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Perspectives on Scales, Contexts, and Directionality of Collaborations in and Around Virtual Worlds and Video Games

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International Handbook of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

Part of the book series: Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series ((CULS,volume 19))

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Abstract

Interpersonal collaborations play a key role in video games and virtual worlds. Yet historically, research regarding games and virtual worlds in CSCL has focused on the smaller, more localized aspects of collaboration within games and virtual worlds. In this chapter, our goal is to broaden the ways in which we conceptualize the possibilities of CSCL in video games and virtual worlds. We argue for broadly and imaginatively expanding the scales, contexts, and directionality of collaborative learning, considering each area in turn and providing vignettes of research that break traditional bounds in considering what collaboration is, where it takes place, and how to study it in video games and virtual worlds. In the discussion, we turn to next steps for CSCL in addressing issues of scale, access, and methods that capture the richness and diversity of computer-supported collaborative learning in video games and virtual worlds.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Let’s Play” videos are multipart videos where the video creator plays through a game while offering commentary and thoughts on the game experience.

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Further Readings

  • Chen, M. (2012). Leet noobs: The life and death of an expert player group in World of Warcraft. New York, NY: Peter Lang. Chen explores in great detail a group of 40 game players as they join, play, adjust, adapt, and eventually separate in the massive multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft. In his ethnographic account, he demonstrates how the group expertise was distributed across roles, tools, responsibilities, and a network of actors. This book has implications for analyzing and supporting long-term collaboration in both formal and informal spaces.

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  • Gee, J. P., & Hayes, E. R. (2011). Language and learning in the digital age. London: Routledge. In this accessible and engaging volume, Gee and Hayes address the ways that digital media are transforming language and learning in the twenty-first century. Highlighting examples from games such as The Sims, virtual worlds like Second Life, and passionate affinity spaces all over the internet, their work serves as an inspiration to all those seeking to design for and research collaboration in computer-supported contexts.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instructional Technologies & Learning Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Deborah Fields

  2. Teaching & Leadership Division, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Yasmin Kafai & Stefan Slater

  3. California State University-Fresno, Curriculum & Instruction, Fresno, CA, USA

    Earl Aguilera

  4. Teacher Education, University of Texas, El Paso, USA

    Justice Walker

Authors
  1. Deborah Fields
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  2. Yasmin Kafai
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  3. Earl Aguilera
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  4. Stefan Slater
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  5. Justice Walker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deborah Fields .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany

    Ulrike Cress

  2. Language Technologies Institute and Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Carolyn Rosé

  3. Department of Administration Leadership, and Technology, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Alyssa Friend Wise

  4. Faculty of Informatics, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka, Japan

    Jun Oshima

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Fields, D., Kafai, Y., Aguilera, E., Slater, S., Walker, J. (2021). Perspectives on Scales, Contexts, and Directionality of Collaborations in and Around Virtual Worlds and Video Games. In: Cress, U., Rosé, C., Wise, A.F., Oshima, J. (eds) International Handbook of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65291-3_20

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