Serious games and virtual worlds: is there a future with serious role-playing games for learning using open metaverses?

A panel of speakers will discuss lessons learned and prospects with serious role-playing games for learning using open metaverses. Role-playing games, in open metaverses, involves players inhabiting virtual space through the use of an avatar. The U.S. Air Force has established several virtual regions in Second Life to explore and prototype the use of serious role-playing games in support of individual and team learning. The metaverse of Second Life (a virtual world) physically resembles the real world. It consists of interlinked regions containing land, water, and air. Physics is applied with gravity, weather, and a sun and moon. A Simulation Gaming Kit for Education is being developed and tested within Second Life using a serious role-playing game on interdependent leadership. Several members of a virtual collaborative consortium, the Global Learning Forum (GLF), involving the U.S. Air Force, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory and several universities, are working within Second Life to explore and assess the use of serious role-playing games for learning. Lessons learned and insights will be offered by panel members on the following panel topics, to include time for audience Q&A: