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William Sims Bainbridge is co-organizing Convergence of the Real and the Virtual - The First Scientific Conference in World of Warcraft. This is a scientific conference to be held May 9-11, 2008, inside World of Warcraft, devoted to research on WoW and on virtual worlds in general. It was proposed by John Bohannon, who creates the Gonzo Scientist feature for the AAAS journal Science. Bill Bainbridge wrote an article on The Scientific Research Potential of Virtual Worlds (Science 317 472 (2007)). Abstract: “Online virtual worlds, electronic environments where people can work and interact in a somewhat realistic manner, have great potential as sites for research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences, as well as in human-centered computer science. This article uses Second Life and World of Warcraft as two very different examples of current virtual worlds that foreshadow future developments, introducing a number of research methodologies that scientists are now exploring, including formal experimentation, observational ethnography, and quantitative analysis of economic markets or social networks.are exploring the methods needed to create an entirely new generation of games, called pervasive LARPs (live-action role-playing games), that have players act in the real world while simultaneously interacting over the Internet via wireless mobile connections”.

From Scientists, We Need Your Swords!, by John Bohannon: This will not be your typical conference. Sure, there will be sessions devoted to various research topics involving virtual worlds, panel discussions, social activities, and those conference goody bags that we’ve all come to love. But to attend this conference, you don’t have to splurge on grant money or add to global warming by flying to another country. And in the goody bags, you won’t find brochures, pens, or those quickly lost notebooks. Instead, each conference participant will receive (while supplies last) 10 gold pieces, a red “Sciencemag” shirt, a colorful conference tabard emblazoned with an infinity symbol, two extra bags for swag, a telescope, and a pet creature. Between sessions, there will be group field trips across landscapes inhabited by dangerous beasts--some earthly and extinct, others fanciful--an introduction to the world’s auction-based economy, and finally a massive joint assault on an enemy city. (Beat that, Gordon conferences!) Anyone with an Internet connection can take part, from anywhere in the world. All you have to do is install the game, create a character, and join the guild called “Science” on the Earthen Ring US server. If that sounds scary, complex, weird, geeky, well … welcome to the future. At least, welcome to the future of scientific research envisioned by the conference organizers, William Bainbridge (a sociologist at the National Science Foundation) and about a dozen scientists whose research involves the 10 million people who spend time--scary amounts of time--in the Warcraft universe.

The program: Session 1: Research and World of Warcraft; Session 2: Relationships between WoW and the “Real World”; Session 3: The Future of Virtual Worlds. The three academic sessions of this conference will not attempt to duplicate the (dreary) experience of traditional academic conventions, where high-status individuals read aloud long papers, while the low-status masses in the audience sit like victims rather than engaging in a more equal debate.  Rather, we will exploit the advantages of text-based chat - and avoid dealing with the challenges of voice chat which works poorly beyond perhaps five participants.

Of course I must participate in this event - so I created my WoW account and a Tauren character named Perplextar (the Tauren are a proud and tenacious race with bull-like features and a culture that is very similar to an evolved American Indian culture, building great permanent structures and tapping their engineering ability. They have large hooves, and a towering body structure. They are shamanistic, peaceful, and powerful beings). You can also do that by following carefully he instructions given in the conference website and wiki. At the beginning Perplextar did not know what to do and was even killed by wildlife a couple of times, then he received precious help from Elves Extropia and Alishya (two fellow refugees from Second Life and members of the Extropia community, in the picture above). They took Perplextar running through many danger zones to Orgrimmar. I really look forward to attending his event.