[World_of_Warcraft_List] OT Levity? : UCI ‘World of Warcraft’ research squandered $3 million, critic says...

 

A total of $3 million has been granted to researchers at the University of California at Irvine so that they can play video games such as World of Warcraft. The goal of this "video game research" is reportedly to study how "emerging forms of communication, including multiplayer computer games and online virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life can help organizations collaborate and compete more effectively in the global marketplace."
        
http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2010/12/22/uci-world-of-warcraft-research-squandered-3-million-critic-says/70884/

UCI 'World of Warcraft' research squandered $3 million, critic says

December 22nd, 2010, 3:00 am · 119 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

Maybe it's a generation gap thing. But the $3 million that went to UC Irvine researchers to study "Decentralized Virtual Activities and Technologies" has been branded one of the worst wastes of taxpayer dollars of 2010 by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK.

Coburn's " Wastebook 2010" ­ a blistering, 85-page romp through oddities in the federal budget ­ lambastes everything from the $1 million spent to put poems in zoos to nearly $1 billion wasted when federal workers hit the "print" button when they don't need to. (See more from the report here.)

"As you look at these examples, ask yourself: at a time when we are borrowing over $44,000 for every person in the country, are these items a priority and are they a federal responsibility?" the report asks.

On his list of 100 projects that squandered more than $11.5 billion, "Studying World of Warcraft and Other Virtual Games" weighed in at No. 6.

"Most people have to work for a living," the report says. "Others get to play video games."

The game is made by Blizzard Entertainment of Irvine, and the researchers are Walt Scacchi, Bonnie Nardi, Richard Taylor, Gloria Mark and Cristina Lopes.

Scacchi, the principal investigator on the three year, $3 million NSF grant, said being included on Coburn's list is "a sign of distinction and a compliment. They absolutely don't get what we're doing, whereas anybody who works in the field gets what we're doing." (Read the rest of UCI's response to Coburn's blast here.)

Nardi is singled out by Coburn for particular scorn:

"In 2008, Professor Bonnie Nardi of the University of California-Irvine received $100,007 from the National Science Foundation to 'analyze and understand the ways in which players of World of Warcraft, a popular multiplayer game, engage in creative collaboration.'  Dr. Nardi published her findings in a new book, My Life as a Night Elf Priest, released in May 2010.

"Her work focused on 'modding' ­ the creation and distribution of player-created software modifications that extend the game­ as an act of creative collaboration. Nardi spent 'countless hours in Beijing cafes and other parts of China studying how Chinese players approach the game.' The research team observed players 'physical environment for playing the game:  Sometimes odd or humorous juxtapositions of the physical and virtual occurred as at one Internet café at the train station in Hanghzou, which offered foot massage and Internet access right next to each other.'"

Coburn went on about Nardi. "Describing her as 'a hardcore WoW [World of Warcraft] fan,' the book's promotional materials say that Professor Nardi has compiled 'more than three years of participatory research in Warcraft play.'

"Professor Nardi and her colleagues at UC Irvine have since received an additional $3 million in NSF grant funding from 2008-2011 for additional research involving 'decentralized virtual activity systems.' The University's press release explains how 'emerging forms of communication, including multiplayer computer games and online virtual worlds such as 'World of Warcraft' and 'Second Life' can help organizations collaborate and compete more effectively in the global marketplace.'

"An interviewer asked the author to differentiate between when she was 'playing' and when she was 'researching.' The author answered: 'Except for when I am learning a difficult new raid encounter! Then I allocate 100 percent of my brain cells to preventing my character's death.'"

Nardi wasn't available to respond, but again, you can read the university's response here.

UCI's Center for Computer Games and Virtual Worlds began an undergraduate student major in Computer Game Science this year. "The study of computer games is an emerging field that is driven by advancing computer hardware and software technology, the widespread popularity of video games as an entertainment medium, and by the interest of artists, economists, educators, scientists and many others, to use game technologies for communication, visualization, computation and learning," the university said.

The NSF award abstract describes the research this way: "This project employs an empirical socio-technical research approach to understand how to gain maximum benefit from decentralized virtual activity systems (DVASs). We see growing, widespread interest in the development and use of decentralized systems and virtual world environments as possible new places for engaging in collaborative work activities. There is widespread interest in stimulating new technological innovations that enable people to come together through social networking, file or media sharing, and massively multi-player online game play. This new generation of networked computing environments seems headed towards increased socialization, interaction, communication, and collaboration that span multiple organizational boundaries as its primary purpose. But how do we get there from here?"

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