Virtual Joe Crowley Student Union through the Minecraft PC game space.
Brief description:
On April 20th of this year, 2020, proposed to Director and Associate Director a project to create the Virtual Joe Crowley Student Union (vJCSU). Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown we were facing, goal was to create opportunities for our student staff to work safely online through a Virtual Student Union in the Minecraft game space. I would like to acknowledge that 99% of the hands-on work of the construction within Minecraft have been the result of our student staff leadership, and this development team composed of Crystal Hu, Michael Richards II, Ethan Mahoney, Paolo Nipay, Gino Nicosia and Matthew Trenner. Provided project management, but most of the work has been completed by the student leadership. The team started with a free server in our own Union PC workstation, and purchased Minecraft game account for the purpose of their construction activities. Constructing anything in that game is a very labor intensive activity, but once completed our goal is to host virtual events such as Nursing Convocations and Cultural graduation ceremonies. The Virtual space can also interface with vendors within the physical Student Union such as the Bookstore through a web-link, and restaurants by incorporating online ordering applications such as BOOST. Once the team completed the vJCSU construction in Minecraft, we received and incorporated suggestions from one of our Associate Directors, Dr. James Cox, to consider additional features for the project. Please see attached the PDF created by our Student vJCSU Development Team, which was used as part of the presentation to the full time Administrative Staff of the Union on Dec 17th, 2020. We received productive feedback from Director Dr. Jim Fitzsimmons, Associate Director Tim Banks, and Associate Director Patricia Hand as well as from colleagues at the presentation. We will post a follow-up with a video walk-through of the vJCSU Minecraft space. We welcome your feedback.
Below are additional details aggregated from my past proposals regarding the Virtual Joe Crowley Student Union (vJCSU) that I sent to my Director and Associate Director on April 20th, 2020:
Glossary
Gamified: conversion of an activity or environment to a video-game style experience.
Avatar: a visual representation of one's self in a video-game or virtual environment. This is similar to a profile pic, but in this game the profile image would be a 3D modeled object of person.
Minecraft: An online video-game which can be used for meetings, events and other activities.
3D objects: modeling and animation using a software, such as 3D-StudioMax, to create 3D objects and environments.
Render/rendering: the time required for a network of computers to interpolate and finalize 3D visuals for use in a virtual environment.
Game-Engine: high level object oriented programming language (C++/JAVA/JAVA2) used to build the inner workings of a game or virtual environment, which includes, but not limited to interactivity, account creation, and how visual and auditory components in the environment function.
GUI: the Graphical User Interface to allow for methods of interaction between the user and the environment through activated menus, settings, profile changes, etc.
Abstract (April 20th, 2020)
With the high chance of resurgence in COVID-19 cases sometime in this Fall season as well as future pandemics or mass scale emergencies, our goal is to offer a virtual environment, which would operate parallel to the physical Joe Crowley Student Union. If the University has to re-close sometime in the future due to the pandemic, then the Virtual Joe Crowley Student Union (vJCSU) can be ready to function as an alternative operation. As part of the security protocols, students visiting the vJCSU would enter through our current JCSU website using their university credentials. Prospective students and/or their parents can be guided through a guest account creation using their telephone number, which would be similar to signing up for a Guest Wifi account. The vJCSU can also provide a method for our students to work remotely if the University re-enters a lock-down. Although, we can design the server to monitor the game environment automatically through an A.I., we would also need student staff to monitor the virtual environment during peak times; students can work through their avatar in the virtual info-desk to answer patron's general questions; student technicians can maintain the technical "server-side" such as staff and patron accounts, data (i.e. people counters) and technical support. Full time staff could create events with sponsors in the vJCSU, and the setup of an event space could be effectuated almost instantaneously. Full time staff, functioning as Admin or Moderator, would deal with possible suspension, closure or deletion of a patron's account to the vJCSU. Through this gamification of the Union experience, students entering the vJCSU and especially attending events will receive points, and with each levels/amounts of points their account will unlock accessories and features for one's avatar such as different clothes, hair styles, etc. Students participating in certain types of events could receive more points. For example, attending a vJCSU event with an educational content, such as a discussion about ethnic/feminist/LGBTQ+ identity, will result in 100 points per event; while, attending an event geared only towards entertainment will result in 50 points. Participants/patrons can explore other areas of the vJCSU before an event, and the environment could automatically transport the student to the corresponding event space about 5 minutes to start time. Most activities, such as meetings and events, can take place in this simulacrum.
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James Cho, Coordinator of Technology Services
Joe Crowley Student Union
University of Nevada Reno
Reno, NV
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