ARTICLE
Learning English through authentic communication, gaming and virtual instruction in Second Life
“Hiro is approaching the street. It is the Broadway, the Champs Elysees of the Metaverse ... It does not really exist. But right now, millions of people are walking up and down it.” By Joe PereirA, PORTUGAL
The 'Metaverse' depicted in Neil Stephenson's seminal cyberpunk thriller 'Snow Crash' is today not an element of science-fiction, but a technology that is being used daily as a social, commercial and educational tool by millions of users, all over the world. 3D Vir tual Worlds (VWs), also known as multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), such as Second Life are real-time online virtual spaces where avatars – virtual representations of their users - navigate and interact with the environment, it's objects and other avatars. These environments have the capability of allowing for thousands of geographically dispersed users to be online at any one time, thus allowing for unprecedented possibilities for social interaction. This social
interaction, which is at the heart of most VWs, is facilitated through communication tools such as text and voice chat, Instant Messaging and the ability to create and join groups – much like traditional social networks. However, one of the main differences between 3D VWs and 2D social networks is the ability in SL, for example, to build and own objects and structures. Furthermore, the characteristic of persistence in V Ws m e a n s t h a t c re a t e d objects remain where they are left, even when there creator is offline – in turn, this usercreated content makes up the shared social space and can be admired and used by the virtual community. There are currently hundreds of VWs, with new ones continually being launched. Many of them are
t h e m e d a n d t a rg e t e d t o specific age groups and are created for use as social spaces, game worlds, and educational or training spaces. Second Life The largest and most popular social VW is Second Life (SL), and despite its appearance, it is not a game – for the simple fact that it does not have a stated goal. Then why do people 'play' it? Being a social VW, users do what they do in real life – socialise, make, sell and buy things. SL gives the ability to change one's appearance and g e n d e r, t a ke o n a n e w p e r s o n a l i t y o r s i m p l y re imagine an old one, while discovering new (and perhaps surreal) and well-known locations. Barriers to communication that exist in
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