Virtual world simulator platform resources
Even before Second Life began to be used across the University in 2007, groups in Business Studies, Education and Artificial Intelligence/Informatics had been exploring virtual worlds platforms for a range of collaboration, educational and research project uses.
Vue (Virtual University of Edinburgh) is a virtual educational and research institute bringing together all those interested in the use of virtual worlds for teaching, research and outreach related to the University of Edinburgh. While the Second Life Vue regions used from 2007-2019 are no longer maintained, the resources are available for others to use in Second Life and a similar set of facilities have been made available on the OpenSimulator platform and in some other experimental virtual world platforms.
Vue Map of UoE sites in OpenSim with Labels, the Openvue “mini-continent” contains 12 256mx256m regions.
The lower right hand corner of the Vue Map shown above contains the “OpenVCE” (Open Virtual Collaboration Environment) region created by us and made available an an open educational resource that anyone can obtain and use in Second Life or OpenSim (see Austin Tate’s blog post on OpenVCE Region on MOSES Grid). It is also available as a selectable starter region on a range of OpenSim hosting platforms.
Open Educational Resources from Vue
- OpenSim OAR (OpenSimulator Archive File) and terrain (.png and .f32 formats) for each region in the Vue “continent” as originally mounted on Second Life.
- Extra OpenSim OARs and terrain files. Edinburgh is a variant of the Edinburgh Uplands region with “Edinburgh Castle” and “High Street” content that can stand alone. Sea-Vue is a simple region with only water and can be used for infill between other regions where useful.
- Male and Female “Bots” avatars.
- Second Life Marketplace – Ai Austin Store – resources to create temporary facilities on Second Life sandboxes or other areas where they are allowed to build.
Old-College recreation in Second Life
Click here to download Vue resources for OpenSim
Open Educational Resources – OpenVCE
- OpenSim OAR of all core elements and buildings.
- OpenSim OAR of a pre-arranged collaboration region.
- Presentation screen adjustments to scripts.
- Readme and LGPL licence.
Click here to download the OpenVCE resources
These resources were created by staff at The University of Edinburgh. Unless otherwise stated, all content is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (Version 3, 29 June 2007) for maximum flexibility and re-use potential. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html
Header Image: AI Planning MOOC Tutorial on Vue regions in Second Life
