Supporting Coursework in an Online Gaming Environment

As video games are growing in popularity among a wider audience, new challenges and opportunities are arising for game-oriented research. For example, one characteristic of many modern games is an infrastructure for collaboration - game environments often involve multiple players who either compete or collaborate to accomplish individual or shared objectives. Support for collaboration makes certain game activities possible, but also has initiated a number of virtual communities, i.e. the players who regularly plan ahead to meet within a gaming environment (such as the large groups of Everquest players or the new and extremely popular Warcraft game). Our research begins with the premise that online communities of this sort might have other benefits, such as supporting collaboration and community in other online activities. Currently, we are initiating a project that will explore the relationship of identity establishment in online gaming environments with students' willingness and desire to participate in other online activities (e.g. group projects)