Collaborative Virtual Environments
1. An environment accessed online with multiple users. Examples of these environments include programs like Second Life and computer games like Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games.
2. A second year subject run by the University of Sydney for students studying the Bachelor of Design Computing. The subject is mandatory in order to complete the degree. Unfortunately the subject, which the students believed prior to experiencing could potentially be very interesting and rewarding to their chosen careers in fields of (for example) IT, interactive technologies, animation, graphic design, advertising and games development, has been poorly organised and conducted. Much of the technologies discussed in class are outdated (which would be OK if there was, for example, follow up discussion on the progression of these areas or the reasons for some technologies succeeding in the global world while others fail to get funding and become obsolete), time is spent on mundane specifics of programs or features, which the class demographic (18-25) are already very familiar with (msn Messenger, Facebook, Wikipedia etc.) instead of on an interesting analysis of where these technologies may head, or on what the next big internet social environment might be or on the way this is changing people's interactions with one another. Some of these issues may be mentioned, but no statement, question or point is ever linked to them, and the students are always left wanting. This kind of expectation with what could be an interesting topic but has no follow through (or even an avenue within an assignment to actually bring up something meaningful) is a theme throughout the subject, in addition to facts being drawn out unnecessarily, which has made the subject, to be perfectly blunt, extremely boring. The assessments have also been mismanaged and have this "last minute solution" vibe to them.
Collaborative Virtual Environments as a subject could have been great, but it failed to deliver when expectation was raised, and overall was just very disappointing: pretty much exactly like the X-men Origins: Wolverine movie.