
Social Interaction in Virtual Environments: Key Issues, Common Themes, and a Framework for Research....Pages 1-18
Social Conventions in Computermediated Communication: A Comparison of Three Online Shared Virtual Environments....Pages 19-39
Living Digitally: Embodiment in Virtual Worlds....Pages 40-62
Rest in Peace, Bill the Bot: Death and Life in Virtual Worlds....Pages 63-76
30 Days in Active Worlds: Community, Design and Terrorism in a Virtual World....Pages 77-89
Lessons Learned: Building and Deploying Shared Virtual Environments....Pages 90-111
The Long-term Uses of Shared Virtual Environments: An Exploratory Study....Pages 112-126
Social Influence within Immersive Virtual Environments....Pages 127-145
Meeting People Virtually: Experiments in Shared Virtual Environments....Pages 146-171
Collaboration in Multi-modal Virtual Worlds: Comparing Touch, Text, Voice and Video....Pages 172-187
The Digital Divide: Status Differences in Virtual Environments....Pages 188-204
The Social Life of Small Graphical Chat Spaces....Pages 205-220
Back Matter....Pages 221-225

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Virtual reality technology has been developed commercially since the early 1990s but it is only recently, with the popularity of the internet, that it has become feasible to link many users simultaneously in shared virtual environments. This raises a number of interesting questions such as: what is the difference between face-to-face and avatar-to-avatar interaction? What patterns govern the formation of virtual communities? How does the appearance of the avatar change the nature of the communication? There has been much speculation about issues such as these but research is still at a relatively early stage. This is the first book to bring together work from relevant disciplines to form a reference guide for practitioners, students and researchers interested in how we interact in computer-generated environments. It contains contributions from most of the key people in this area (including Microsoft Research's Virtual Worlds Group) and presents their findings in a way which is accessible to readers who are new to this field or who come from related areas. It is divided into 2 parts; chapters 2-6 deal with internet-based virtual worlds which have been widely used by the public; chapters 7-10 deal with networked VR systems which have been primarily used in pilot studies and research. Some chapters take the viewpoint of a participant observer, whilst others take a more experimental approach and assess the results of relevant trials. This book will be essential reading for anyone involved in developing, using or researching virtual worlds, and will also be of interest to students on courses such as VR and Computer-mediated communication.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xiv
Social Interaction in Virtual Environments: Key Issues, Common Themes, and a Framework for Research....Pages 1-18
Social Conventions in Computermediated Communication: A Comparison of Three Online Shared Virtual Environments....Pages 19-39
Living Digitally: Embodiment in Virtual Worlds....Pages 40-62
Rest in Peace, Bill the Bot: Death and Life in Virtual Worlds....Pages 63-76
30 Days in Active Worlds: Community, Design and Terrorism in a Virtual World....Pages 77-89
Lessons Learned: Building and Deploying Shared Virtual Environments....Pages 90-111
The Long-term Uses of Shared Virtual Environments: An Exploratory Study....Pages 112-126
Social Influence within Immersive Virtual Environments....Pages 127-145
Meeting People Virtually: Experiments in Shared Virtual Environments....Pages 146-171
Collaboration in Multi-modal Virtual Worlds: Comparing Touch, Text, Voice and Video....Pages 172-187
The Digital Divide: Status Differences in Virtual Environments....Pages 188-204
The Social Life of Small Graphical Chat Spaces....Pages 205-220
Back Matter....Pages 221-225
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