Education. 2011; 1(1): 21-26 DOI: 10. 5923/j.edu.20110101.04 Comparing Social Virtual Worlds for Educational Purposes Rosa Reis 1,2,* , Paula. Escudeiro 1,2 , Nuno. Escudeiro 1 1 Departamento Engenharia Informática, ISEP, Porto, 4200-072, Portugal 2 GILT- Graphics, Interaction and Learning Technologies, Porto, 4200-072, Portugal Abstract Over the last decade the interest in social virtual worlds as tools to improve the teaching/learning process and to stimulate knowledge, including the development of learning to learn autonomy, has greatly increased as a result of their promising potential. In the current work we introduce a concise definition of a social virtual world and make a comparative analysis between different virtual worlds based on Mannien’s matrix. For this study, Second Life, Active Worlds and There were selected as they are the virtual environments most commonly addressed by the academic community. Finally, we discuss the potential of social virtual worlds for educational purposes. Keywords Social Virtual World, MMOGs, Second Life, ActiveWorlds, There, Quality 1. Introduction With the increase of the popularity of internet services together with its high potential to reach a large number of users, a new generation of applications is emerging on the Web: three dimensional (3D) multi-user interactive applica- tions. These applications are characterized by sharing a 3D environment synthesized by the computer for multiple users. The virtual worlds are placed in the context of Virtual Real- ity. Virtual Reality – “computer-simulated environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world[1]. According to Tiffin and Rajas- ingham[2], it provides some kind of immersion that in- volves the user in a fantasy only made possible by 3D digi- tal technology. These worlds allow the creation of spaces through the metaphorical and prove a set of services. With the virtual worlds we can extend the low process of educa- tion, using not only the physical spaces but also the virtual. The flow of interactions is retained either graphically by means of the world itself, or in the form of movement evi- dencing the avatar’s actions. In this context, the current paper aims to contribute to an increasing use of these envi- ronments, which can stimulate knowledge acquisition, in- cluding the development of learner autonomy. Our research provides a definition of 3D virtual worlds, distinguishes different social virtual worlds (Second Life, Active Worlds and There), and makes a comparative analy- sis between them based on the matrix developed by Man * Corresponding author: rmr@isep.ipp.pt (Rosa Reis) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/edu Copyright © 2011 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved nien in 2000[3]. In addition, the advantages of 3D social virtual worlds for educational purposes will be discussed. In the future, the virtual worlds may provide a set of educational services including e-learning materials, course module materials, assignments and class sessions, commu- nication between tutors and learners and assessment. In this sense the paper is organized as follows: section 2 presents a definition of virtual world and describes some social virtual worlds; section 3 makes a comparative analy- sis between the social virtual world; finally, in the conclu- sions, the advantages 2. Social Virtual Worlds The virtual world is far beyond a simple virtual environ- ment. In the Real World, people are involved; people com- municate with each other, interact with the world contribut- ing to its permanent evolution. Based on these peculiar characteristics it is possible to obtain the following defini- tion: “A virtual world is a simulated persistent space based on the interaction by computer, inhabited by several users, who are represented by iconic images called avatars, who can communicate with each other and with the world in a syn- chronized way”. This definition refers to the key elements of virtual worlds: Shared space: the world allows many users to participate at once. All the users have the feeling of being in the same place, room, land. The shared space is a common location where interactions occur. The place can be real or fictional but it should exhibit the same characteristics for all partici- pants.