Faculty of Arts & Science

Digital Futures

Ryan Boyd

THESIS: Utopian Academy - VR Learning Platform for Aspiring Social Innovators

Utopian Academy is a VR learning platform that inspires world change through games and play. The goal of the platform is to act as a global university in the metaverse with a game-based curriculum designed to inspire and empower social entrepreneurs. The curriculum itself is an alternate reality game that invites the student to create an alter-ego as a virtual superhero or “Avatar”, and “level up” by sharing their academic, creative and entrepreneurial progress with the world. Classes, assignments, and exams in this school all have gamified elements which seek to motivate and engage students in the learning material. By participating in these games, students become active participants in global impact. As a reward, students receive industry related microcredential certification, generate an impact-based cryptocurrency, as well as receive a chance to win startup funding. The cryptocurrency can be exchanged on the platform to donate real money to charities, startups, and other students to further support global impact.

“My thesis project is a culmination of a 7-year long search for community & belonging. As an artist and designer who deeply values learning, building, teaching, and helping others on my own terms, I wanted to create a space in which I could access all the resources I would need to bring my visions to life, while also empowering others to do the same. Through the process of designing many blueprints for off grid eco-villages, research centres, design firms and makerspaces, I realized my dream was too big to be contained by any of these spaces. I eventually landed on the idea of Utopian Academy, a virtual reality-based school for entrepreneurs and their social innovations.My research questions in designing this project included:What is the next paradigm of education?How can education help create a “solarpunk” future?How do we make changing the world fun, profitable, and culturally relevant?Is it possible for a game to save the world?Can game principles enhance education, entrepreneurship, and innovation?How can XR technology empower the social innovator?Thesis Statement“This design research project seeks to explore how XR game design can augment the learning & creative processes of social innovators. By merging social entrepreneurship and narrative play in a metaverse context, this project aims to create the academic foundation for a new paradigm of disruptive innovation.””