Our research looks at the use of MMORPGs as sites for Virtual Language Immersion in Foreign Languages or as we call it, V-LIFe.
Sounds like fun, huh? It is!
What’s an MMORPG? It’s a giant online video game with many players and the letters stand for massively multi-player online role playing game. You may have heard of some of these like Final Fantasy or League of Legends or (there are many many more, of course).
What Project V-LIFe does is… strive to design, implement and study a pilot “virtual language immersion” module for a second-year German language course. For this phase, we are using Blizzard Entertainment’s popular MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) and we are working to have students engage in custom in-game “learning quests” designed to foster linguistic and (inter-)cultural competences in individual and group experiences. Scaffolded debriefing sessions are incorporated to allow students to review and reflect on their experiences in the German WoW community exploring the boundaries inherent in their own cultural frames as well as their notions of the ‘real’ German-speaking world.
We are part of the part of the Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP) here at the University of California, Irvine. With our project we have embarked on an Azerothian adventure to do cutting edge research, create an innovative curriculum design, capture multimodal learning analytics, learn about professionalization and have copious amounts of… fun!
You can find out more details about our design proposal here: MDP Project V-LIFe.
Our Research Team
We are super-psyched to be an incredibly interdisciplinary team. Project V-LIFe is powered by expertise in Computer Game Science, Education Science, Anthropology, Computer Science + English, Informatics and German Studies. We are undergraduate and graduate researchers working together with faculty mentors.
Cassandra H. | Researcher | Webmaster
Emily R. | Researcher | Marketing & Communication Lead
Jaclyn L. | Researcher | Lead Controller
Mindy T. | Graduate Researcher | Text & Data Mining Specialist
Our Graduate Researchers
Dave L.
Kierstin H. B.
Matt C.
Our Faculty Mentors
Dr. Glenn S. Levine
Professor of German
Language Program Director, German
School of Humanities
Dr. Mark Warschauer
Professor of Education and Informatics
School of Education
Dr. Peter O. Krapp
Professor of Film & Media Studies | Professor of English
School of Humanities
Faculty Affiliate, Informatics
Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences
Our Gear
These are the things we used to get our research project up off the ground and skyrocketed into action.
We kept things simple, so that you can too. :)
Computer Lab (PC)
Generously provided and configured for us by the Humanities Studio (language lab), UC Irvine
Game
World of Warcraft (WoW) – EU version, Blizzard Entertainment
(P.S. using the EU version is the key!)
Voice Chat
DISCORD (we use the web application)
Add Ons
Elephant (text chat)
External Storage
My Passport Ultra Portable External Hard Drive, Western Digital (WD)
Carrying Case: Hard Carrying Case for My Passport Essential, AmazonBasics
Headphones (outside of lab)
Ear Force PX22 Universal Amplified Gaming Headset, Turtle Beach
GameCom 780 Surround Sound USB Gaming Headset, Plantronics
HyperX Cloud Gaming Headset, Kingston
Thank You!
A whole hearted thank you goes out to the following units and individuals. We are up and running because of their expert help and support!
Danke schön!
UC Irvine Humanities Studio (Language Lab)
Dwayne P.
Stan W-S.
Arianne S.
MDP Program + UROP
Said S.
Brittany G.
Calit2
Irma R.
Mark T.
Shana C.
Dan F.
Community Members
Meir W.
Simon F.
Andy V.
Get in touch with us
Have questions? Want to know how we did what we did? We’d love to share our experience with you!
Our contact information is below.