I initially started research on MMORPG with particular attention to their characteristics and problematic use
This evolved into looking into the Hole in the Wall project And has culminated into an entanglement as I looked into viewing these from the perspective of Presence.
The Hole in the Wall project is a decided case for witnessed presence “He (Sugata Mitra) emphasizes that children who gather in natural witnessed presence, because they enter into conversation with each other, have unexpected high learning curves. » from an interview with Caroline Nevejan. The Granny Cloud offshoot as well as Mitras work at Newcastle University will be able to test the effects of mediated presence on learning whilst maintaining Mitra’s concept of Minimally Invasive Education.
MMORPG’s offer an experience of presence. In The Illusion of Presence in Immersive Virtual Reality during an fMRI Brain Scan HUNTER G. HOFFMAN, Ph.D.,1,2,3 TODD RICHARDS, Ph.D.,3 BARBARA CODA, M.D.,4 ANNE RICHARDS, B.S.,3 and SAM R. SHARAR, M.D.4CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR Volume 6, Number 2, 2003
Researchers found that “Subjects reported experiencing a strong illusion of presence in VR via the magnet-friendly VR image delivery system, in spite of the constraints of lying down with immobilized head in an enclosed environment (the fMRI bore) with loud knocking noises. »
Emotional Response Patterns and Sense of Presence during Video Games: Potential Criterion Variables for Game Design,Niklas Ravaja,Mikko Salminen, Jussi Holopainen, Timo Saari, Jari Laarni ; Aki Järvinen, Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction; Vol. 82
Also look at the sense of presence amongst other traits to find game characteristics that maximize entertainment and pleasure in Game design
As does
Yee, N. (2006). The Demographics, Motivations and Derived Experiences of Users of Massively-Multiuser Online Graphical Environments. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15, 309-329.
Caroline Nevejan in her thesis Presence and the Design of Trust deals extensively with this topic and with Witnessed presence in particular Witnessed Presence and the YUTPA Framework, PsychNology Journal, 2009 Volume 7, Number 1, 59 – 76
“the notion of witnessed presence proposed in this paper takes the sociological perspective of ‘witnssed presence as agency’ in mediated and non-mediated environments to sustain well-being and survival for the individual human being and between human beings as well.”
The question of well-being has emerged in a number of researchers work:
Internet Paradox - A Social Technology That Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological Well-Being ? Robert Kraut, Michael Patterson, Vicki Lundmark, Sara Kiesler, Tridas Mukopadhyay, and William Scherlis, September 1998 ° American Psychologist
Problematic Internet use and psychosocial well-being among MMO players Caplan, S., et al.. Computers in Human Behavior (2009)
Journals
BJET British Journal of Educational Technology
CyberPsychology and Behavior
Journal of Psychiatric Research
PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments
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