Student Blog: Student Cameo 3 (Whil Plavis) - Online Time Consumed

Created by Jim Thomas (North Carolina State University) on March 28, 2007

Whil Plavis, former student body president (as the pirate captain, see: http://www.whil.us/pirate/index.html), spoke about online time consuming real time.

His talk was just a few slides but it generated more questions from the audience than any other. His main points (again, a cyberdog ate my notes) were that he and others greatly underestimate the amount of time they have spent online gaming. Specifically, with World of Warcraft (WoW), released just 800 days ago, Whil discovered he has spent a total of 32 days online. He surveyed a large set of WoW users and got only around 30 responses. So this is not a scientific sample, but it showed a range of a few days to 300 days total of on-line time in WoW.

The biggest reaction Whil received, however were for some specific anecdotes. He has friends who used to do sports and outdoor activities that now choose to spend a majority of their leisure time in world. Whil went snowboarding 6 times this winter, inviting these friends each time and each time they chose WoW. He had FREE concert tix to Tom Petty, and again, they chose the game. Time after time they would rather stay in than go to a bar, restaurant, whatever. In his admittedly small sample size, they have become overweight, out of shape, and reclusive.

On the positive side, it does provide some good opportunity to meet people of widely different backgrounds and from different countries. Perhaps it helps socially awkward, perhaps it hurts.

Afterward, I played Whil's Pirate campaign video to the crowd. I just happened to have it on my laptop, Whil and I had never met. His campaign made national news, but I really think it reflects the new YouTube culture...make your own content. Again, that web link is:

http://www.whil.us/pirate/index.html (click on the Commercial link near the bottom)

jt

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		Student Blog: Student Cameo 3 (Whil Plavis) - Online Time Consumed Created by Jim Thomas (North Carolina State University) on March 28, 2007 Whil Plavis, former student body president (as the pirate captain, see: http://www.whil.us/pirate/index.html), spoke about online time consuming real time. His talk was just a few slides but it generated more questions from the audience than any other. His main points (again, a cyberdog ate my notes) were that he and others greatly underestimate the amount of time they have spent online gaming. Specifically, with World of Warcraft (WoW), released just 800 days ago, Whil discovered he has spent a total of 32 days online. He surveyed a large set of WoW users and got only around 30 responses. So this is not a scientific sample, but it showed a range of a few days to 300 days total of on-line time in WoW. The biggest reaction Whil received, however were for some specific anecdotes. He has friends who used to do sports and outdoor activities that now choose to spend a majority of their leisure time in world. Whil went snowboarding 6 times this winter, inviting these friends each time and each time they chose WoW. He had FREE concert tix to Tom Petty, and again, they chose the game. Time after time they would rather stay in than go to a bar, restaurant, whatever. In his admittedly small sample size, they have become overweight, out of shape, and reclusive. On the positive side, it does provide some good opportunity to meet people of widely different backgrounds and from different countries. Perhaps it helps socially awkward, perhaps it hurts. Afterward, I played Whil's Pirate campaign video to the crowd. I just happened to have it on my laptop, Whil and I had never met. His campaign made national news, but I really think it reflects the new YouTube culture...make your own content. Again, that web link is: http://www.whil.us/pirate/index.html (click on the Commercial link near the bottom) jt Conference Coverage \| ELI_07_SpringFocusSession \| immersive learning environments and simulations Jim's blog Login or register to post comments 2680 reads
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