Overcoming Objections to MUVEs in Education - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 7

not intimately familiar or well understood. They
are a shortcut to save time and brain power. Like
all pre-existing beliefs, they tend to be stubbornly
resistant to change once established.
Consider the development of the first persistent
computer game, Spacewar . In 1961, members of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT)
Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) encouraged
one of their own to develop an interactive com-
puter game. The TMRC was made up entirely of
male students. Because computers were a rare and
costly resource at the time, the TMRC had to make
use of “borrowed” computer time at night and on
weekends when other users were not around. The
cathode ray tube display they used could be more
easily viewed in a darkened environment than in
a bright one. The TMRC had their own jargon
that they used when discussing their projects and
interests. Both the topics and the language would
have been hard to understand and of little inter-
est to most outsiders. The first complete version
took Steve Russell six months and 200 hours of
otherwise free time to complete. Had he not had
dedication and commitment to the project, it would
likely never have been completed (Kent, 2001).
In that story are all of the elements of the
stereotype of computer gamers as well as pro-
grammers and most other classes of dedicated
computer aficionado. It is likely that many readers
anticipated a word like geek as the last word of the
previous sentence. Even intelligent, reasonable,
open-minded people are subject to the pervasive
power of stereotypes. Each of the elements of the
computer geek stereotype could be seen in a good
light in the Spacewar story: each is not inher-
ently negative. The actors speak common jargon
like any other specialized field of interest. That
language is inaccessible to outsiders by its very
nature. What in the stereotype is called obsession
can be clearly seen as commitment. The secretive,
darkened environment is necessary because of the
tenuous rights of the TMRC members to use the
valuable computer resources and the limits of the
screen technology. Most of these elements are no

longer factors in the modern world of computer
and video games.
Computers are no longer a rare and exclusive
resource. The majority of households have com-
puters and video game consoles so the technology
is not inherently limited to dedicated enthusiasts
willing to bend rules to get access (ESA, 2009).
While some studies still find a difference in the
level of interest in computers between males and
females, more recent studies report a narrowing
gap (Heeter, 2004). The jargon of computers and
computer games persists, but much of it has fil-
tered into mainstream usages and the size of the
domain affinity group has ballooned to the point
where it is no longer an exclusive club. Social
interactions around and about computers and
computer games have become mainstream rather
than fringe. Indeed, with 92% of 2-17 year-olds
playing computer games, the hobby can hardly
be considered clandestine (Walsh et al., 2004).
Advances in computer monitor technology means
that most screens are as readable in direct light
as they are in a darkened room. Portable technol-
ogy for both computers and consoles means that
games are quite literally moving out of basements
and into the outdoors. Since it still takes time to
beat the biggest, most challenging and rewarding
games, however, the element of obsession still
has a place in the description of many computer
and video games.

Objection: mUVes are an
Inefficient educational Tool

This objection often stems from the perception that
MUVEs are not a convenient fit into the schedule
of classes in schools and do not deliver information
at the same rate as traditional teaching methods.
Implicit in the latter statement is the assumption
that the rate or density of information transfer is
a measure of good education and that the transfer
should be rated at the transmission point rather
than the reception point. The tacit assumption is
that transmitting more information more quickly