Betterverse: Nonprofits in the Virtual World

"Digital Kids" Conference in LA Has No Sessions on Education or Youth Development

I get frequent updates about industry-focused events like the "Digital Kids" conference, taking place April 25-26 in LA. This convention, now in its sixth year, is intended to "provide companies the critical information they need to build successful online and mobile products and services for kids."

I understand that the target audience is for-profit companies that market to young people. Still it galls me that with all the hundreds of panels, workshops, presentations and booths, that there is apparently no space left for education or youth development.

Here are the five tracks of the conference: Safety, Content, Operations, Business and Market Research. See anything missing?

Youth development and education are totally off the table.  And in fact, if you do a Google site search, the phrase "youth development" does not appear once.  And the only panel on education focuses on "education about online safety."

Ellen Degeneres Promotes WeTopia Virtual World to Help Charities

Television personality Ellen DeGeneres recently encouraged her millions of viewers to start playing "WeTopia," a web-based virtual world / game where players can create their own villages and play various games with each other. In addition to the fun and entertainment value, players can earn virtual credit that can be contributed to various causes, including Save the Children, Blue Planet, and Heifer International.  

Nice to see a celebrity who understands that fun game play and supporting charities can go together, and that virtual worlds are places that "normal" people can visit.

Can YOU Make a Game for Peace? Enter the Playing 4 Peace Game Challenge!

My friends at Global Kids tell me that there is a new game design contest that might interest Betterverse readers: the "Playing 4 Peace" Challenge. Between now and April 30, youth around the country are being challenged to design games promoting peace and the end of war using the Gamestar Mechanic game development system.

The top prize winner will win an AMD-powered laptop, a three year Premium Subscription to Gamestar Mechanic, and a personalized t-shirt featuring original Gamestar Mechanic artwork and a screenshot of their game.

Sounds like a really fun challenge and a great cause.  Get your entry in before April 30. 

Minecraft going dark on January 18 to Protest Web Censorship, Linden Lab is silent

 

From a tweet by Minecraft creator Notch, I learned that the website of the sandbox MMO game Minecraft will be going "dark" in solidarity with thousands of other sites on the internet closing their doors in protest of the PIPA / SOPA legislation before the US Congress. 

To be clear, the game Minecraft will still be playable for those that have already downloaded and activated it.  Just the web-version of the game and the website Minecraft.net will not be accessible. Still, that's a bold move for one of the hottest online games out there!

 No other MMOs or virtual worlds that I know of are planning similar actions, unfortunately, despite EFF confirming that these games and worlds are just as prone to censorship and punishment as "regular" websites. New World Notes asked Linden Lab, the makers of Second Life, if they would be issuing a statement or taking any kind of stand.  Their press person said that he "had not comment at this time."  How disappointing since Second Life could just as easily be put under scrutiny, penalized and even shut down, if even one of its millions of residents were to post links to some infringing content.

That's too bad.  It would be a powerful statement if the metaverse went dark, and if millions of players went to their representatives to tell them to oppose these bills.

Lucas Gillispie on using Minecraft in the Classroom (chatlog)

 

On November 11, the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life welcomed Mr. Lucas Gillispie, an Instructional Technology Coordinator in North Carolina, to talk about how he is using the sandbox digital game Minecraft in the classroom.  What follows is a lightly edited transcript of the talk he gave and the resulting conversation.

[09:05]  Rik Panganiban : ...we should move on to our featured guest. Newton Apogee please come on down. 

[09:06]  Rik Panganiban : Newton is known in the real world as Lucas Gillispie. Lucas Gillispie is an Instructional Technology Coordinator for Pender County Schools in North Carolina. I met lucas a couple of years ago at some games confreence?

[09:06]  Newton Apogee: Games in Education, I believe.

[09:06]  Rik Panganiban : And I've been following what he's been doing in World of Warcraft with admiration for some time now

[09:07]  Newton Apogee: <grins>

[09:07]  Rik Panganiban : He's taken that knowledge of how to use an MMO in the classroom to his work now in Minecraft. So I'd love to hear from him how you can use this sandbox game in the classroom, and to accomplish what. Take it away, newton.

Learn about Minecraft in the Classroom at Nonprofit Commons tomorrow November 11

This Friday, November 11, the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life welcomes Lucas Gillispie to talk about his working bringing the sandbox game Minecraft into the classroom. Starting at 8:30am PST, come to the Plush Nonprofit Commons amphitheater (teleport link) for this interesting discussion on gaming and education, as well as announcements and news relevant to nonprofits and virtual worlds. 

About Minecraft in School:

Lucas Gillispie is an Instructional Technology Coordinator for Pender County Schools in North Carolina. An educator for over a decade, Lucas is involved in several game-based learning projects in his district including the use of World of Warcraft to teach language arts, mobile gaming using iPads and most recently, using the independently developed building game, Minecraft.

Learners in Pender County Schools are tapping into creativity using Minecraft, a multiplayer, Lego-like sandbox game that allows players to easily explore the limits of their imagination. Fifth grade students from Topsail Elementary have been using the game as a foundation for discussing the elements of a functional civilization. Along the way, students are benefiting from a hidden curriculum in which they're developing teamwork, leadership, and digital citizenship in an engaging and relevant game world.

Lucas's website is http://edurealms.com and you can be follow him at @PCSTech on Twitter.

 

Nonprofit Commons

Take a horse-drawn carriage tour of Nonprofit Commons, an area that contains more than 150 nonprofit and social benefit organizations in Second Life.

Visit in Second Life

 

eXtension Virtual State Fair October 26-29 in Second Life

Virtual State Fair

The Virtual State Fair is home of the Cooperative Extension System, a large, informal education organization in Second Life. Games, rides, exhibits, and learning tools are offered to the public, while meeting and conferencing facilities are available to educators.

Visit in Second Life

 

Come to the 4th annual eXtension Virtual State Fair in Second Life from October 26-29.  At the Fair you can enjoy rides, games and concerts and learn about what educators are doing in virtual worlds. New this year is the Land Grant University Expo, highlighting virtual world projects by educators around the country, with group tours departing for their regions each day.

Looks like a fun and light way to find out about virtual education, and all the rides are free!  And I hear that the virtual funnel cake contains zero calories too.

Click the image above to teleport there.

This Week Only: "Login 2 Life" Streaming Online for Free

Draxtor Despres shares the exciting news that the new virtual world documentary "Login 2 Life" is now streaming for free online.  You can now watch the film in its entirety at this link.  We believe this will only be available for one week, so watch it while you can!

Read our review of "Login 2 Life" and our interview with director Daniel Moshel.

Interview with Daniel Moshel, Director of "Login 2 Life"

 

On Friday, October 7, Daniel Moshel, director of the new virtual world documentary "Login 2 Life" spoke at the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life .  A full transcript will be posted soon. But I wanted to share with everyone the main comments from Daniel Moshel, which I found very interesting: 

 

Rik Riel:Daniel, perhaps you might introduce yourself and tell us what motivated you to make this film?

Daniel Moshel: Everything started when the MMO World of Warcraft was released and I subscribed. Immediately. I was overwhelmed by the vast territory and the huge range of possibilities to play the game with others. In the 1st year, I spent 30 whole days online. 

In this time I watched lots of the machinima work on YouTube, and I was very impressed by the variety and creativity of these flicks. You could find music videos, spoofs on TV shows, short films and ads made with game engines. The only thing missing was a documentary. This fact and the question "Who is the human behind the avatar's appearance?" formed the basic idea.

Virtual World Documentary "Login 2 Life" Premiering in Germany and Online October 17!

This morning, the Nonprofit Commons was fortunate enough to feature the director of the new virtual world documentary "Login 2 Life," Mr. Daniel Moshel, for our weekly meetup in Second Life.  Daniel shared a number of interesting insights into the filmmaking process and his general views about synthetics worlds and online game spaces.  We will be publishing the chatlog here and on the NPC blog shortly.

Meanwhile I wanted to share some exciting news imparted by Draxtor Despres.  Not only is the film premiering in Germany on October 17, it will also be streaming for free online for a week starting that day!  According to Draxtor, "it will premiere 10/17 midnight on ZDF & stream via their website http://www.zdf.de for one week all over the planet [no geo-blocking YES YES YES]."

For those interested in watching it together, perhaps we could host a stream in the Nonprofit Commons that week?  It's a very good film, so not to be missed, however you see it.

[Pictured: Draxtor Despres, Jaynine Scarborough, Gentle Heron and Daniel Moshel.]