UC Irvine Opens Center for Computer Games & Virtual Worlds

The University of California in Irvine announced the establishment of the Center for Computer Games & Virtual Worlds, a collaborative effort among 20 faculty members in the fields of computer science, arts, humanities, social science and education. The new center, located at UC Irvine's Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences, will research the social and technological aspects of video games and interactive virtual spaces. The Center for Computer Games & Virtual Worlds is the second major gaming research project hosted at UC Irvine. In 2001, the University launched the UCI Game Culture & Technology Lab, which has since received nearly $5 million in external funding. "We now realize that scientific and cultural achievements go beyond the current concepts of what games and virtual worlds are good for, or how they may be developed or applied," said UCI Institute for Software Research scientist Walt Scacchi. "The center will support our research in demonstrating the sustained ability to invent and reinvent the future of computer games and virtual worlds." UC Irvine's new center will soon host national and international research workshops, and plans to establish industry and academic partnerships with similar research communities worldwide.