Orientation Through Playing was the title of my final-year dissertation. In it, I sought to improve virtual world tutorials by using teaching techniques owing more to games design than to more traditional education. Overview - Samples

Overview

My investigation revealed clear ties between game tutorial design (and MMO design in particular) and methods used in teaching new skills to adults through long-distance learning. There is an existing framework for delivering this content, and yet virtual worlds like Second Life tend to rely on text or video-based, non-interactive orientation.

I asked, "if we can turn the new user's 'first hour' into a fun quest rather than a lecture, might we better prepare them for life in this online world?", also seeking to ease the obligation upon existing users who're often asked for help with the most basic of tasks.

This project continues as I seek virtual land for a more concrete tutorial space - the original was to be propegated in Extropia.

My dissertation (sans design document) may be read here.

Samples

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