2020
Vol 13, No 1 (2020): The Dark Side of Virtual Worlds
The Journal of Virtual World Research’s “The Dark Side” issue dives into some fascinating ideas about how evil is represented in the virtual worlds of digital games. This issue includes five articles elaborating on the motivations for evil acts and their outcomes, hostile competitiveness, classification of deviant leisure, how immoral acts are determined, and our ability to thwart these cruel activities in the virtual environments and games.
When we started planning the “Dark Side of Virtual Worlds” issue last year, NO ONE IMAGINED that humanity would be in ONE OF ITS DARKEST times – the age of COVID-19. Consequently, and of special interest to our JVWR community, much of the human activity now is virtual.
2019
Vol 12, No 3 (2019): Assembled 2019
Vol 12, No 2 (2019): Impact - Educational Cases
In the context of educational research, definitions of “impact” have proliferated alongside critiques of its efficacy and appropriateness, and it is important to consider the applicability of the term, as well as to reflect on how it can be shaped and defined.
In order to address these issues of increasing importance and relevance in virtual and immersive environments, this special edition of The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research brings together four articles to consider these questions in the specific field of education.
Vol 12, No 1 (2019): Pedagogy - Taking Stock and Looking Forward (Part 2)
2019 marks the tenth anniversary of a landmark issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, which was themed on ‘Pedagogy.’ Volume 2 Number 1 of the journal was the fruition of a vision of the late Leslie Jarmon, a pioneer academic in the use of virtual worlds and immersive environments for learning. Much has changed since the heady days of the late 2000s, yet many aspects have proved enduring.
This issue represents the concluding half of an effort to commemorate the occasion and aims to document both the present and emerging state-of-the-art, covering the adoption, design, enaction, scaling and translation of immersive and/or mixed-reality environments for learning, and in other contexts of education.
2018
Vol 11, No 3 (2018): Pedagogy - Taking Stock and Looking Forward (Part 1)
This issue aims to document both the present and emerging state-of-the-art, covering the adoption, design, enaction, scaling and translation of immersive and/or mixed-reality environments for learning, and in other contexts of education.
Vol 11, No 2 (2018): Assembled 2018 Part 2
Vol 11, No 1 (2018): Assembled 2018
2017
Vol 10, No 3 (2017): EVE Online
Vol 10, No 2 (2017): Real Virtual Relationships
Vol 10, No 1 (2017): Assembled 2017
They represent a field that truly is 'assembled' - emerging from and supported by passionate scholars from various intellectual backgrounds.
2016
Vol 9, No 3 (2016): Edge
Vol 9, No 2 (2016): Assembled 2016 Part 2
This issue, as with all JVWR assembled issues, aimed at highlighting the diversity of issues of virtual and real worlds. Three of the five articles chosen for this Assembled issue are concerned with questions related to the body, specially the gendered body, but each brings a different perspective: YouTube channels that revolves around gender, race and ethnicity; gender issues through avatar choice, appearance and identification; and the potential of a union between virtual technologies and body image. The other two articles discuss questions related to user generated content: links between creation, consumption and motivation in digital environments; and a methodology for the identification of relationships between networks of individuals.
Vol 9, No 1 (2016): Assembled 2016 Part 1
2015
Vol 8, No 2 (2015): Futures
From the point of view of 2015: the virtual is becoming the real and the real is becoming the virtual.
Vol 8, No 1 (2015): Assembled 2015
Issue editors: Stephanie Blackmon, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA, and Patricia Anderson, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA
Virtual worlds hold a tremendous amount of potential for research, education, and interaction. While the literature available on virtual worlds has increased over the years, there are still unexplored arenas as well as areas that require further conversation and investigation. Some of us are continuing to develop our avatars and hone our skills in virtual worlds, while others are finding new ways to leverage the openness of these environments via unexplored opportunities within the virtual world. This Assembled 2015 issue contains selected peer-reviewed articles that start, and in some cases continue, discussions about the vastness and versatility of virtual worlds.
2014
Vol 7, No 3 (2014): Lantern - Part 2
In this issue, we take a review lantern and shed some light on some of this field’s aspects. Clearly, we do not cover everything. We will often see shadows and not the full image. Ultimately, we hope to encourage further exploring of the field.
Vol 7, No 2 (2014): Assembled 2014
Issue editors: Samuel Cruz-Lara, LORIA (UMR 7503) CNRS – INRIA, Université de Lorraine, France;Sue Gregory, University of New England, Australia;Suely Fragoso, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil;Urs-Vito Albrecht, Braunschweig University & Hannover Medical School, Germany;Christopher Lueg, University of Tasmania, Australia
The six papers in this issue demonstrate some of JVWR goals. They are pushing our thinking about both the virtual and the real, they are presenting “new” academic science that go beyond the trivial, and they are taking a stand about the world. We encourage authors to follow the diverse models presented here.
Vol 7, No 1 (2014): Lantern - Part 1
In this issue, we take a review lantern and shed some light on some of this field’s aspects. Clearly, we do not cover everything. We will often see shadows and not the full image. Ultimately, we hope to encourage further exploring of the field.
2013
Vol 6, No 3 (2013): Legal and Governance Challenges
What is the proper relationship between the physical and virtual worlds? When should we pierce the magic circle? What is virtual property and how should we treat it? Do avatars have rights, and if so, what ones? And so on.
We have been lucky to assemble six fascinating accounts of how we might approach the laws of the virtual worlds. They are each very different, but they all expand our understanding of the intersection between legal systems and these new (game) world systems. They are worthy markers of the ten year anniversary of the field of law and virtual worlds.
Vol 6, No 2 (2013): Arts
Issue editors: Celeste Lovette Guichard, Savannah College of Art and Design; Laura Salciuviene, Lancaster University Management School, UK; Gary Hardee, University of Texas at Dallas, TX, USA.
An important single thread runs through this issue: the exploration of artistic “process”. The importance of process in various instantiations to all of these articles renders this issue more specifically about “ars” in the Latin sense -- ars being a skill or a craft that usually, but certainly not always, results in an artistic object. As Elbert Hubbard, the founder of the Arts and Crafts community of Roycroft, said, “Art is not a thing, it is a way” -- it is the “way” of art in virtual worlds that we invite you to read about in the following pages.
Vol 6, No 1 (2013): The Metaverse Assembled (2013)
Issue editors: Leonel Morgado, INESC TEC (formerly INESC Porto), UTAD – University of Trás-os-Montes Alto Douro; Nelson Zagalo, University of Minho, Portugal
(Cover: Nelson Fernandes)
In this issue you will find selected papers from Slactions 2012 as well as other papers from 2012 about: Langauge Learning Anxiety, Management Practice in VWs (AKA vManagement), Weight Management for Young People, The Effect of Group Influence on Individual Choices (recap of the Asch’s 1951 experiment), Technical setup of OpenSimulator, and Virtual Archaeology.
2012
Vol 5, No 3 (2012): Managerial and Commercial Applications
Issue editors: Shu Schiller, Wright State University, USA; Brian Mennecke, Iowa State University, USA; Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA.
This special issue on “managerial and commercial applications” of virtual worlds aims to highlight research that makes a significant and novel contribution in theory and practice about virtual worlds in the business domain.
Vol 5, No 2 (2012): Asian Perspectives
Issue editors: Kenneth Y T Lim, National Institute of Education, Singapore; Young Hoan Cho, National Institute of Education, Singapore; Michael Vallance, Future University, Hakodate, Japan.
In this issue you will find perspectives from East Asia and Southeast Asia; the contrasts and comparisons are at once diverse and revealing - from David Herold's perspectives on games and gamers from China, to the work of Li and his team with similar community from Singapore, encompassing several other cultures, sub-cultures and scales of resolution at points in-between.
Vol 5, No 1 (2012): Assembled (2012)
The papers chosen for this assembled issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research all argue the need for further research into human engagement with virtual worlds and beyond a discussion of the affordances of virtual worlds and their limitations.
2011
Vol 4, No 3 (2011): MPEG-V and Other Standards
This issue focuses on standards for virtual worlds, with special relation to MPEG-V, the ISO standard for connecting within virtual worlds as well as to real worlds.
Vol 4, No 2 (2011): Government and Defense
This issue includes articles from the 2010 Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Conference including a review of potential usages for government, military and business organizations; the case of the Swedish Embassy in SL; the criminal justice system and a "think piece" on unconstrained global citizens. The issue highlights some of the unique dimensions of Virtual Wolds that relate to governments & military.
Vol 4, No 1 (2011): Metaverse Assembled 2.0
This issue includes articles from the SLACTIONS 2010 Conference.
This issue also marks the Journal's move to a new website, it is a minor visual change, but major infrastructure change that will take us forward over the next couple of years.
2010
Vol 3, No 3 (2010): The Researcher's Toolbox - Part II
This issue presents peer reviewed papers on research methodologies and case studies of how the particular methods are being developed and used in virtual worlds research both in the academy and industry.
Editor's note: This is the 2nd part of the Issue "The Researcher's Toolbox" (Part I v3(i1) which due to the quantity and quality of the articles submitted had to be devided.Vol 3, No 2 (2010): Virtual Worlds for Kids
Virtual worlds have made notable inroads into the lives of children, affording online extensions of their offline lives.
In this issue - a conceptual framework for understanding the space that virtual worlds occupy in children’s life.
Vol 3, No 1 (2010): The Researcher's Toolbox - Part I
This issue presents research methodologies and case studies of how the particular methods are being developed and used in virtual worlds research both in academia and industry.
Editor's Note: Due to the quantity and quality of the articles submitted for this issue, there is a 2nd issue (see "The Researcher's Toolbox, Part II") published on February 2011.
2009
Vol 2, No 5 (2009): The Metaverse Assembled
This issue features the best papers from the SLACTIONS 2009 conference, as well as papers sumbitted directly to the Journal. The metaverse is emerging, through the increasing use of virtual worlds' technologies that act as platforms for end-users to create, develop, and interact, expanding the realm of human cooperation, interaction, and creativity. Cover art by Paul Driver.
Vol 2, No 4 (2009): Virtual Economies, Virtual Goods and Service Delivery in Virtual Worlds
In this special edition on virtual-world goods and trade, we are pleased to present articles from a global cohort of contributors covering a wide range of issues. Some of our writers will be well known to you as distinguished leaders in the field, but it is equally our pleasure to introduce exciting new voices. Here you will find pieces written by academics, practitioners, journalists, a documentary filmmaker and perhaps the youngest contributor to JVWR who attends high school in upstate NY.
Vol 2, No 3 (2009): Technology, Economy and Standards
This issue is part of an effort to explore the fields of standards for virtual worlds. This issue endeavors to enhance, explicate, and analyze various aspects of standards and virtual worlds, and was designed to give a voice to the leading theoretical and practical players within this arena. The issue emphasizes the disciplines of economy and technology as critical harbingers to the endeavor of standards.
Vol 2, No 2 (2009): 3D Virtual Worlds for Health and Healthcare
This special issue of JVWR on the theme of '3D Virtual Worlds for Health and Healthcare' provides a good sampler of how healthcare organizations, groups and individuals are currently using virtual worlds such as Second Life(R) and OpenSim-based worlds for a range of clinical and health-related purposes.
Vol 2, No 1 (2009): Pedagogy, Education and Innovation
This issue is dedicated to exploring the breadth of designs, pedagogies and curricular innovations that are actually already being applied to teaching and learning in virtual worlds.
2008
Vol 1, No 3 (2008): Cultures of Virtual Worlds
This issue of JVWR explores virtual worlds as contingent spaces. We examine them for their reliance on traditional cultural norms and practices, their challenges to such elements, and how they grow and evolve relative to the daily lives of their inhabitants. In every way, virtual worlds are constituted by multiple cultures, culture that is ordinary and everyday, culture that is evolving, confusing, challenging, and possibly dangerous and exhilarating as well.
Vol 1, No 2 (2008): Consumer Behavior in Virtual Worlds
With so many people making the virtual leap many marketers are eager to join them and stake their claim in this new landscape. Unfortunately for many their efforts have failed to live up to expectations and they have since withdrawn. So what, do we need to do differently in virtual worlds than we do in the real world in order to achieve success? In this issue we aim to stimulate dialogue by exploring what, if any, differences exist between real world and virtual world consumer behavior. Topics addressed include body image, virtual goods and brand value.
Vol 1, No 1 (2008): Virtual Worlds Research: Past, Present and Future
Welcome to the inaugural issue of the JVWR on the theme of “Virtual Worlds Research: Past, Present and Future”. The launch of the Journal and the publication of this first edition builds on the efforts of a large team of researchers and collaborators spread across the world. These 17 papers provide the foundation for the transdisciplinary field of virtual worlds research.