Flat World Strategies: Online Games People Play [31:37]

Flat World Strategies: Online Games People Play Overview: According to wikipedia.com: MMORPGs are online Role Playing Games (RPG's) in which a large number of players interact with one another in a virtual world. As in all RPGs, players assume the role of a fictional character (most commonly in a fantasy setting) and take control over many of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player RPGs by the number of players, and by the game's persistent world, usually hosted by the game's publisher, which continues to exist and evolve while the player is away from the game. Today business and industry (including Intel and IBM) along with academic institutions (including Harvard and the University of Washington) are developing MMORPGs that provide education and training. In this session we'll take a look at some of the common games and discuss how they could potentially be used in our classrooms. Social NetworkingA social network is a social structure made of nodes which are generally individuals or organizations. It indicates the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds. The term was first coined in 1954 by J. A. Barnes (in: Class and Committees in a Norwegian Island Parish, "Human Relations"). The maximum size of social networks tends to be around 150 people and the average size around 124 (Hill and Dunbar, 2002). Social networking also refers to a category of Internet applications to help connect friends, business partners, or other individuals together using a variety of tools. These applications, known as online social networks are becoming increasingly popular[1]. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking MMORPGs Your Future Students are Playing Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom: www.vmk.comGood Article: http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/05/disneys_virtual_magic_kingdom.html Cyworld: http://us.cyworld.com/Good Article: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_39/b3952405.htm Ones Your Current Students are PlayingWorld of Warcraft: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml EverQuest: http://eqplayers.station.sony.com/ Maple Story: http://www.maplestory.com/ Final Fantasy 11: http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/index.shtml Guildwars: http://www.guildwars.com/ Second Life: http://secondlife.comGood article: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982001.htm OpenBC: http://corporate.openbc.com/en/the-company.html What is Business Doing?  IBM Second Life Story:http://news.com.com/2300-1014_3-6135108-1.html?part=rss&tag=6135108&subj=news What about education : USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-10-05-second-life-class_x.htm Second Life Community: Education Link: http://secondlife.com/community/education.php Example: Harvard Law in the Court of Public OpinionCourse Link: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cyberone 20 Minute Second Life Harvard Tutorial Video: http://cm.dce.harvard.edu/2006/01/82002/P11/seg1/index_SingleHighBandwidth.html