Theory, practice, and creation of 3D virtual worlds. Hands-on design and development of online collaborative simulation environments. Introduction to graphics workflow for creating virtual world media assets. Critical exploration of state-of-the-art virtual world technologies; 3D graphics, chat, voice, video, and mixed reality systems. Topics include: history/culture of virtual worlds, identity and avatars; behavioral norms; self-organizing cultures; user-generated content, virtual world economies; architectural scalability. Graduate section includes readings and critical writing on theories of virtuality as they relate to technical content.
Information Science + Studies