The Long-term Uses of Shared Virtual Environments: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

In this chapter we are interested in the long-term uses of shared virtual environments (VEs). We begin with a review of research that is relevant to this topic. Next, we describe an exploratory trial to examine long-term uses whereby four participants - the authors of this chapter - took part in ten one-hour meetings in a desktop VE, Active Worlds (AW). The trial allowed us to examine the problems and changes that took place over the course of these meetings. The aim was to explore both technical and social problems. We found that the main technical problems were related to voice communication. We also found that technical issues and issues to do with the design of the VE, which have been the focus of much research on YEs, were much less important than specific social issues, including awareness of each other and how meetings were organized. We found, moreover, that there was a process of "adaptation" to the constraints of the system, and to how we collaborated in the VE. We conclude by describing some implications of these findings for future research into long-term uses of shared YEs.