Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Virtual worlds'
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Khan, Hammad. "Monitoring distributed virtual worlds." Thesis, McGill University, 2013. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=114557.
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Recent years have seen a huge growth in the demand for online virtual worlds. The type of these online systems can range from virtual meeting setups, to a more video game like competitive environment. An equally large number of virtual worlds have been developed to meet this demand, and the competition between these system is very strong. Developers of such systems can benefit from any edge they can get in terms of technical quality of the system or the enjoy ability of the online experience.We propose that a monitoring system designed especially for virtual worlds will be able to provide that `èdge" to the developers. As such, we present, in this Thesis, a flexible real-time monitoring architecture which caters to the specific challenges and requirements of virtual worlds. Handling huge amount of data present in the worlds is dealt by distributing the data gathering process between multiple node. The proposed system modifies the gathered data, into a form more suitable for users to observe in real-time, by filtering it before displaying the final result. We use Mammoth, a massively multiplayer research framework, as the test-bed for a sample implementation of the proposed architecture. We use the results of experiments conducted on this implementation to validate that the system is indeed suitable for real-time monitoring of virtual worlds.De nos jours, la demande des mondes virtuels est en plein essor. Ceux-ci vont des sites de rencontre jusqu'aux environnements compétitifs comme par exemple les jeux vidéo en ligne. Afin de satisfaire la demande de mondes virtuels, de nombreux sites ont été mis en place. Du fait de la très grande concurrence présente, les développeurs des services virtuels essayent de bénéficier de tout avantage possible en termes d'avantages techniques ou de la qualité des expériences vécues en ligne.Nous considérons qu'un système de surveillance des mondes virtuels est en mesure de fournir cet "avantage" aux développeurs. Ainsi, nous présentons dans notre thèse un système de surveillance en temps réel fait sur mesure afin de faire face aux défis et aux besoins particuliers de chaque monde virtuel. Afin de manipuler toute l'information obtenue des mondes virtuels, le processus d'obtention des données est distribué entre plusieurs nœuds. Le système que nous proposons modifie les données obtenues pour les rendre plus faciles à observer en temps réel. Ceci se fait en filtrant les données avant de déployer les résultats. Nous utilisons Mammoth, une infrastructure massif de recherche multi-joueurs comme le banc d'essai pour implémenter un échantillon de l'architecture proposée. Nous utilisons les résultats obtenus des expériences réalisées dans cette implémentation pour confirmer que le système est approprié pour surveiller les mondes virtuels en temps réel.
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Erlank, Wian. "Property in virtual worlds." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/71649.
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Thesis (LLD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.Includes bibliography
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation analyses and investigates how virtual property functions inside virtual worlds. It also determines if, within that context, virtual property is similar to, or should be treated like real world property. The questions that are addressed include the following. What is the (real world) legal status of property in virtual worlds? Is it worthwhile to recognise and protect virtual property in real world law? Is it possible to recognise and protect virtual property in real world law, given the differences? Would recognition and protection of virtual property in real world law require or be restricted to instances where virtual property is or can be recognised as real rights? The dissertation finds that there is a definable concept of “virtual property” as it is encountered in virtual worlds and there is a great degree of similarity between the function of property in virtual and real world systems. There are also sufficient justifications (social, economic and normative) to recognise virtual property as property. Even though the function of property is similar in both systems, the similarities are undermined by the absence, complete or almost complete, of real rights in virtual worlds. This creates a problem since, in real world law, real rights enjoy stronger protection than weaker personal rights. The first reason for this absence of real rights stems from the unique (and mostly uncircumventable) nature of game-code that removes the necessity to make all rights in virtual worlds real rights. The second reason relates to the fact that most virtual world rights are completely derived from and regulated by contract. It is concluded that it is possible to recognise and protect virtual property by means of traditional private law property law (both Roman-Germanic and Anglo-American), constitutional property law, and criminal law. While criminal law will fill some gaps left by the absence of real rights, the rest that are left are contractual rights. In certain circumstances, these contractual rights may be strong enough and in other cases they may require support from special legislation that strengthens weak personal rights and makes them into stronger property-like rights. In constitutional cases, these rights derive support from constitutional property law. However, in other circumstances recognition and protection will probably require recognition of real rights.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif analiseer en ondersoek hoe virtuele eiendom in virtuele wêrelde werk. Dit gee ʼn oorsig oor die vraag of virtuele eiendom, in daardie konteks, vergelykbaar is met eiendom in die regte wêreld en dieselfde erkenning moet ontvang. Die volgende vrae word gestel en beantwoord. Wat is die (regte wêreld-) status van eiendom in ʼn virtuele wêreld? Is dit die moeite werd om virtuele eiendom in die regte wêreld-regstelsels te erken en te beskerm? Is dit moontlik om virtuele eiendom in die regte wêreld te erken en beskerm, gegewe die verskille? Sal erkenning en beskerming van virtuele eiendom in die regte wêreld-regstelsels vereis dat, of beperk word tot gevalle waar virtuele eiendom geïdentifiseer of erken word as saaklike regte? Die navorsing toon aan dat daar ʼn bepaalde konsep van virtuele eiendom is soos wat dit in virtuele wêrelde gevind word. Daar is ook ʼn merkbare ooreenkoms tussen die eiendomstelsels in die virtuele en regte wêrelde. Hierdie proefskrif bevind dat daar genoegsame regverdigingsgronde is (sosiaal, ekonomies, sowel as normatief) om regte wêreld-eiendomserkenning aan virtuele eiendom te verskaf. Alhoewel die funksie van eiendom dieselfde is in beide stelsels, word die ooreenkomste tussen hulle ondermyn deur die (algehele of amper algehele) tekort aan saaklike regte in die virtuele wêreld. Dit veroorsaak probleme, aangesien saaklike regte in die regte wêreld aansienlik sterker beskerming geniet as swakker persoonlike regte. Die redes vir hierdie tekort aan saaklike regte in ʼn virtuele wêreld is tweeledig. Eerstens veroorsaak die unieke aard van rekenaar-kode ʼn tekort aan saaklike regte binne die virtuele wêreld, aangesien die kode die bestaan van saaklike regte in meeste gevalle onnodig maak. Tweedens word meeste van die regte wat verkry word en bestaan in virtuele wêrelde geskep en gereguleer deur middel van kontrak. Daar word ook bevind dat dit moontlik is om aan virtuele eiendom erkenning en beskerming te gee deur middel van tradisionele privaatregtelike eiendom (beide Romeins-Germaans en Anglo-Amerikaans), konstitusionele eiendom en die strafreg. Strafreg kan egter slegs sekere gapings vul wat deur die tekort aan saaklike regte veroorsaak word. Die oorblywende regte sal egter persoonlike regte wees. In sekere omstandighede is dit moontlik dat hierdie persoonlike regte sterk genoeg sal wees, maar in ander gevalle sal dit nodig wees dat hul ondersteun word deur middel van die proklamasie van spesiale wetgewing wat swak persoonlike regte in die virtuele eiendom versterk tot eiendoms-agtige regte. In ander gevalle geniet hierdie regte beskerming deur die konstitusionele reg. In ander omstandighede sal dit egter verg dat erkenning en beskerming moet plaasvind deur die erkenning van saaklike regte in virtuele eiendom.
South African Research Chair in Property Law (sponsored by the Departement of Science and Technology (DST)
National Research Foundation (NRF)
University of Maastricht‟s Faculty of Law
Ius Commune Research School
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Saba, Riad. "Language learning in virtual worlds." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2013. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14011/.
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Language Learning has utilized technology for decades, and while world-wide social dynamics place more demands for language learning, there has not been a widespread use of a specific technology as the dominant medium for language learning. In the meanwhile, Virtual Worlds technology emerged during the last two decades as an immersive technology that offers an online representation of reality, allowing user interaction with the surrounding environment including objects and other users through Internet-enabled desktop personal computers. Since their introduction, Virtual Worlds have grown in popularity, and are now utilized by a large online community as social and gaming environments. Over two decades of research have shown the potential of Virtual Worlds for learning in various fields, but very few empirical studies have been dedicated to explore Virtual Worlds for language learning. The focus of this PhD research project is to explore the potential of the Virtual World Second Life in enabling effective language learning. The research question is as follows: ‘Could Virtual Worlds offer a suitable language learning environment, similar or better than that offered by traditional media of language learning?’ Towards answering that question, a pilot and two studies were conducted in 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively. Arabic language classes were delivered to groups of language learners in the UK using different media of language learning: a face-to-face (f-to-f) classroom, a videoconferencing (VC) classroom, and a Virtual World (VW) classroom. The language learning quality outcomes along with student attitudes were assessed through a comparative analysis between the three media, involving attitude surveys, interviews, assessments of learning outcomes, and the critical incident method applied to video recordings. Due to several limitations, the effectiveness of the VW medium in enhancing the quality of the language learning experience was found lacking in the light of data collected and analyzed. A set of conditions and recommendations is therefore described to better utilize VWs for language learning.
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Green, Nicola. "Becoming virtual: Bodies, technologies, worlds." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Sociology, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/4592.
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This thesis addresses how virtual reality technologies are being developed to shape a cultural politics of embodiment and subjectivity across local and global contexts. The research considers a number of approaches to understanding the techno-cultural changes and political dilemmas presented by virtual systems. Undertaking a critical consideration of these approaches, the thesis argues that virtual systems are neither 'demonic' technologies, nor transcendent cultural forms, but rather complex and deeply embedded social and cultural networks.
Employing multi-sited ethnographic methods, the thesis investigates virtual reality technologies as technical systems, cultural narratives and commodity forms. As the analysis moves across a number of locations - including entertainment centres, manufacturing firms, art galleries, home offices and electronic/digital spaces - the connections between those locations become apparent. The analysis proposes that identifying these connections is a crucial step in mapping out a critical politics of virtual systems. The research concludes by arguing that such a politics is a politics of positioning, which is both oppositional, but is also cognisant of the sometimes contradictory workings of power in constructing techno-cultural alliances.
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Johnston, Benjamin M. "Desktop sharing in virtual worlds." CardinalScholar 1.0, 2010. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1567414.
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This thesis details the integration of a common collaboration technique, desktop sharing, into a virtual world environment. Previous literature shows no intersection between these fields. This thesis will illustrate that existing collaboration technology can be integrated into virtual worlds with a minimal amount of effort. Outlined in this thesis are the developmental and procedural challenges encountered in demonstrating seamless desktop sharing in a virtual environment and a stress test of the integrated system revealing that the inclusion of desktop sharing resulted in minor performance loss.
The Problem
Current virtual world technology has limited capability for collaboration because of a lack of collaboration tools. This thesis proposes that it is feasible to take a common collaboration tool such as desktop sharing and introduce it into a virtual world.Department of Computer Science
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Chang, Francis. "Towards Constructing Interactive Virtual Worlds." PDXScholar, 2014. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1650.
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Networked virtual reality environments including virtual worlds devoted to entertainment, online socializing and remote collaboration have grown in popularity with the rise of commercially available consumer graphics hardware and the growing ubiquity of the Internet. These virtual worlds are typified by a persistent simulated three-dimensional space that communicates over a computer network, where users interact with the environment and each other through digital avatars. Development of these virtual worlds challenges the limits of the networking infrastructure, 3D streaming graphics techniques, and the distributed computing design of the virtual world systems that manages the simulation. In this dissertation, we explore solutions to different aspects of the overall problem of developing a general purpose, networked virtual environment, focusing on the networking and software system issues. Specifically, we show how to improve the networking infrastructure to better support the high packet-rate traffic that is typical of virtual worlds, efficiently stream terrain data for remote rendering, and construct a dynamically adaptive distributed systems framework suitable for virtual world simulations.
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Jakobsson, Mikael. "Virtual worlds & social interaction design /." Umeå : Department of Informatics,Umeå University, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-750.
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Jakobsson, Mikael. "Virtual worlds and social interaction design." Doctoral thesis, Umeå University, Informatics, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-750.
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This dissertation is a study of social interaction in virtual worlds and virtual world design. A virtual world is a synchronous, multi-user system that offers a persistent spatial environment for iconically represented participants. Together, these form an example of social interaction design. I have applied an arena perspective on my object of study, meaning that I focus on these socio-technical systems as places.
I have investigated the persistent qualities of social interaction in virtual worlds. What I have found is that virtual worlds are as real as the physical world. They are filled with real people interacting with each other evoking real emotions and leading to real consequences. There are no fixed boundaries between the virtual and physical arenas that make up a participant’s lifeworld.
I have found that participants in virtual worlds are not anonymous and bodiless actors on a level playing field. Participants construct everything needed to create social structures such as identities and status symbols. The qualities of social interaction in virtual worlds cannot be measured against physical interaction. Doing so conceals the qualities of virtual interaction. Through the concepts of levity and proximity, I offer an alternative measure that better captures the unique properties of the medium. Levity is related to the use of avatars and the displacement into a virtual context and manifests itself as a kind of lightness in the way participants approach the interaction. Proximity is my term for the transformation of social distances that takes place in virtual worlds. While participants perceive that they are in the same place despite being physically separated, the technology can also create barriers separating participants from their physical surroundings. The gap between the participant and her avatar is also of social significance.
As a theoretical foundation for design, I have used Michael Heim’s writings and practices as a base for a phenomenologically grounded approach, which provides an alternative to the dominating perspectives of architecture and engineering. Based on an explorative design project and the earlier mentioned findings regarding social interaction, I have formulated a model for virtual world design called interacture. This model takes the interaction between participants as the fundamental building material and the starting point of the design process. From there, layers of function and structure are added, all the time balancing the design between fantasy and realism.
I have explored the possibilities of using ethnographic studies as the foundation for a participant centered design approach. I have aimed for an inside view of my object of study both as an ethnographer and as a designer. One outcome of this approach is that I have come to understand virtual worlds not just as places but also as processes where the experience of participating can change drastically over time as the participant reaches new stages in the process.
In conclusion, the method of integrating ethnography with design and the understanding of social interaction as the fundamental building material is woven into a general approach to the study and design of socio-technical systems called social interaction design.
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Keown, Lachlan. "Virtual 3D worlds for enhanced visualization." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Computer Science and Software Engineering, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/9615.
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3D visualizations of software can be used to highlight relationships between system components, and also allow focussing on the internals of software, particularly when applied to object oriented software. Such visualizations allow software engineers to comprehend larger software systems, due to more information being available through the use of a third dimension. An architecture has been designed to carry out such visualizations. Major features of this architecture are a meta language to describe object oriented systems, a description language to generate generic visualizations, and an automated pipeline for generating visualizations. Using this architecture, several visualizations have been generated and analysed, to demonstrate advantages of this particular means of visualization.
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Young, Robert John. "Playing politics : warfare in virtual worlds." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2018. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/22035/.
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Recent academic scholarship has resulted in the production of a broad body of interdisciplinary research that explores the representation of different political and spatial phenomena within popular culture, often focussed upon the analysis of film and television. Whilst video games now rival the popularity of these more established media forms, the different spaces that are represented within this medium have remained comparatively under-explored. This thesis addresses this lacuna and will show that military-themed video games are constitutive of particular spatial and political imaginaries, and that analyses of the medium can be used to illuminate broader critical debates. Such an engagement makes three specific contributions to knowledge. Firstly, a theoretical contribution is made through the increasing imbrication of approaches originating within International Relations and critical geopolitics. Whilst the former field addresses the relationship between political theory and popular culture, critical geopolitical analyses examine the process through which the surrounding world is spatialized. In offering an interdisciplinary perspective, therefore, this analysis highlights not only the production of a form of political power, but also the everyday mechanisms through which the associated assumptions, biases and cultural tropes are reproduced as commonsense spatial “knowledge”. Secondly, a methodological contribution is achieved through the provision of a framework for an object-focussed analysis of the video game medium. This approach, which encompasses both structural and thematic aspects, addresses the limitations that are associated with exclusively ludological or narratological approaches and provides an important middle ground. Finally, an empirical contribution is achieved through the detailed examination of the urban, rural and temporally-inflected forms of spatiality that are represented within military-themed video games. Here, a focus on twelve high-profile video game titles is used to highlight the ways in which the medium can work to produce or preclude different geopolitical imaginaries. The video game world is shown to be a source of political meaning – one which is used to naturalise different claims about the “reality” of our contemporary geopolitical experience, including what the world looks like and what our place within it might be. These analyses are also shown to provide a means by which it is made possible to illuminate – and even destabilise – the foundations of prevailing critical frameworks, offering the potential for introspection and future growth.
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Long, Harry. "Procedurally generated realistic virtual rural worlds." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20874.
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Manually creating virtual rural worlds is often a difficult and lengthy task for artists, as plant species selection, plant distributions and water networks must be deduced such that they realistically reflect the environment being modelled. As virtual worlds grow in size and complexity, climates vary on the terrain itself and a single ecosystem is no longer sufficient to realistically model all vegetation. Consequentially, the task is only becoming more difficult for these artists. Procedural methods are extensively used in computer graphics to partially or fully automate some tasks and take some of the burden off the user. Input parameters for these procedural algorithms are often unintuitive, however, and their impact on the final results, unclear. This thesis proposes, implements, and evaluates an approach to procedurally generate vegetation and water networks for realistic virtual rural worlds. Rather than placing these to reflect the environment being modelled, the work-flow is mirrored and the user models the environment directly by specifying the resources available. These intuitive input parameters are subsequently used to configure procedural algorithms and determine suitable vegetation, plant distributions and water networks. By design, the placeable plant species are configurable so any type of environment can be modelled at various levels of detail. The system has been tested by creating three ecosystems with little effort on the part of the user.
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JOVANOVA, Blagica. "Virtual human representation, adaptation, delivery and interoperability for virtual worlds." Phd thesis, Institut National des Télécommunications, 2011. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00712173.
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In the last few years 3D Virtual Worlds (3DVWs) became a reality. Initially considered as a new mean for social communication, triggered by the development of software and hardware technology, 3DVWs are exposing now different functionalities, experiences and acquaintances. Therefore, they achieved their popularity very fast, indicated by the number and the progression of active users. Being the representation of the user, the avatar is one of the most significant and most complex assets of a Virtual World. A short analysis of a VW content allows one to observe that from the point of view of the storage/transmission the most significant amount is represented by the VW assets. Within the set of assets, the avatars are the most complex structures, consisting of different components: geometry, images, animations, structures, etc. The overall objective of developing tools and methods for a large deployment of VW are translated into three specific ones: To propose a compression framework to enable efficient, compact transfer of avatars, and general 3D graphics assets. Specifically for avatars, the framework should be independent from the representation formalism. To propose an optimized solution making the avatars accessible on weak terminals such as mobile phones. To define a metadata model allowing avatars interoperability between different VWs. The three objectives are addressed in this thesis and for each we propose original contributions.
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Jovanova, Blagica. "Virtual human representation, adaptation, delivery and interoperability for virtual worlds." Thesis, Evry, Institut national des télécommunications, 2011. http://www.theses.fr/2011TELE0012/document.
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Au cours des dernières années les Mondes Virtuels 3D (MV3D) sont devenus une réalité. Initialement considérés comme un nouveau moyen de communication sociale, initiés par le développement logiciel et matériel, les MV3Ds révèlent diverses fonctionnalités, des expériences et des connaissances. Étant la représentation de l'utilisateur, l'avatar est l’une des ressources les plus significatives et les plus complexes d'un monde virtuel. Une courte analyse d'un contenu de MV nous informe que le stockage/transmission est la partie la plus significative des ressources du MV. Dans l’ensemble des ressources, les avatars sont les structures les plus complexes, représentés par différents composants : géométrie, images, animations, etc. Donc, en abordant les problématiques de compression, d'adaptation et d'interopérabilité liées aux avatars, nous traitons implicitement presque tout type de ressources tifs qu’on pourrait retrouver dans les MVs. L'objectif global du développement d’outils et des méthodes, pour un déploiement élargi de MV, est traduit par les trois points spécifiques suivants: Proposer un framework de compression pour permettre le transfert efficace et compact d'avatars et de ressources graphiques 3D généraux. Spécifiquement pour des avatars, le framework devrait être indépendante avec un formalisme de représentation. Proposer une solution optimisée permettant l’accessibilité aux avatars sur des terminaux à faibles ressources tels que les téléphones portables. Définir un modèle de métadonnées permettant l'interopérabilité d'avatars entre différents MVs. Les trois objectifs sont traités dans ce manuscrit et pour chacun nous proposons des contributions originalesIn the last few years 3D Virtual Worlds (3DVWs) became a reality. Initially considered as a new mean for social communication, triggered by the development of software and hardware technology, 3DVWs are exposing now different functionalities, experiences and acquaintances. Therefore, they achieved their popularity very fast, indicated by the number and the progression of active users. Being the representation of the user, the avatar is one of the most significant and most complex assets of a Virtual World. A short analysis of a VW content allows one to observe that from the point of view of the storage/transmission the most significant amount is represented by the VW assets. Within the set of assets, the avatars are the most complex structures, consisting of different components: geometry, images, animations, structures, etc. The overall objective of developing tools and methods for a large deployment of VW are translated into three specific ones: To propose a compression framework to enable efficient, compact transfer of avatars, and general 3D graphics assets. Specifically for avatars, the framework should be independent from the representation formalism. To propose an optimized solution making the avatars accessible on weak terminals such as mobile phones. To define a metadata model allowing avatars interoperability between different VWs. The three objectives are addressed in this thesis and for each we propose original contributions
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Ghanbarzadeh, Reza. "Investigating Antecedents and Consequences of User Acceptance of Three-Dimensional Virtual Worlds." Thesis, Griffith University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367803.
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Three-Dimensional Virtual World (3DVW) is one of the promising innovations in the field of information and communication technologies. A 3DVW is a 3D, computer-generated, internet-based, multimedia, simulated and graphical environment, usually running on the Web and intended for users to inhabit and interact via their own animated, graphical and digital self-representations which are called avatars. Through a computer device, users of virtual worlds are able to interact with the virtual environment or with other users in the virtual environment. 3DVWs have immersion and social media functionality. They include user-created content and they allow for user-defined purpose and a sense of presence. Users are able to navigate in and manipulate objects within the virtual environment.
3DVWs are of considerable importance and potential for the creation of the next generation of teaching and learning environments. This technology has been largely adopted to favour the educational setting. Over the last decade, there has been a remarkable interest in the educational communities in utilising virtual environments for teaching and learning. 3DVWs support a higher level of interactivity and richness in interaction, collaboration and communication than traditional media. They also have the potential to create engaging and meaningful experiences for learners.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Information and Communication Technology
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology
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Hoag, Kenneth J. "Facilitating rich acoustical environments in virtual worlds." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 1998. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA354946.
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Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science) Naval Postgraduate School, September 1998.Thesis advisor(s):, Rudolph P. Darken. "September 1998." Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-79). Also available online.
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Molenaar, Johan. "State of the Arts in Virtual Worlds." Thesis, Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för Industriell utveckling, IT och Samhällsbyggnad, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-14648.
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Virtuella världar kan vara så mycket mer än bara spel vilket jag går igenom. Frågan är då vad mer är det och till vad kan de användas? Genom studier och genomgångar av vetenskapliga visar vart det virtuella användandet står idag och till vad virtuella världar kan användas. Jag försöker också ge svar på om det bör vidareutvecklas och användas mer. Det jag går in på är bland annat virtuella obduktioner. Hur de kan användes för att snabba på polisens arbete och hitta dödsorsaker som annars skulle missats och hur personer med vissa religioner som tidigare motsagt sig obduktion kan obduceras snabb och enkelt. Hur datorspelare kan lösa medicinska problem som gäckat forskare i många år på bara några dagar. Hur dessa datorspelare lyckats rekonstruera aidsprotein som kan komma att användas för botemedel eller vaccin. Samt hur många forskare utför beteendeforskning i spel där forskningen kan kopplas till verkliga händelser. Avslutningsvis går jag igenom olika områden där virtuell forskning eller virtuella världar skulle kunna användas till olika ändamål.
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Rydell, Andreas. "Multi-agent swarm control in virtual worlds." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-104977.
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Flocking birds in a virtual world through adaption of Craig Reynolds, Boids algorithm. In this paper I will demonstrate how I adapted the Boids algorithm to an already existing code to create a flocking behaviour and discuss options to the solutions. I have been given a virtual world with existing birds that is moving around based on random elements that in a way mimics flying.
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Downey, Laura. "Well-being Technologies: Meditation Using Virtual Worlds." NSUWorks, 2015. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/65.
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In a technologically overloaded world, is it possible to use technology to support well-being activities and enhance human flourishing? Proponents of positive technology and positive computing are striving to answer yes to that question. However, the impact of technology on well-being remains unresolved. Positive technology combines technology and positive psychology. Positive psychology focuses on well-being and the science of human flourishing. Positive computing includes an emphasis on designing with well-being in mind as a way to support human potential. User experience (UX) is critical to positive technology and positive computing. UX researchers and practitioners are advocating for experience-driven design and third wave human-computer interaction (HCI) that focuses on multi-dimensional, interpretive, situated, and phenomenological aspects. Third-wave HCI goes beyond cognition to include emotions, values, culture, and experience. This research investigated technology-supported meditation in a three-dimensional (3D) virtual world from a positive technology perspective to examine how technology can support engagement, self-empowerment, and well-being. Designing and evaluating technology for well-being support is complex and challenging. Further, although virtual worlds have been used in positive technology applications, little research exists that illuminates the experience of user engagement in virtual worlds. In this formative exploratory study, experienced meditators (N = 12) interacted with a virtual meditation world titled Sanctuarium that was developed for this research. Using a third wave HCI approach, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to understand the nature of engagement with a virtual world and the experiential aspects of technology-supported meditation. Results supported using virtual worlds to produce restorative natural environments. Participants overwhelmingly reacted positively to the islandscape including both visual and sound elements. Findings indicated that Sanctuarium facilitated the meditation experience, similar to guided meditation – although participants remarked on the uniqueness of the experience. Aspects of facilitation centered on the concepts of non-distraction, focus, and simplicity of design and instructions. Participants also identified Sanctuarium as a good tool for helping those new to meditation. Meditators described positive effects of their meditation experience during interviews and also rated their experience as positive using the scale titled Effects of Meditation During Meditation. Phenomenological analysis provided a rich description of the nature of engagement while meditating with Sanctuarium. Meditators also rated engagement as high via an adapted User Engagement Scale. This interdisciplinary work drew from multiple fields and contributes to the HCI domain, virtual worlds’ literature, information systems research, and the nascent areas of positive technology and positive computing.
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Yu, Qinxin. "Synthetic motion capture for interactive virtual worlds." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ34043.pdf.
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Calka, Michelle. "Beyond newbie : immersion in virtual game worlds." Virtual Press, 2006. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1337190.
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The purpose of this thesis is to explore the following research question: How does immersion occur in a virtual game environment? Specifically, this study will focus on the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft. Approaching the question using a grounded theory methodology, the study finds that immersion takes place in two primary areas: Environmental and Social. Environmental immersion concerns technical aspects of the game including aesthetic detail, sensory stimulation, and narratives. Social immersion evolves as a paradigmatic opposition of cooperation and intimidation. Players are not fully immersed in the world until they have accepted cooperation as their dominant paradigm for play.Department of Telecommunications
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Shah, Fahad. "Modeling human group behavior in virtual worlds." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 2011. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/4704.
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Virtual worlds and massively-multiplayer online games are rich sources of information about large-scale teams and groups, offering the tantalizing possibility of harvesting data about group formation, social networks, and network evolution. They provide new outlets for human social interaction that differ from both face-to-face interactions and non-physically-embodied social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter. We aim to study group dynamics in these virtual worlds by collecting and analyzing public conversational patterns of users grouped in close physical proximity. To do this, we created a set of tools for monitoring, partitioning, and analyzing unstructured conversations between changing groups of participants in Second Life, a massively multi-player online user-constructed environment that allows users to construct and inhabit their own 3D world. Although there are some cues in the dialog, determining social interactions from unstructured chat data alone is a difficult problem, since these environments lack many of the cues that facilitate natural language processing in other conversational settings and different types of social media. Public chat data often features players who speak simultaneously, use jargon and emoticons, and only erratically adhere to conversational norms. Humans are adept social animals capable of identifying friendship groups from a combination of linguistic cues and social network patterns. But what is more important, the content of what people say or their history of social interactions? Moreover, is it possible to identify whether people are part of a group with changing membership merely from general network properties, such as measures of centrality and latent communities? These are the questions that we aim to answer in this thesis. The contributions of this thesis include: 1) a link prediction algorithm for identifying friendship relationships from unstructured chat data 2) a method for identifying social groups based on the results of community detection and topic analysis. The output of these two algorithms (links and group membership) are useful for studying a variety of research questions about human behavior in virtual worlds. To demonstrate this we have performed a longitudinal analysis of human groups in different regions of the Second Life virtual world. We believe that studies performed with our tools in virtual worlds will be a useful stepping stone toward creating a rich computational model of human group dynamics.ID: 030646202; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-183).
Ph.D.
Doctorate
Computer Science
Engineering and Computer Science
Computer Science
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Herbert, Barry John Patrick. "The gamification of learning in virtual worlds." Thesis, Ulster University, 2016. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.676528.
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Calka, Michelle. "Performances of Marginalized Identities in Virtual Worlds." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1344522664.
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Zhao, Chen. "EVALUATION OF VRML FOR MODELING VIRTUAL WORLDS." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2000. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami975621886.
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Jergon, Roman. "Potential of virtual worlds in commercial utilization." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2008. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-165182.
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Thesis is concerned by virtual worlds and possibilities of their utilization other than are their original purposes. The objectives of this paper are to confront virtual worlds with mass media and their utilization. The author wants to show that virtual worlds are in many aspects similar to mass media. The author also shows possible utilization of virtual worlds for commercial companies, non-profit organizations, research and individuals. Work shows possible options for usage of virtual worlds together with option to cooperate with providers of the virtual world. This cooperation may take two forms. Content alternation means that providers of the virtual world change items or places inside the virtual world into the form desired by client. Providers may even sell their data about events inside the virtual world, thus clients may obtain unique data about human behavior and reaction to e.g. propagation campaign. Confrontation of virtual worlds with the mass media and describing possible utilizations that come from this confrontation, make content of this paper is original.
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Granber, Aron. "Planning bipedal character locomotion in virtual worlds." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för teknikvetenskap (SCI), 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-210855.
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This paper presents a locomotion system suitable for interactive usethat can plan realistic paths for small numbers of bipedal charactersin virtual worlds. Earlier approaches are extended by allowing animationsto be arbitrarily blended to increase the range of motions thatthe character can produce and our system also achieves greater performancecompared to the earlier approaches. The system uses a graphof valid footprints in the world in which is searched for a path thatthe character should traverse. The resulting sequence of footprints aresmoothed and refined to make them more similar to the character’soriginal animations. To make the motion smoother the curvature andother parameters of the path are estimated and those estimates areused to interpolate between different sets of similar animation clips. Asthe system is based on footprints it allows characters to navigate evenacross regions which are not directly connected, for example by jumpingover the gaps between disconnected regions. We have implementedthe system in C# using the Unity Game Engine and we evaluate it bymaking the character perform various actions such as walking, runningand jumping and study the visual result.Accompanying material can be found at http://arongranberg.com/research/thesis2017.
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Childs, Mark. "Learners' experience of presence in virtual worlds." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2010. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/4516/.
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This thesis explores participants' experiences of presence in virtual worlds as a specific case of mediated environments, and the factors that support that experience of presence, with the aim of developing practice when using these technologies in learning and teaching. The thesis begins with a framework that was created to bring together concepts from a range of disciplines that describe presence and factors that contribute to presence. Organising categories within the framework were drawn from a blend of Activity Theory and Communities of Practice. Five case studies in Second Life (preceded by a pilot study employing webconferencing) were conducted in order to investigate learners' experiences in these environments. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered from these cases. The data from the separate cases were analysed using a cross-case synthesis and the role of presence, and the factors that support it, were identified. An additional strand of investigation established a typology of different forms of resistance by students to learning in virtual worlds. The findings of the study were that an experience of presence is strongly linked to students' satisfaction with the learning activity. This experience of presence was more linked to students' preparedness or ability to engage with the environment than with technological limitations. Some students' resistance to learning in virtual worlds were informed by values they held about technology, but others appeared to display an inability to experience embodiment through their avatar. The experience of presence appeared to develop over time. This can be interpreted as stages in students' development of a virtual body image, body schema and virtual identity. Different learning activities are more appropriate to different stages in this development. The thesis concludes with a suggested model for supporting students' development of presence. The implications of these findings for educators and for further research are discussed.
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DuQuette, Jean-Paul Lafayette. "Cypris Village: Language Learning in Virtual Worlds." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2017. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/428760.
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Applied LinguisticsEd.D.
ABSTRACT Online virtual worlds provide a unique environment for language instruction and learning, yet there are few longitudinal studies that chronicle the workings of existing communities on avatar-based graphical platforms. This study focuses on Cypris Chat, a nonprofit English learning and teaching group within Linden Lab’s Second Life. In this study, I discuss the structure of this community, the factors behind this group’s development from five members in 2008 to 882 in 2016, and the reasons for its appeal as a virtual world language learning group. I also examine the ways in which teaching and learning take place there. Although the study is primarily descriptive and ethnographic, it also makes use of three theoretical frameworks to analyze different aspects of the group. The digital habitats framework of Wenger, White, and Smith (2009) was used to judge Cypris’ efficacy as a working online community. Lim’s (2009) Six Learnings framework was utilized to explore how adequately the group made use of affordances specific to learning opportunities in virtual worlds. Finally, Holzman’s (2010) interpretation of sociocultural learning theory was used to analyze recorded discourse of formal and informal language learning activities. Data were collected through interviews of 21 Cypris staff and members; a majority of participants were adults of Japanese nationality, but members from Europe and the Middle East also participated. Participant observation and my personal experiences with Cypris’ history were also utilized, both to inform the development of interview questions and to determine the long-lasting appeal of the group; observations drew on my eight years experience as resident researcher and volunteer tutor at Cypris. Finally, disparate learning activities, both formal lessons and informal impromptu interactions during extracurricular conversations and games, were recorded, and select incidents were analyzed through discourse analysis. Results suggest that members’ perception of the importance of both formal activities and informal socializing outside of class was crucial to the continued existence of the group. Additionally, they also suggest that the group’s long-lasting appeal is related to the adventurous spirit of key members identified as Internet early adopters. As for teaching and learning within the community, observations indicated that tutors and learners alike took advantage of both traditional instructional methods and the unique affordances of the Second Life environment, both within and outside formal instruction at Cypris. Conclusions suggest that both Wenger et al.’s (2009) digital habitats and Lim’s (2009) Six Learnings frameworks are robust measures of online learning communities, and Holzman’s (2010) interpretation of sociocultural learning theory was shown to be applicable to both exploration of learning through play and informal interactions as well as more structured lessons in online virtual world learning groups like Cypris. This study contributes to the body of research on models of online language education, multimodal learning in virtual worlds, and the potentially revolutionary possibilities and challenges inherent in language learning communities such as Cypris.
Temple University--Theses
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deNoyelles, Aimee M. "Learning between worlds: Experiences of women college students in a virtual world." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1307323208.
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Trescak, Tomás. "Intelligent Generation and Control of Interactive Virtual Worlds." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/117675.
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Esta tesis aboga por el uso de los mundos virtuales como una tecnología de futuro en el dominio de
los mundos virtuales serios, en particular en aplicaciones e-‐* (e-‐learning, e-‐commerce, e-‐
government) y en simulaciones sociales. En estas aplicaciones, el entorno virtual 3D está poblado
por un gran número de habitantes que pueden ser humanos o avatares controlados por agentes
virtuales inteligentes que se involucran en interacciones complejas con su entorno y con los demás
participantes.
Un problema importante que impide la adopción generalizada de la tecnología de mundos virtuales
en estos dominios es que, en general, los mundos virtuales son difíciles de construir y se tiene que
emplear un gran esfuerzo en el diseño del entorno virtual 3D y en la programación de los agentes
virtuales; pero es aún más difícil asegurar la validez de las interacciones de forma que se prevengan
comportamientos no permitidos.
Para abordar este problema, hemos desarrollado una solución integral que automatiza el diseño de
estos mundos virtuales y de su población. Nuestro enfoque se basa en la utilización de las
instituciones virtuales, que son mundos virtuales que regulan las interacciones de sus participantes.
El enfoque principal de esta tesis está en explicar cómo los métodos existentes de especificación
formal de las instituciones virtuales se pueden extender para traducir automáticamente la
especificación institucional en un entorno interactivo 3D utilizando el enfoque de las gramáticas de
formas (Shape Grammars) y para poblar, de forma también automática, este tipo de entornos con
agentes virtuales.
Las gramáticas de formas son una técnica visual potente para la generación de diseños 2D y 3D,
pero el trabajo realizado hasta el momento en esta área no se adecua a las características de
nuestro problema. Por lo tanto, en esta tesis hemos extendido los trabajos realizados en este
campo y hemos desarrollado el framework “Shape Grammar Interpreter”, que se ocupa de las
limitaciones de las soluciones existentes. Hemos utilizado este framework para el desarrollo del
concepto de Virtual World Grammar, que es un subconjunto de las gramáticas de formas dirigido a
la generación automática de mundos virtuales normativos. Como resultado de esta tesis, la Virtual
World Grammar ha sido formalizada e implementada en un entorno de desarrollo que no sólo
permite la generación automática de mundos virtuales normativos, sino también su
implementación independiente de la plataforma (utilizando VIXEE, la infraestructura que se ha
desarrollado como una parte importante de esta tesis).
Otra contribución de esta tesis es el desarrollo de un mecanismo de generación automática de un
gran número de agentes de software. Estos agentes son capaces de realizar interacciones
inteligentes con objetos 3D dentro del entorno. Además, estos agentes son capaces de colaborar
con avatares controlados por humanos, facilitar la resolución de sus problemas y asegurar que
todas sus acciones se adhieren de forma estricta a las normas sociales de la institución.
Para ello, hemos desarrollado un modelo general de agente virtual que permite situar a un agente
en un mundo virtual normativo, generar sus propios objetivos en función de sus necesidades
fisiológicas y psicológicas, así como generar dinámicamente los planes para satisfacer estos
objetivos mediante la especificación institucional subyacente.
Para ilustrar la utilidad de los métodos y técnicas desarrolladas en esta tesis, hemos aplicado éstas
al campo de la simulación histórica, recreando la vida de la ciudad de Uruk. Hemos mostrado cómo
nuestro enfoque permite crear un gran número de agentes diversos tanto en aspectos visuales
como de comportamiento, así como la generación dinámica de los alimentos, herramientas y otros
elementos que se utilizan para satisfacer sus objetivos, mientras actúan de forma correcta,
históricamente hablando.This thesis advocates the use of non-‐gaming virtual worlds as a significant future technology for the domain of ``serious games’’ and in particular e-‐* applications (e-‐ learning, e-‐commerce, e-‐government) and social simulations. In such systems, a 3D virtual environment is populated by a large number of inhabitants that can be either human-‐ controlled avatars or intelligent virtual agents who engage in complex interactions with their virtual environment and other participants. One significant problem that impedes wide adoption of the virtual worlds technology for these problem domains is that virtual worlds in general are difficult to build, and significant effort has to be put into designing the 3D virtual environment and programming virtual agents; but it is even harder to ensure the validity of participant so that unauthorized behavior can be prevented. To address this problem, we have developed a comprehensive technological solution that automates the design of such virtual worlds and its population with virtual agents. Our approach is based on the utilization of virtual institutions, which are virtual worlds with normative regulation of participant interactions. The key focus of the thesis is on explaining how existing methods of formal specification of virtual institutions can be extended to automatically translate the institutional specification into an interactive 3D environment using the shape grammars approach and automatically populating such environments with virtual agents. Shape grammars represent a powerful visual technique for creating procedural 2D and 3D designs, but existing work was not immediately suitable for our problem. Thus, we have extended existing work and developed the Shape Grammar Interpreter framework, which addresses the limitations of existing solutions. This framework was further utilized for developing the concept of Virtual World Grammar, which is a sub-‐set of shape grammars targeting automatic generation of normative virtual worlds. As the result of this dissertation, Virtual Worlds Grammars constitute a strong formalization and a development environment not only enabling automatic generation of normative virtual worlds, but also their platform independent deployment (using the VIXEE infrastructure that has been developed as an important part of this dissertation). Another significant contribution of this thesis is developing a mechanism of automatic population of the generated environments with large numbers of software agents, which are capable of intelligent interactions with 3D objects placed in the environment. Moreover, these agents are able to collaborate with human-‐controlled avatars, facilitate their problem-‐solving and ensure that all their actions strictly adhere to social norms of the given institution. For this purpose, we have developed a general-‐purpose virtual agent model that enables an agent to be situated within any normative virtual world, generate its own goals based on its current physiological and psychological needs, as well as to dynamically generate plans for satisfying these goals using the underlying institutional specification. To illustrate the usefulness of the developed technology, we have applied it to the domain of historical simulation, where we show how virtual world grammars and automatically generated virtual agents can be used for re-‐enacting everyday life of ancient people in one of humanity's first cities, the city of Uruk. We showed how our approach allows to create a large number of visually and behaviorally diverse agents, as well as dynamically generating food, tools and other items that they can utilize to satisfy their goals, while acting in a historically correct way.
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Al-Khazzar, Ahmed M. A. "Biometric identification using user interaction with virtual worlds." Thesis, University of Portsmouth, 2012. https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/biometric-identification-using-user-interaction-with-virtual-worlds(25523f66-88b0-47f2-8e16-40cacba2b76f).html.
Full textAbstract:
A virtual world is an interactive 3D virtual environment that visually resembles complex physical spaces, and provides an online community through which the users can connect, shop, work, learn, establish emotional relations, and explore different virtual environments. The use of virtual worlds is becoming popular in many fields such as education, economy, space, and games. With the widespread use of virtual worlds, establishing the security of these systems becomes more important. To this date, there is no mechanism to identify users of virtual worlds based on their interactions with the virtual world. Current virtual worlds use knowledge-based authentication mechanisms such as passwords to authenticate users. However they are not capable of distinguishing between genuine users and imposters who possess the knowledge needed to gain access to the virtual world. The aim of the research reported in this thesis is to develop a behavioural biometric system to identify the users of a virtual world based on their behaviour inside these environments. In this thesis, three unique virtual worlds are designed and implemented with different 3D environments and avatars simulating the different environments of virtual worlds. Two experiments are conducted to collect data from user interactions with the virtual worlds. In the first experiment 53 users participated and in the second experiment, a year later, 66 different users participated in the experiment. This research also studies the parameters of user behaviour inside virtual worlds and presents novel feature extraction methods to extract four main biometric features from the collected data, namely: action, time, speed, and entropy biometric features. A sample classification methodology is formulated. Using distance measure algorithms and based on the collected data, users are identified inside the virtual worlds. Also in this thesis the application of biometric fusion in enhancing the performance of the behavioural biometric system is studied. The achieved average equal error rates in this research were between 26-33% depending on the virtual world environment and movement freedom inside virtual worlds. It has been found that avatar actions inside virtual worlds carry more identifying attributes than parameters such as the avatar position inside the virtual world. Also it has been found that virtual worlds with very open environments with respect to avatar movement showed higher EERs when using the biometric system implemented in this research.
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Wang, Yi Fei. "Designing immersive language learning environments in virtual worlds." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43724.
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During the past decade, there has been increasing attention to second/foreign language teaching and learning in virtual worlds. The purpose of this study was to explore affordances of a 3D virtual world platform designed as an immersive language teaching and learning environment.
Focusing on designing virtual worlds as a catalyst for change, three design phases (development of artifact, low fidelity prototyping, and high fidelity prototyping) were detailed and documented in this study. Nineteen students from a pre-service teacher cohort, two technicians and eight language learners from high schools in Vancouver as well as eighty language learners from universities in China were involved in this study; participants were asked to immerse themselves in the virtual language learning environment designed for the study. Participants’ interactions in the virtual world were videotaped and avatar interactions were recorded.
Group discussions, observations, suvey questionnaires and the video-stimulated post interaction interviews provided complementary data for understanding affordances of virtual worlds in designing immersive second/foreign language learning curriculum. Analysis of the feasibility study, low fidelity design, and high fidelity design suggested a more robust design for immerisve virtual language learning environments. Three design cycles revealed primary design factors of immersive second/foreign language learning in virtual worlds (embodied avatar, co-presence, and simulation) and their relative significance in the process of learners’ meaning-making and knowledge construction.
Findings showed that embodiment through an embodied avatar, community of practice through co-presence, and situated learning through simulation had a greater impact on the immersive virtual learning design. Building on a theoretical framework of embodied mind, situated learning and distributed cognition, this study documented features of learning theories key to language learning curriculum design in virtual worlds.
The findings and techniques resulting from this study will help designers and researchers improve second/foreign language curriculum design in virtual worlds. It also prompts designers and researchers to achieve a better understanding of how virtual worlds can be redesigned by rethinking learning theories. The refinement of design-based research stages into low and high fidelity prototyping provides researchers with empirically tested and nuanced understandings of the design process.
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Paul, Richard J. S. "Story authoring and management for dynamic virtual worlds." Thesis, University of Ulster, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.588496.
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Storytelling plays an important role in providing an engaging player experience in modem computer games. Typically in single-player games, stories are highly linear and carefully scripted by the story authors, with events occurring in exact pre-specified sequences. This method of storytelling can result in a highly crafted experience that helps to enhance player immersion in the game world. Storytelling in multiplayer online game worlds, as in their single-player counterparts, also tends to be based on a set of highly scripted stories. However, the technical problems caused by the presence of many players in these worlds are typically dealt with by various devices or tricks that are inherently detrimental to the storytelling experience. The devices used include observable world state manipulation by the system and allowing player actions to have only limited consequences in the world. Both techniques diminish the believability of the storyworld and are likely to reduce player enjoyment of the game narrative. An improved method of storytelling in multiplayer games is therefore needed to address this problem. It is demonstrated in this thesis that a more adaptive and effective approach to storytelling in multiplayer game worlds can be provided by incorporating hierarchical task network (HTN) planning as part of a wider story management process. A novel approach to story authoring and management in dynamic, multiplayer worlds is presented in which the methods from which story plans are generated are defined by the story author in the HTN formalism. The story authoring and management techniques presented in the thesis include a story repair method that detects and responds to events that threaten to invalidate an ongoing story plan, and an extension of the HTN formalism to enable player interaction at a higher level of abstraction than that used for the enactment of generated stories. A virtual world designed to provide the richness and variability required for adaptive storytelling in a multiplayer environment is also presented as a basis for evaluation of the proposed methodology. The results presented in the thesis demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach to story authoring and management in terms of the adaptability, variability, and robustness of the stories created in a dynamically changing, multiplayer environment.
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Schott, Thomas R. "Adopting Workgroup Collaboration Tools in 3D Virtual Worlds." Thesis, Robert Morris University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3629005.
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Collaboration is vital in today's information age, and tools are increasingly used to bring together teams that are geographically dispersed. Second Life, a 3D virtual world, can incorporate most of the visual, hearing and spatial elements of the real world, and can create a feeling of presence or the sense of actually "being there" for users. Common 2D groupware collaboration tools, such as web conferencing and conference calls used for virtual team collaboration in professional contexts, are key enablers for virtual teams. However, businesses and organizations have not adopted virtual worlds for virtual teams and workgroup collaboration. Shen & Eder (2009) conducted a study using their modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) applied to the adoption of Second Life for business purposes. For participants, they used college students who were new to Second Life. The purpose of this research is to examine how the seven factors identified in the Shen and Eder's (2009) extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) relate to the behavioral intention to use workgroup collaboration tools in the Second Life using a non-student sample of experienced Second Life users that was more demographically representative of the Second Life population. Although this research supported many of Shen and Eder's findings, it found a negative relationship between the construct of perceived enjoyment and behavioral intent. This finding is important because contrary to positive relationship with gaming and entertainment environments, perceived enjoyment is not an antecedent for behavioral intention of 3D virtual worlds when used for productivity activities. The results of this study may provide insight for tool developers and integrators on where to focus efforts that lead to improved adoption of these workgroup collaboration tools.
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Cuccurullo, Stefania. "Virtual worlds for education: methodology, interaction and evaluation." Doctoral thesis, Universita degli studi di Salerno, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10556/1433.
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2011 - 2012When students arrive in the classroom they expect to be involved in immersive, fun and challenging learning experiences. There is a high risk that they become quickly bored by the traditional instructional methods. The technological evolution offers a great variety of sophisticated interactive devices and applications that can be combined with innovative learning approaches to enhance study efficiency during the learning process. 3D immersive multi-user Virtual Worlds (VWs) are increasingly becoming popular and accessible to wide public due to the advances in computational power graphics and network bandwidth also connected with reduced costs. As a consequence, it is possible to offer more engaging user experiences. This is particularly true in the learning sector, where an increasing interest is worldwide rising towards three-dimensional (3D) VWs and new interaction modalities to which young digital native people are accustomed to. Researches on the educational value of VWs have revealed their potential as learning platforms. However, further studies are always needed in order to assess their effectiveness, satisfactorily and social engagement not only in the general didactic use of the environment, but also for each specific learning subjects, activities and modality. The main challenge is to well exploit VW features and determine learning approaches and interaction modalities in which the didactic actions present added value with respect to traditional education. Indeed, educational VW activities are evolving from the early ones based only on information displaying towards simulated laboratories and new interaction modalities. The main objective of this thesis is to propose new learning methodologies in Virtual Worlds, also experimenting new interaction modalities and evaluating the effectiveness of the support provided. To this aim we first investigate how effectively a 3D city-building game supports the learning of the waste disposal practice and promotes behavior change. The game is one of the results of a research project funded by Regione Campania and is addressed to primary school children. A deep analysis of the didactic methodologies adopted worldwide has been performed to propose a reputation-based learning approach based on collaborative, competitive and individual activities. Also, the effectiveness of the proposed approach has been evaluated. The didactic opportunities offered by VWs when considering new interaction approaches are also investigated. Indeed, if for the last four decades keyboard and mouse have been the primary means for interacting with computers, recently, the availability of greater processing power, wider memories, cameras, and sensors make it possible to introduce new interaction modalities in commonly used software. Gestural interfaces offer new interaction modalities that the primary school children known well and may result accepted also for higher students. To assess the potentiality of this new interaction approach during learning activities we selected Geography as subject, since there is a decreasing interest of the students towards this topic. To this aim the GeoFly system supporting the Geography learning based on a Virtual Globe and on the interaction modalities offered by Microsoft Kinect has been developed. GeoFly is designed for elementary school level Geography students. It enables the exploration of the World by flying, adopting the bird (or aeroplane) metaphor. It also enables the teacher to create learning trips by associating to specific places images, text and videos, to develop learning activities concerning geographically situated scenarios. The proposed approach has been evaluated through a controlled experiment aiming at assessing the effect of the adoption of GeoFly on both the students' attitude towards learning Geography and also on their knowledge. [edited by author]
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Franceschi-Diaz, Katherina G. "Group Presence In Virtual Worlds: Supporting Collaborative e-Learning." FIU Digital Commons, 2008. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3504.
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Surprenant, Amanda M. "Measuring Trust in Virtual Worlds: Avatar-Mediated Self-Disclosure." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 2012. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5522.
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This study investigated the development of trust between strangers interacting via avatars in virtual worlds. The first part of the study analyzed perceived trustworthiness based on the visual appearance of avatars; the second part makes observations of two strangers self-disclosing information via avatars in a virtual world; the third part analyzed an experimental situation of two individuals interacting via avatars, where avatar appearance was changed and participants were recruited based on their experience with interacting with others via avatars. Findings showed that perceived trustworthiness does vary based on the visual appearance of the avatar. A positive relationship was found for self-disclosure and experience, in that those who have previously chosen to participate in a virtual world were more likely to share more detailed information about themselves. Non-significant differences in self-disclosure were found for avatar appearance; however, experience in using virtual worlds was significantly different for the willingness to share information before engaging in a task: experienced participants shared more information than inexperienced participants. This suggests that self-disclosure might be influenced by appearance at the point of formation in that the experienced are willing to overlook the avatar, and less so when there are other sources of information to base trust-behavior on (Altman & Taylor, 1973; Nowak & Rauh, 2006). Recommendations were made for modifications for similar experiments trying to validate an objective measure of trust, and for continued research in the development of trust between strangers interacting via avatarsID: 031001463; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Adviser: Valerie Sims.; Title from PDF title page (viewed July 8, 2013).; Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2012.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-142).
Ph.D.
Doctorate
Psychology
Sciences
Psychology; Human Factors Psychology
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Kämäräinen, A. (Ali). "Scalability solutions for 3-D multi-user virtual worlds." Master's thesis, University of Oulu, 2014. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201411192004.
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Virtual worlds can be potentially anything, ranging from an astronomical simulation to a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Such a wide variety of potential use cases require a generic and extensible solution when considering the data and communication models for a general-purpose platform for arbitrary virtual worlds with potentially thousands of concurrent users. As computational scalability issues, such as graphics rendering and physics simulation in 3-D environments are already well addressed with existing solutions, this thesis considers the performance problems of multi-user virtual world client-server communication when working on large virtual worlds containing arbitrary data and functionality. Despite the differences in the existing virtual world applications and platforms, all of them share common needs: representing visual 3-D objects, moving and animating them, synchronizing all the necessary data among the participants, and storing it for continuing use and all of this in an efficient manner. In order to succeed in this task, attention must be paid to the scene model that represents the contents of the world, and the protocol that is used to disseminate the changes in the content. Also, by utilizing the available geometric information in the client- server communication and data replication, the data is synchronized between the participants on a need-to-know basis. As a result, this thesis presents a working and production-ready interest manager technique that helps to reduce the server’s bandwidth usage considerably when a world contains lots of moving objectsVirtuaalimaailmat voivat käsitteenä vaihdella tähtitieteellisistä simulaatiosta massiiviiin monen pelajaan verkottuneisiin roolipeleihen. Jälkimmäisissä tarvitaan geneerinen ja laajennettava alustaratkaisu, jonka tieto- ja kommunikaatiomallit riittävät mielivaltaisille virtuaalimaailmoille, joilla on jopa tuhansia yhtäaikaisia käyttäjiä. Laskennalliset skaalautuvuusongelmat, kuten grafiikan luominen ja fysiikan simulointi kolmiulotteisessa ympäristöissä ovat ovat hyvin tunnettuja. Niistä poiketen tämä diplomityö pohtii suorituskykyongelmia monen käyttäjän virtuaalimaailman asiakas-palvelin-mallin kommunikaatiossa, kun sisältö ja toiminnallisuus voivat olla mielivaltaisia. Olemassa olevien sovellusten ja alustojen eroista huolimatta nillä on yhteisiä tarpeita. Visuaalisia kolmiulotteisia objekteja on esitettävä, niitä on liikutettava ja ja elävöitettävä, sekä jaettava tieto osallistujien kesken synkronoiden. Tämän kaiken on tapahduttava tehokkaasti. Jotta näissä tehtävissä onnistuttaisiin, on kiinnitettävä huomiota maailmamalliin ja protokollaan, jolla välitetään tieto sisällön muutoksista. Hyödyntämällä käytettävissä olevaa geometrista informaatiota asiakas-palvelin-kommunikaatiossa ja tiedon replikoinnissa, tieto synkronoidaan osallistujien kesken vain kun se on oleellista yksittäisen osallistujan kannalta. Tuloksena esitetään toimiva ja käytäntöön soveltuva synkronointialueiden hallintatekniikka. Sen avulla vähennetään palvelimen kaistavaatimuksia merkittävästi, kun maailma sisältää paljon liikkuvia ja muuttuvia kohteita
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Franceschi-Diaz, Katherine G. "Group presence in virtual worlds : supporting collaborative e-learning." FIU Digital Commons, 2008. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3523.
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Even though e-learning endeavors have significantly proliferated in recent years, current e-learning technologies provide poor support for group-oriented learning. The now popular virtual world’s technologies offer a possible solution. Virtual worlds provide the users with a 3D - computer generated shared space in which they can meet and interact through their virtual representations. Virtual worlds are very successful in developing high levels of engagement, presence and group presence in the users. These elements are also desired in educational settings since they are expected to enhance performance.
The goal of this research is to test the hypothesis that a virtual world learning environment provides better support for group-oriented collaborative e-learning than other learning environments, because it facilitates the emergence of group presence. To achieve this, a quasi-experimental study was conducted and data was gathered through the use of various survey instruments and a set of collaborative tasks assigned to the participants. Data was gathered on the dependent variables: Engagement, Group Presence, Individual Presence, Perceived Individual Presence, Perceived Group Presence and Performance. The data was analyzed using the statistical procedures of Factor Analysis, Path Analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA).
The study provides support for the hypothesis. The results also show that virtual world learning environments are better than other learning environments in supporting the development of all the dependent variables. It also shows that while only Individual Presence has a significant direct effect on Performance; it is highly correlated with both Engagement and Group Presence. This suggests that these are also important in regards to performance. Developers of e-learning endeavors and educators should incorporate virtual world technologies in their efforts in order to take advantage of the benefit they provide for e-learning group collaboration.
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Kuchi, Chandra K. "Implementing Space and Time Non-linearity in Virtual Worlds." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1305029899.
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Gu, Ning. "Dynamic Designs of Virtual Worlds Using Generative Design Agents." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/984.
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This research aims at developing a different kind of virtual world that is dynamically designed and implemented as needed. Currently, most virtual world designs are considered static. Similar to the physical world, these worlds are pre-defined prior to their use. The resultant environments serve certain purposes but do not take into consideration possible changes to the purposes during their use, changes which often occur when the occupants interact with the environments and with each other. Virtual worlds as networked environments can be flexibly configured and programmed. This flexibility makes it possible to consider virtual world designs in terms of dynamics and autonomy, reflecting the changing needs of different moments. To achieve dynamic designs of virtual worlds, this study applies a computational approach using rational design agents. A Generative Design Agent (GDA) model is developed that specifies computational processes for reasoning and designing in virtual worlds. The GDAs serve as personal design agents to the virtual world occupants. Design formalisms for virtual worlds are also addressed. The design component of a GDA is supported by the application of a generative design grammar. On one hand, generative design grammars serve as the generative force to be applied by the GDAs for virtual world design automation. On the other hand, each grammar defines coherent stylistic characterisations shared by the virtual world designs it generates. The technical outcomes of the research consist of the GDA model and a generative design grammar framework. The framework provides guidelines and strategies to designers for developing generative design grammars that produce different design languages for virtual worlds, rather than predefine every detail of all possible virtual world designs. GDAs monitor the virtual worlds and the various activities that occur in the worlds, interpret the occupants’ needs in the virtual worlds and the state of the worlds based on these observations, hypothesise design goals in order to satisfy these needs, and finally apply generative design grammars to provide virtual world designs for the moment, or initiate other actions in the worlds, according to the current design goals, on behalf of the occupants. The development of the GDA model and the generative design grammar framework provides new perspectives for understanding and developing virtual worlds. The GDA model challenges the conventional way that virtual worlds are designed and implemented, and this leads to dynamic designs of virtual worlds. The generative design grammar framework provides a computational approach to formally defining design languages for virtual worlds.
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Gu, Ning. "Dynamic Designs of Virtual Worlds Using Generative Design Agents." Architecture, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/984.
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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)This research aims at developing a different kind of virtual world that is dynamically designed and implemented as needed. Currently, most virtual world designs are considered static. Similar to the physical world, these worlds are pre-defined prior to their use. The resultant environments serve certain purposes but do not take into consideration possible changes to the purposes during their use, changes which often occur when the occupants interact with the environments and with each other. Virtual worlds as networked environments can be flexibly configured and programmed. This flexibility makes it possible to consider virtual world designs in terms of dynamics and autonomy, reflecting the changing needs of different moments. To achieve dynamic designs of virtual worlds, this study applies a computational approach using rational design agents. A Generative Design Agent (GDA) model is developed that specifies computational processes for reasoning and designing in virtual worlds. The GDAs serve as personal design agents to the virtual world occupants. Design formalisms for virtual worlds are also addressed. The design component of a GDA is supported by the application of a generative design grammar. On one hand, generative design grammars serve as the generative force to be applied by the GDAs for virtual world design automation. On the other hand, each grammar defines coherent stylistic characterisations shared by the virtual world designs it generates. The technical outcomes of the research consist of the GDA model and a generative design grammar framework. The framework provides guidelines and strategies to designers for developing generative design grammars that produce different design languages for virtual worlds, rather than predefine every detail of all possible virtual world designs. GDAs monitor the virtual worlds and the various activities that occur in the worlds, interpret the occupants’ needs in the virtual worlds and the state of the worlds based on these observations, hypothesise design goals in order to satisfy these needs, and finally apply generative design grammars to provide virtual world designs for the moment, or initiate other actions in the worlds, according to the current design goals, on behalf of the occupants. The development of the GDA model and the generative design grammar framework provides new perspectives for understanding and developing virtual worlds. The GDA model challenges the conventional way that virtual worlds are designed and implemented, and this leads to dynamic designs of virtual worlds. The generative design grammar framework provides a computational approach to formally defining design languages for virtual worlds.
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Oliveira, Simão Pedro Resende de. "Using 3D virtual worlds in new educational contexts: IT College in OpenSim." Master's thesis, Universidade de Aveiro, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10773/1220.
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Mestrado em Comunicação MultimédiaAs instituições europeias de Ensino Superior, bem como cada agente envolvido nos processos formais de aprendizagem do Ensino Superior, estão actualmente a experimentar profundas mudanças sob as directivas do Processo de Bolonha. Ao mesmo tempo, as instituições recebem uma nova geração de estudantes, com fortes competências tecnológicas, sendo necessário a estas a compreensão de quais as ferramentas a integrar no currículo educacional, de forma a corresponder às necessidades e expectativas dos seus estudantes. Esta reforma educativa toma lugar enquanto a World Wide Web evolui para a “Web 2.0”: um conjunto de ferramentas tecnológicas e serviços impregnados de princípios como a colaboração, a faceta social e a centralização no utilizador. E novas tendências na Web começam a aparecer, através de paradigmas como os Mundos Virtuais 3D. Esta investigação procura primeiramente compreender como desenhar e construir espaços e ferramentas dentro do Mundo Virtual 3D OpenSim que sejam adequadas às novas realidades educativas e sociais; e adicionalmente, procura que este conhecimento seja usado na criação de uma presença no OpenSim para o Eesti Infotehnoloogia Kolledž, uma instituição de Ensino Superior estoniana. As características do IT Kolledž serão obviamente consideradas durante o processo de investigação. ABSTRACT: European Higher Education institutions, as well as every individual involved in higher education formal learning processes, are currently undergoing profound changes under the guidelines of the Bologna Process. Simultaneously, institutions face a new wave of technological-savvy students and are demanded to understand which tools to integrate in educational curricula in order to adapt to their expectations and needs. This whole educational reform takes place while the World Wide Web evolves into "Web 2.0": a set of technological tools and services impregnated with collaborative, social and user-centered attitudes. And new Web tendencies start to unfold, comprising paradigms such as Virtual 3D Worlds. This research aims firstly to understand how to design and build spaces and tools inside 3D virtual world OpenSim that will be adequate in new educational and social realities; and secondly, to use this knowledge to create an OpenSim presence for Eesti Infotehnoloogia Kolledž, an Estonian higher education institution. IT Kolledž's characteristics will be obviously considered during the research process.
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MacLennan, Alan. "Design of virtual worlds for accessing information : discovery of user preferences." Thesis, Robert Gordon University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10059/320.
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This thesis describes a study carried out with the aim of discovering user preferences as to the design of 3-dimensional virtual worlds for accessing information. No literature was found which dealt with this topic, and it was therefore thought that, rather than ask users to make a selection from arbitrarily-chosen designs, it would be informative to consult the users from the beginning of the design process. To this end, a Grounded Theory methodology was adopted, and users were selected from postgraduate students and staff from Information Management courses at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. Three “rounds” of interviews were conducted. The first round was concerned with finding out what ideas for a world design people would have, the second with testing four worlds derived from the first round, and the third with exploring further ideas that users had, based on their experience of the test worlds. At each stage of the process, emergent theories were constructed, and modified according to subsequent findings. It was established that the factors which influenced this group of users in their preferences for the design of worlds were not structural, as might have been assumed, but instead were related to properties such as familiarity, organisation, assistance, and quality of information and presentation. When the results were examined in the context of developments in the use of virtual environments, it was found that they provide a theoretical underpinning for practices such as the provision of “conventional” library structures in the popular online environment Second Life. This is not a statistical exercise, but it would appear that there are no significant differences based on the criteria of age, gender, or whether a user was staff or student. More thorough studies would be required to determine this absolutely, but for the moment it appears more useful to draw a broad set of conclusions. ii Issues were identified which indicate potentially rewarding areas for further research and design. Specifically, it would be of interest to discover whether the affective responses of these groups are also common to other groups, and to experiment further with worlds designed in the light of the current findings. Further investigation of the small number of cases in which users do not respond to the worlds would also be desirable, to determine whether this response is characteristic of a group of people who will not react positively to any world, or whether these users simply reacted negatively to the examples presented.
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Vázquez, Bermúdez David. "Domain Adaptation of Virtual and Real Worlds for Pedestrian Detection." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/125977.
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La detección de peatones es clave para muchas aplicaciones como asistencia al conductor, video vigilancia o multimedia. Los mejores detectores se basan en clasificadores basados en modelos de apariencia entrenados con ejemplos anotados. Sin embargo, el proceso de anotación es una tarea intensiva y subjetiva cuando es llevada a cabo por personas. Por ello, vale la pena minimizar la intervención humana en dicha tarea mediante el uso de herramientas computacionales como los mundos virtuales porque con ellos podemos obtener anotaciones variadas y precisas de forma rápida. Sin embargo, el uso de este tipo de datos genera la siguiente pregunta: ¿Es posible que un modelo de apariencia entrenado en un mundo virtual pueda funcionar de manera satisfactoria en el mundo real? Para responder esta pregunta, hemos realizado diferentes experimentos que sugieren que los clasificadores entrenados en el mundo virtual pueden ofrecer buenos resultados al aplicarse en ambientes del mundo real. Sin embargo, también se encontró que en algunos casos estos clasificadores se pueden ver afectados por el problema conocido como el cambio en la naturaleza de los datos, igual que ocurre con los clasificadores entrenados en el mundo real. En consecuencia, hemos diseñado un sistema de adaptación de dominio, V-AYLA, en el que hemos probado diferentes técnicas para recoger unos pocos ejemplos del mundo real y combinarlos con una gran cantidad de ejemplos del mundo virtual para entrenar un detector de peatones adaptado. V-AYLA ofrece la misma precisión de detección que un detector entrenado con anotaciones manuales y probado con imágenes reales del mismo dominio. Idealmente, nos gustaría que nuestro sistema se adaptase automáticamente sin necesidad de intervenci ón humana. Por ello, a modo de demostración, proponemos utilizar técnicas de adaptación no supervisadas que permitan eliminar completamente la intervención humana del proceso de adaptación. Hasta donde sabemos, este es el primer trabajo que muestra que es posible desarrollar un detector de objetos en el mundo virtual y adaptarlo al mundo real. Finalmente, proponemos una estrategia diferente para evitar el problema del cambio en la naturaleza de los datos que consiste en recoger ejemplos en el mundo real y reentrenar solamente con ellos pero haciéndolo de tal modo que no se tengan que anotar peatones en el mundo real. El resultado de este clasificador es equivalente a otro entrenado con anotaciones obtenidas de forma manual. Los resultados presentados en esta tesis no se limitan a adaptar un detector de peatones virtuales al mundo real, sino que va más allá, mostrando una nueva metodología que permitiría a un sistema adaptarse a cualquier nueva situación y que sienta las bases para la investigación futura en este campo todavía sin explorar.Pedestrian detection is of paramount interest for many applications, e.g. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Surveillance and Media. Most promising pedestrian detectors rely on appearance-based classifiers trained with annotated samples. However, the required annotation step represents an intensive and subjective task when it has to be done by persons. Therefore, it is worth to minimize the human intervention in such a task by using computational tools like realistic virtual worlds, where precise and rich annotations of visual information can be automatically generated. Nevertheless, the use of this kind of data generates the following question: can a pedestrian appearance model learnt with virtual-world data work successfully for pedestrian detection in real- world scenarios?. To answer this question, we conducted different experiments that suggest that classifiers based on virtual-world data can perform well in real-world environments. However, it was also found that in some cases these classifiers can suffer the so called dataset shift problem as real-world based classifiers does. Accordingly, we have designed a domain adaptation framework, V-AYLA, in which we have explored different techniques to collect a few pedestrian samples from the target domain (real world) and combine them with many samples of the source domain (virtual world) in order to train a domain adapted pedestrian classifier. V-AYLA reports the same detection performance as the one obtained by training with human-provided pedestrian annotations and testing with real-world images from the same domain. Ideally, we would like to adapt our system without any human intervention. Therefore, as a first proof of concept we proposed the use of an unsupervised domain adaptation technique that avoids human intervention during the adaptation process. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that demonstrates adaptation of virtual and real worlds for developing an object detector. We also assess a different strategy to avoid the dataset shift that consists in collecting real-world samples and retrain with them, but in such a way that no bounding boxes of real-world pedestrians have to be provided. We show that the generated classifier is competitive with respect to the counterpart trained with samples collected by manually annotating pedestrian bounding boxes. The results presented on this Thesis not only end with a proposal for adapting a virtual-world pedestrian detector to the real world, but also it goes further by pointing out a new methodology that would allow the system to adapt to different situations, which we hope will provide the foundations for future research in this unexplored area.
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Wathen, Michael S. "Dynamic Scalable Network Area of interest management for Virtual Worlds." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 2001. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA397603.
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Thesis (M.S. in Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation (MOVES))--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2001.Thesis advisor(s): Capps, Michael V. "September 2001". Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-54). Also available online.
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Taylor, Michael James. "How virtual worlds can support collaboration and engagement in healthcare." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/39359.
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Computer-generated, web-based environments, known as 'virtual worlds', allow for novel and innovative methods of high-quality remote interaction. Virtual worlds have been used in various organisational contexts, including healthcare, though there remains potential for new ways that they may be used to facilitate non-clinical healthcare-related interacitons. This Thesis investigated use of virtual worlds to improve collaboration and engagement in healthcare. Results of research detailed here contribute to new understanding of how interpersonal interactions are altered in a virtual world context, and of drivers, barriers and implications of possible use of virtual worlds in a number of non-clinical healthcare-related contexts, which had not previously been empirically tested.
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Cicognani, Anna. "A Linguistic Characterisation of Design in Text-Based Virtual Worlds." University of Sydney. Design Science, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/371.
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In this research, it is suggested that design in text-based virtual worlds can be identified as a series of interactions between users and the virtual environment, and that these interactions for design can be approached using a linguistic perspective. The main assumption of this research is that a parallel can be drawn between the performance of design commands, and the one of speech acts in the physical world. Design in text-based virtual environments can then be articulated using a restricted set of speech acts, as design commands. Virtual worlds, represented as spaces, can be constructed following an architectural design metaphor. This metaphor provides a framework for the organisation of virtual entity relationships, and for the choice of words used to design. A linguistic characterisation is presented, by means of design activities, prototypes and scenarios, which derive from the architectural design metaphor. The characterisation of design is then validated by the analysis of an existing text-based virtual world.
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Parkes, Dale R. "A home for virtual worlds, a data centre for Halifax." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/MQ63550.pdf.
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Polydorou, Doros. "Immersion and interaction : creating virtual 3D worlds for stage performances." Thesis, Brunel University, 2011. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/6408.
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This thesis formulates an approach towards the creation of a gesture activated and body movement controlled real time virtual 3d world in a dance performance context. It investigates immersion and navigation techniques derived from modern video games and methodologies and proposes how they can be used to further involve a performer into a virtual space as well as simultaneously offer a stimulating visual spectacle for an audience. The argument presented develops through practice-based methodology and artistic production strategies in interdisciplinary and collaborative contexts. Two choreographic performance/installations are used as cases studies to demonstrate in practice the proposed methodologies. First, the interactive dance work Suna No Onna, created in collaboration with Birringer/Danjoux and the Dap Lab, investigates the use of interactive pre-rendered animations in a real time setting and in real time by incorporating wearable sensors in the performance. Secondly, the potentials offered by the sensor technology and real time rendering engines led to the “creation scene", a key scene in the choreographic installation UKIYO (Moveable Worlds). This thesis investigates the design, creation and interaction qualities of virtual 3d spaces by exploring the potentialities offered by a shared space, between an intelligent space and a dancer in a hybrid world. The methodology applied uses as a theoretical base the phenomenological approach of Merleau-Ponty and Mark Hansen‟s mixed reality paradigm proposing the concept of the “space schema", a system which replicates and embeds proprioception, perception and motility into the space fabric offering a world which “lives”, functions and interacts with the performer. The outcome of the research is the generation of an interactive, non-linear, randomized 3d virtual space that collaborates with a technologically embedded performer in creating a 3d world which evolves and transforms, driven by the performer‟s intention and agency. This research contributes to the field of interactive performance art by making transparent the methodology, the instruments and the code used, in a non-technical terminology, making it accessible for both team members with less technological expertise as well as artists aspiring to engage interactive 3d media promoting further experimentation and conceptual discussions.