When the game becomes serious: what are the rights and responsibilities of the learner’s avatar in the virtual world?

“I am my avatar; my avatar is me. I am beholden by any promises my Avatar makes on my behalf and my Avatar will honour any contract I make.” There is an ever-increasing use of virtual worlds such as Second Life™, OpenSim and SmallWorlds in which learners explore, experience, communicate and act. In these 3D immersive (3Di) environments the learner adopts an avatar and becomes the new persona they devise. The appearance, actions and location of the avatar are under the control of the owner but are also affected by objects in the environment and other avatars. The immersive element results directly from the cognitive, dextrous, social and emotional aspects of the experience. Virtual worlds are becoming the home for serious learning as well as still retaining their more vicarious activities