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Abstract for Seminar
The seminar explores how role-play simulations can be used to support policy discussion in virtual worlds. Although the work described is set primarily within the context of policy formulation for government, the lessons learnt are applicable to online learning and collaboration within virtual environments. The seminar describes how the EU FP7 +SPACES project used both 2D and 3D virtual spaces to engage with citizens to explore issues relevant to new government policies. It focuses on the most challenging part of the project, which was to provide environments that could simulate some of the complexities of real life. Some examples of different approaches to simulation in virtual spaces are provided and the issues associated with them are further examined.
(The seminar is based on 'Horan, B & Gardner, M (2013) +SPACES, Serious Games for Role-Playing Government Policies. In M. Childs & A. Peachey (Eds) Understanding Learning in Virtual Worlds [In preparation]')