Second Life for second time

February 23, 2009 by Haley Etchison 

Upcoming media studies course dives into virtual worlds, looks at online behaviors and communities

Students can escape the real world of mid-semester stress again this year, as journalism and media studies professor Larry Mullen will be offering JOUR 447, Massively Multiplayer Online Games.

The modular course explores the increasingly popular games and virtual worlds and starts March 12. 

The class’s predecessor in spring 2009 focused on the most populated virtual world, Second Life.

James Barry served as a graduate assistant in Mullen’s class last semester, designing some assignments and helping find the different virtual communities in which much of the class would be conducted.

In the original experimental incarnation of the course, it  mostly  focused  on Second Life, though some other Massively Multiplayer Online Games were looked at,” explained Barry. “The content revolved around the workings, the communities, and the commerce of online environments such as Second Life.

According to Barry, Mullen’s class was designed to teach academic research methods for new environments. He said the course sought to guide students in answering questions about how to study emerging worlds of virtual reality, using existing techniques.

Barry explained how Mullen’s class can help students further their academic careers even outside the fields of communications and technology in fun, interactive ways. 

“It’s a course that teaches research methods, while having students work in

virtual environments,” he said. 

“You’ll still be learning methodologies that will help in graduate school or in any field that requires a hint of research, but you’re learning it while exploring such things as living tree houses, giant hotels and mockups of casinos, or even medieval lands.”

Barry contnued, “The other reason: You’ll be seeing things that couldn’t exist in the real

world. Second Life and a few other MMOs all are environments where people can build or create anything.” 

He described a tiny virtual house built to teach users about Schizophrenia.

“Inside the house’s rooms, you’d see the world as a Schizophrenic might. Its one thing to tell people about voices, or hallucinations, but when you experience it (even virtually) it really drives home how un-nerving mental illness can be, and how much it can hurt.” Mullen’s innovative class was recognized in academic circles outside the walls of UNLV and is expected to continue to bring exposure to the college of urban affairs this time around. 

“Our students went out and met people from other universities, other countries, other cultures, and not just ask questions, but act as representatives for UNLV’s community as well,” Barry said. 

“I believe that UNLV needs to have a presence in Second Life or other virtual settings. They can be used as a recruiting tool and more,” Mullen said. He explained how important it is that UNLV maintain a presence in virtual worlds despite the financial crunch. 

The University’s stake in Second Life is determined by the distance education department, which sponsored a learning environment in Second Life. “The director of distance education has decided not to continue funding this virtual presence,” Mullen said.“It would be a shame to lose our only public presence in the virtual setting.”