The document discusses the challenges and lessons learned from creating synthetic virtual worlds for research purposes. It describes an initial attempt to create a virtual world called Arden using the Multiverse engine that failed due to lack of resources and platform limitations. The authors then opted to use Neverwinter Nights to fulfill their obligations, calling it Arden 2. They concluded that the most viable approaches for future research are "Little Experiments" using tailored tools for specific questions, observing natural experiments in existing virtual worlds, and collaborating with the commercial sector to co-create worlds. Researchers should expect to make mistakes and focus on learning from smaller experiments.

1. Make More Mistakes: Lessons Learned from Synthetic World Construction Mark Bell Indiana University

2. Mark Bell PhD Student Indiana University Social Networks Virtual World Experimentation 15 Years Software Industry

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