An institute for academic research of, and in, synthetic worlds has been proposed by Prof. Edward Castronova of Indiana University. The Arden Institute provides a 28-page whitepaper and institute prospectus.
From the executive summary:
"Synthetic worlds are a special kind of host for human society: being synthetic, they can be designed for a purpose. Worlds can be built that teach anyone in the world about Renaissance England, or about practical democracy. They can also be built to explore the evolution of social patterns, being in essence social science Petri dishes: controlled environments for studying the evolution of macro-level forces of government, law, economics, sociality, learning, and culture. Synthetic worlds present an unprecedented opportunity to open a new frontier in the understanding of human affairs.
This document proposes the establishment of a center for the study of synthetic worlds that will explore this technology, develop a deeper understanding of it, and then use it to build synthetic worlds for public interest purposes of research and education. Tentatively named “The Arden Institute”, the center could be launched with a three-year grant of $5.8m."
In September, a conference was held at Indiana University with the objective "to blur the lines between work and play by embedding an academic conference within the context of a live-action game. Topic: Integrating Synthetic World Technology in University Research." A report of this Ludium I Conference is available at the above link, as is a 22 minute documentary video.
Posted by dougsimpson at February 1, 2006 05:05 PM