From swords to hairstyles: bridging the divide between massively multiplayer game design and SL

Dave White -TALI, Open Habitat
Compares World Of Warcraft and Second Life. In both however, social capital is very important - indication of player's commitment, kudos. Swords (WoW) and hairstyles (SL) are strong indicators for reasons I won't go into.
OT:
(He uses media intervention to fill-in understanding when speech is not the best channel).
(Video shows an inverted whiteboard table in his office at Oxford! Excellent creativity tool. eg world cafe).
User generated content can be produced in SL (used in Art & Design - Ian Truelove, Leeds Met) where soc presence is the focus for Philosophy students at Oxford in the Open Habitat project. Dave Cormier at Prince Edward Island is also involved though I'm not sure in what capacity.
Comparing the 2 VWs: WoW is a locked down environment whilst SL supports editing, construction, modification, sharing, etc (SL a blank canvas) (WoW a narrative) notebook/ novel.
They used Open Sim, a locally installed version of SL. There's a lack of subtle gestures that are useful for educational use - they're thinking about generating ed gestures.
Question: How to orientate studs? - drop them in the deep end with people on hand with one to one support. Very few skills are actually needed to get started in most cases.
Find out more: http://media.conted.px.ac.uk/res02