tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557254.post114540232956241042..comments2024-03-18T13:02:53.349-06:00Comments on blog-efl: MMOG & MMRPG in Educationblog-eflhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532316449457675061noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557254.post-1145785785815539982006-04-23T04:49:00.000-05:002006-04-23T04:49:00.000-05:00This is great, Toops - thanks very much for sharin...This is great, Toops - thanks very much for sharing this with usblog-eflhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09532316449457675061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557254.post-1145729597478649222006-04-22T13:13:00.000-05:002006-04-22T13:13:00.000-05:00Hi Graeme, really enjoyed the topic and you point ...Hi Graeme, really enjoyed the topic and you point toward some interesting areas.<BR/><BR/>In regard to playing those types of games to improve language, this is one aspect I did in fact discover during one of my investigations into MMORPG communities as legitimate communities in their own right.<BR/><BR/>Later on in the document I refer to the work of Jurgen Habermas and his theories on Communicative Rationality and Action. In it Habermas believed that people within a community actively subscribe to rules, regulations and extra-cognitive rules so as their communitie can reach some form of understanding. <BR/><BR/>Whlist investigating this, I discovered that many players would often criticise other players who did not use the language of that particular server - in my case it was an English server. The developers did not make it law that everyone had to speak English.<BR/><BR/>Though unaware of this, one of the reasons I found why this occured was again in regard to Habermas and the idea that if one were to speak in a foreign tongue then an understanding cannot be reached between players. Simply, communication as a prerequisite for community formation cannot be made - what Habermas terms a 'universal pragmatics' that all abide by, either by law or by their own motivation.<BR/><BR/>Aside from this many non-native speaking English players would actively encourage this extra-cognitive rule of all players speaking English, because they found it vital as a tool in order to learn the English language.<BR/><BR/>It was an example of a somewhat cyclical sharing of lifeworlds; of how a person's real-world motivations (their 'off-line lives' to denote how people's lives in cyberspace is no less real) as in the need to learn english, encourages players to take a pro-active role in virtual space (their 'on-line lives') and back again.<BR/><BR/>Great insights here Graeme and the rest, many thanks :) You can find extracts of my investigations on my blog. Regards.Toopshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03230869816587261327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557254.post-1145515312684977522006-04-20T01:41:00.000-05:002006-04-20T01:41:00.000-05:00That's great Cleve - that makes three of us as a c...That's great Cleve - that makes three of us as a colleague of mine here in Barcelona is also interested. Shall we set up a virtual language academy inside Second Life?<BR/><BR/>EFLGeek, you're absolutely right - I still don't know how feasible it is either as I've only just joined - I had to upgrade the drivers of my graphics card before I could use it - I spent last night making my way down "Orientation hill" and am now on "Help Island. "<BR/><BR/>I'd originally thought there'd be more of a voice chat feature (I'm sure it'll come), but it's all text chat as far as I can see, which could be limiting. I was talking to some of the mentors in the game yesterday, many of whom are multilingual - there are lots of non-native speakers of English joining at the moment, and I think many of them will find it tough if they don't have a reasonable level of English.<BR/><BR/>We shall see. The Second Life world intrigues me - the whole way it is set up, the economy, etc. At the very least, it's worth exploring its possibilities.blog-eflhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09532316449457675061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557254.post-1145500218899504302006-04-19T21:30:00.000-05:002006-04-19T21:30:00.000-05:00I'm curious as to how you could teach with second ...I'm curious as to how you could teach with second life since you cannot guarantee that students will have access to a computer with the minimum requirements (especially the video card) - I was looking into it as a resource that I would recommend to students if they have computers that can do it.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11989187729918340070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557254.post-1145492249378372062006-04-19T19:17:00.000-05:002006-04-19T19:17:00.000-05:00Count me in - I've been planning to teach via Seco...Count me in - I've been planning to teach via Second Life for a while now, and boy was that Wired issue killer - have you seen the video (on YouTube) of Will Wright presenting his newest game? It's mindboggling.<BR/><BR/>Anyway let me set up another Second Life account and I'll ping you.Cleve Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12342008845592448835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557254.post-1145421067596252522006-04-18T23:31:00.000-05:002006-04-18T23:31:00.000-05:00damn... I tried it, but my video card isn't suppor...damn... I tried it, but my video card isn't supported, I don't play games so didn't buy a high end card.<BR/><BR/>played for awhile and it was real slow, then crashed.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11989187729918340070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557254.post-1145418695526450062006-04-18T22:51:00.000-05:002006-04-18T22:51:00.000-05:00Second life looks pretty intersting. And if you ar...Second life looks pretty intersting. And if you are wealthy you can even <A HREF="http://secondlife.com/community/land-islands.php" REL="nofollow">buy an island</A> where your students would be able to learn - 25% discount available for verified educators.<BR/><BR/>I think I'll signup and look around.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11989187729918340070noreply@blogger.com