Death of an avatar

Rebecca FergusonIET, The Open University

Virtual worldshave no Ctrl+Z

Personal experience

2009: The gross revenues of the third-party gaming services industry were around US$3 billion

2009: Around 100,000 people worldwide earned their primary income by harvesting virtual resources and providing in-world services

2011: Residents of Second Life held in-world assets worth US$29.3 million

2013: About twice the population of Gibraltar

http://www.gridsurvey.com/economy.phpLehdonvirta, V., & Ernkvist, M. (2011).

Knowledge Map of the Virtual Economy, The World Bank

Virtual futures

Personal experienceAwareness of deathaffects how we live

our lives

A

A eulogy for ‘one of the largest youth-led communities the world had ever seen, online or off, in charge of its own activities and economy’

Significant loss

SBereavement“She was like

a mother to us”

New issues for counselling

“People don’t want to acknowledge the possibility that they’ve been duped because to do so would be to face the possibility that someone in whom they invested a

great deal emotionally was a liar, a cheat, and a fraud […] I have a great deal of sympathy for the ‘bereft’. They're being put through emotional hell, when it’s becoming

increasingly likely that someone they loved is more interested in filling that lonely void in their own lives

than the feelings of others.”http://bit.ly/1cqDFAM

Ethical issues

Memorials

Ezra died October 2008, at the age of 12… his pet dog remains well fed and cared for by the passing community of World of Warcraft players

Medicine

Typology of Second Life death

Physical-world life – Physical-world death Permanent / temporaryPhysical-world life – Virtual-world death Permanent / temporaryVirtual-world life – Physical-world death Permanent / temporaryVirtual-world life – Virtual-world death Permanent / temporary

Physical death

Permanent People who lived and died in the physical world are memorialised in the virtual world

Physical death

Temporary Fictional characters such as Hamlet, who have lived and died many times in the physical world, are celebrated within the virtual world

Virtual death

Permanent Avatars are deleted against the wishes of their owners – eg when a virtual world closes

Virtual death

Temporary Individuals stage the death of their avatars for comic or tragic effect, but can revive them later

Physical life

Physical death

Permanent A iving person animates the avatar of a dead individual, perhaps to claim virtual-world cash or resources

Physical death

Temporary Dead people are brought back to life as non-player characters or bots, eg in historical simulations

Virtual death

Permanent Avatars are created to play the part of dead bodies, as in emergency training

Virtual death

Temporary Non-player characters are placed in simulations where they may be killed whenever the simulation is run

Virtual life

Physical-world life Physical-world permanent death

Field tripsExploration of issuesPrompt to creativity

Physical-world life Physical-world temporary death

Field tripsExploration of art and literaturePrompt to creativity

Virtual-world life Physical-world temporary death

Field tripsHelps bring sites to lifeDifferent perspectives

Virtual-world life Virtual-world temporary death

http://projects.ict.usc.edu/force/cominghome/checkpoint.php

SimulationsEmergency training

Familiar from games

New challenges for education

http://projects.ict.usc.edu/force/cominghome/checkpoint.php

Physical-world life Virtual-world permanent death

Death of an avatar is significant if that avatar is the family breadwinner

4. Physical-world life Virtual-world temporary death

• Stimulus for creativity

• Meanings of death• Gothic literature• Horror genre

– but also raises questions about the identity and real-life existence of the avatars we meet

Virtual-world life Physical-world permanent death

What are the ethics and etiquette associated with death?

How do we claim an avatar’s resources when its owner is dead?

Death in virtual worlds

Raises issues connected with • Loss• Bereavement• Counselling• Memorials• Medicine

Poses new challenges in relation to • Ethical behaviour• Property rights• Employment rights• Protection of information

Ferguson, R. (2012). Death of an avatar: implications of presence for learners and educators in virtual worlds. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds, 4(2), 137-152.

Gibbs, M., Mori, J., Arnold, M., & Kohn, T. (2012). Tombstones, uncanny monuments and epic quests: memorials in World of Warcraft. Game Studies, 12(1)

Klastrup, L. (2008). What makes World of Warcraft a world? A note on death and dying. In H. G. Corneliussen & J. Walker Rettberg (Eds.), Digital Culture, Play and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader (pp. 143-166). Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Lombard, M., & Ditton, T. (1997). At the heart of it all: the concept of presence. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3(2), 1-42.

Relevant reading

Second Life:Marie Arnold

Fox Phlox