Virtual U In the News

Frustrated by College Life? Try This

http://query.nytimes.com/search/full-page?res=9C06E2DA103AF930A35757C0A9649C8B63

by Karen W. Arenson
New York Times
April 3, 2002

"Students or professors who feel frustrated by class schedules, admissions requirements, or other facts of campus life can now make their own simulated decisions with Virtual U, a software program for aspiring university presidents or anyone interested in how universities run."

Run a university

http://www.lockergnome.com/issues/daily/20020409.html

By Chris Pirillo
Lockergnome.com
April 13, 2002

{Run a university} Who can forget their days at college? The crazy parties, the wild nights, those rare occurrences when you actually studied something... good times, good times. Not that I would remember any of that or anything. Seriously. I don't remember ANY of that. You may have been a student at one time or another, but do you have what it takes to actually run a university? You'll have to find out by downloading this awesome sim. Will your university flourish, or will you be fired for not keeping it afloat? The GPA of the students at Whatsamatta U leaves much to be desired. "More than 15,000 faculty members and other representatives of more than 800 universities around the world have downloaded and used the first version of the software, which was recognized as one of the year's 10 best independently produced games at the 2001 Independent Games Festival."

Virtual U 2.0 Released

http://www.avault.com/news/displaynews.asp?story=3222002-10218

by David Laprad
Adrenaline Vault
March 22, 2002

"Virtual U is driven by a simulation engine built by game developer Trevor Chan of Enlight Software, creator of Capitalism, an award-winning series of simulation games about corporate America. Virtual U is designed to foster better understanding of management practices in American colleges and universities. It allows students, teachers and parents to step into the decision-making shoes of a university president"

A Simulation of : A Simulation of University System Management University System Management

http://www.nyu.edu/education/alt/beprogram/osrajournal/canny.pdf

by Eric A. Canny
Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal
Vol. 19, no. 1, Spring 2001 55

"Overall, however, Virtual U® is a realistic simulation, an excellent tool for learning the complexities and limitations that those in senior administration must face day in and day out. The software illustrates how one small decision can, over time, have enormous consequences; or, how as a President you must balance the needs of multiple constituencies, the Board of Trustees, faculty, students, alumni, etc.; or, how in the role of securing and allocating resources and funding you can influence areas beyond the scope of your portfolio."

Virtual U: A University Systems Simulation

http://www.campus-adr.org/CMHER/ReportResources/Edition2_1/VirtualU2_1.html

Conflict Management in Higher Education Report
Volume 2, Number 1, Oct 2001
Review by Bill Warters, with help from Ian Toft

"On the whole the Virtual U is a good introduction to those that wish to get a feel for the day to day operation of a university."

Virtual U Review, The Department Chair Newsletter

reviewed by Richard Katz (Vice President, EDUCAUSE.) and Anthony B. Clyde

"The tool is a powerful one, leaving clear fingerprints of its primary architect, Bill Massy. The work by Massy and his very credible advisors left this experienced university manager with a high degree of confidence in the models and algorithms that drive the simulation...

Virtual U is compelling. It is a tool that budget officers are likely to use, that faculty who teach institutional management in schools of education ought to use, and that trustees and presidents should be required to use. More than a fun and satisfying simulation, Virtual U is an electronic primer on institutional management. It conveys impressively the complexity of managing academic enterprises and the acute difficulty of balancing the often-conflicting priorities of institutional stakeholders."

Virtual U, MBAbulletpoint.com

"Hate the prof in your stats class? Wish there was more decent grad school housing? Think your tuition is ridiculously high? In Bill Massy’s world you can control all of these things, and more. The retired Stanford GSB professor is the mas-termind behind Virtual U, a computer simulation program that lets you play at being president of a university. Users can manipulate factors such as faculty/student morale, institutional prestige, and the school budget, you can even rank teachers according to talent and performance in three areas: teaching, scholarship, and research. The game was developed as a tool for university administrators, but what the hell – step into the president’s shoes for a day…and remember why you’d rather work for a startup."

Virtual U spotlight by Gamespot

"A staggering amount of tweaking is possible, and the time we've spent with the game shows that success requires some serious management skills... Virtual U is a serious tool that also happens to be fun, and any fan of business simulations will be humbled by its depth."

New York Academy of Sciences: Clicking in the Groves of Academe, NYAS.org

"Attention, job seekers: Harvard, Princeton and Tufts are all looking for university presidents. A new computer simulation, Virtual U, could help you find out whether one of those openings is right for you. Equal parts game and training tool, Virtual U is based on the popular SimCity package, in which players cope with the challenges of running a small city. The tangled machinations needed to manage a university system are recreated here in all their complexity: as the newly appointed president, you must make the decisions that keep the faculty happy, the enrollment growing and the operating budget in the black."

GDC: IGF Wrap Up. Everyone's a Winner? Daily Radar

"Taking a radically different tack is Virtual U, a simulator meant for university administrators -- but also a "game" for graduate students or anyone else who is interested."

GDC 2001: The Independent Games Festival, PC/IGN

Virtual U is featured on this leading PC game news site in this article about the Independent Game's Festival.

High Drama at Game Festival, Wired News

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,42598,00.html

"Virtual-U is a Sim-City-like game that focuses on universities. You play the president of the institution and you're given the ability to change everything about the school, from hiring practices to academic rigor to the physical campus.

The game is one of the more unique titles here, as many of the others offer more action. But that's not to say that the others are typical action games."

Independant Games Festival Roll Call: Virtual U Interview, Ianstorm.com.

http://www.ianstorm.com/Articles/view.asp?ID=2116

"Virtual-U is different than the other nominees for the best independent game because not only is it a game, it's a realistic tool to help build a real university. Ben Sawyer answered a few questions about this interesting realistic game"

IGF 2001 Preview: Ten Prepared to Win, Gamasutra.com

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20010307/brown_03.htm

"One of the beautiful things about interactive games is how they continually redefine themselves. Using a standard definition, there shouldn't be games based on dancing talk show hosts (Sega's Space Channel 5), rapping paper dolls (Sony's PaRappa the Rapper) or everyday people wandering around (EA's The Sims). But there are, and the creators of Virtual U hope that, like the others, their game will be a hit."

GDC 2001: Virtual U

http://www.gamedev.net/columns/events/gdc2001/view.asp?SectionID=18

Several things are unique about Virtual U. First of all, it's not (just) a game - it was developed primarily as an educational tool for employees of a college. These "players" are cast as Chancellors of a prestigious University, and must manage several different aspects of the University's operations to be successful. The words "Sim" and "College" come to mind.

The game is played through an isometric interface, with beautiful graphics reminicent of SimCity. Your college's campus is displayed in glorious detail, and mangement of it is easy, thanks to an intuitive interface. If you've played an isometric city management game, you essentially know how to play Virtual U.

Virtual U was partially developed by Enlight Software, the company founded by Trevor Chan. Chan was the guy behind such games as Capitalism and Seven Kingdoms, and his influence shows in this title. The game has a very intricate economics simulator, and most of the game missions revolve around it.

Virtual U is a great example of software that teaches without being boring. This is a fun game to play, and it just so happens that after playing it a while you will know much more about how to run a college. Imagine how great life would be if you could learn everything through software as entertaining as Virtual U.

Society of College and University Planning

http://www.scup.org/

"Virtual U. This computer simulation tool is intended for university administrators and other who want to simulate and practice managing a university. The game is driven by a sophisticated simulation engine that models five broad areas: resource allocation and finance; academic operations; enrollment management; physical plant activities; and performance indicators. Student and faculty morale and institutional prestige are also major factors."

AFT on Campus

www.aft.org/publications/on_campus/dec00_jan01/technotes.html#Who

"From the creator of the award-winning game "Capitalism," a simulation of corporate America, comes "Virtual U," a software simulation of a university system. The game lets you make decisions in every area of campus life, under the communicative aegis of a board of trustees. The software is designed to model the behaviors of an academic community in five areas--budget, faculty, facilities, admissions standards (and university prestige and enrollment) and performance indicators."

The Changing Faces of Virtual Education

http://www.col.org/virtualed/virtual2pdfs/V2_chapter3.pdf (Page 10)

Dr. Glen M. Farrell, Editor
The commonwealth of Learning
Vancouver, Canada

"William Massey[sic] of Stanford University has also developed an expert system that enables the learner to play the role of a university president (www.virtual-u.org)."

Review of Education use of Games and Simulations

http://kits.edte.utwente.nl/documents/D1.pdf
Henny Leemkuil, Ton de Jong, and Susanne Ootes
University of Twente
September 2000

"Virtual U" a computer simulation game for university administrators and others interested in managing a university, players can set their own goals as long as they stay between certain boundaries (in this case the game can continue as long as the institution remains financially viable), or they can select certain scenarios with preset goals"

GameSpy.com interview with the VU team.

www.gamespy.com/interviews/january01/gdcfestival/index10a.shtm

"Virtual U's goal is to help train new college administrators and their staffs and help existing college administrations and staffs explore the many relationships and issues faced by institutions today. By doing that, the project's supporters hope that it will result in better management of the nation's universities which will result in a better educational system for all involved."

Review of Virtual U by SMU Daily Campus Newspaper

sdc.htrigg.smu.edu/HTMLPages/Fall00/09-27-00/news1_092700.html

President R. Gerald Turner had a small interest in the new Web game.

"If you get SMU to run on it, let me know, I'll take a vacation," Turner said.

Review of Virtual U by GameGenie.com

www.gamegenie.com/reviews/pc/virtualu.shtml

If you ever wanted to know what it was like to run a university, Virtual U is your game. Its attention to detail is overwhelming, and you'll want to replay a scenario several times to see what would happen if you raised the salary in the Agricultural Science department for full professors, rather than raising the level of scholarships available to minority students. Virtual U teaches you that there is more than one way to tackle a dilemma, and each pathway will have very different results. You can spend most of the game trying out several changes, and just seeing what the results are. Virtual U is one of the most all-inclusive simulations available, and a must for the aspiring administrator among us.

Overview of Virtual U by Firing Squad @ Gamers.com

firingsquad.gamers.com/games/underdogs/page7.asp

The sheer scope of Virtual U is what will keep you playing the game. There are literally thousands of different economic models that you can follow as an acting dean of your chosen university. If you have an attention to detail and academics, Virtual U might just be your dig.

Science: Volume 289, Number 5485, Issue 8, September 2000

www.sciencemag.org/content/vol289/issue5485/netwatch.shtml (requires registration)

"Ever wonder what it's like to be president of a university? Find out by playing Virtual U, a video game developed with $1 million from the Sloan Foundation that simulates the headaches of running a college or research university."

Nacubo.com

"With high-powered higher education conceptualizers linked to simulation game experts as its foundation, Virtual U offers a realistic insight into the travails of running an American university system. Not only college and university administrators, but also students, parents, faculty, and the media should find it enlightening."

The Chronicle of Higher Education

www.chronicle.com/free/v46/i18/18a05101.htm

"So how hard is it, really, to run a university? Sure, you have to balance professors' dreams for a talented student body and a bigger research budget against students' desires for small classes and smaller tuition increases.

"And yes, the trustees want you to raise the institution's prestige, and the alumni want you to make sure the football team wins. Is that so tough?

"If you have a computer, you can soon find out."

Computer Games Online

Designed with the help of the developers behind such games as Seven Kingdoms and Seven Kingdoms II, Virtual U lets students, teachers, and parents step into the decision-making shoes of a university president. "Players" will be responsible for establishing and monitoring all the major components of their institution, including everything from faculty salaries to campus parking.

Business Journal - San Jose

"Ever wonder what it's like to be San Jose State University president Robert Caret, Santa Clara president the Rev. Paul Locatelli or Stanford University president Gerhard Casper?

To help students, faculty, trustees and others curious about the ins and outs of university administration explore those roles, a retired Stanford professor has teamed with a foundation and two companies to develop an interactive, computer-based game."

Game Dudes

"Worth the download? You usually have to have a deep interest for simulations since it tries to best recreate an experience from the real thing. Virtual U is such and is geared towards those who are involved or are looking into administrative duties."

AT&T Campus Alliance

Information Literacy and Information Wisdom
Guest Columnist, Nannerl O. Keohane (President, Duke University)

"This spring, we'll see the release of a computer simulation developed by a Stanford professor based on the SimCity model. It's called "Virtual U," and purports to be "a sophisticated financial and managerial model of how a university operates." 2 Many expect to use this program to train higher education administrators, though happily even the inventors admit it's not a tool for actually running a college. I look forward to seeing what kind of rules and assumptions underpin the workings of this program. I'm not sanguine that it will lead to the development of a virtual president -- although I wouldn't mind having one available occasionally.

The tradeoffs in the use of simulations and "virtual reality" are usually well worth it; in our enthusiasm, we just need to be aware of these tradeoffs, and not fall prey to the temptation of blurring the virtual and the real. Someday soon, I hope, the ancient myth of Doctor Faustus will be rewritten by a great novelist or playwright on this theme. In the meantime, the rest of us should rehabilitate both our understanding of information literacy and our expectations of what information literacy will buy us."

Planet Sims

Virtual U -- we kid you not

"Now that summers in full swing, what should we do? How about getting ready to play the new title: Virtual U, billed as "The World's First Higher Education Simulation and Learning Tool".

One of the interesting things about this game is the producers plan on trying to release the source code! Oh man, think of all the VU cheats that can be created and given to the VU student body. Then you can spend the rest of the game suspending them."

The New York Times

Home Learning; Running Things (Into the Ground)
April 9, 2000, Sunday Education Life Supplement http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F0061FFB34580C7A8CDDAD0894D8404482

"O.K., I'm willing to admit that ''educational quality'' may need tweaking at this cow college. But the board also faults me for weak performance in faculty morale. I, who gave those tenured ingrates a 30 percent pay hike! I immediately suspect the football coach of conspiring against me at faculty meetings.

That's it, I am outta here. I click the button that allows me to quit. It opens up a screen showing a nice rocking chair in a room that looks all warm and inviting. These words appear above: ''Congratulations on occasion of your retirement!'' I look around some more but am unable to find a button that says ''Pension.''"

California Computer News

"Virtual U is a new software product sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It provides a compelling new way to understand and work with the challenges of higher education in America by simulating a university system."

The Greentree Gazette

January 2000
www.greentreegazette.com

"If you'd like to understand what a college president is supposed to be doing, a $129.95 game might be just the thing."

The San Francisco Chronicle

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/01/14/MN105285.DTL

"Like at a real university, few things happen quickly or easily. If a player wants to influence how much time a professor spends on teaching versus research, the president must alter the reward system to favor one or the other."

The Daily Kansan (University of Kansas)

http://www.kansan.com/arch/2000spring/03_10_00/news/virtualU3-10.html

"Players can control almost every aspect of the university, from where students are recruited and the football team´s record to the criteria for hiring faculty."

The Guardsman

"You shower, throw some clothes on, grab a cup of coffee and head to the President's Office. Today, you will make decisions that will affect an entire University system and thousands of students and faculty, from stimulating new research to managing parking problems. This is your life.

"Sorry to wake you, but you were dreaming about retired Graduate School of Business Prof. Bill Massy's new computer simulation adventure, Virtual U."

University of Georgia Newspaper

http://www.uga.edu/columns/000118/academe.html

"Virtual U provides a sophisticated financial and managerial model of how a university operates. Players must deal with real-life university dynamics between athletics and academics, faculty and staff, students and administration, and budgets which are affected by allocations, grants and private gifts"

Concordia College Computing Newsletter

http://www.cord.edu/dept/computing/news/newsletters/2000/01/10.html

"Why develop this game? Partly to provide a tool for allowing college administrators to examine the complete set of interrelationships involved in running a college, rather than focusing on their specific area. Partly to allow faculty to put themselves in the position of administrators making decisions about college resources. Partly to improve the public's understanding of what's involved in managing an institution of higher education."