Abstract
A personal nutrition learning experience was delivered to participants in the "Intrepid Healthy Lifestyle Hunter" nutrition simulation- a simulated virtual environment hosted in Second Life. There was a change between pretest and posttest scores for all participants suggesting that there was an increase in basic nutrition knowledge due to their participation in the simulation. There was no significant difference in pretest and posttest scores between gamer and non-gamer participants. These findings suggest that familiarity or experience with online gaming does not affect the ability to learn in a virtual environment. Concern has been expressed to us by those not familiar with virtual worlds, that virtual world learning may be better suited to those familiar with video games or online gaming. Our findings suggest that this may not be the case. A discussion will follow the presentation of the research data. We are interested in hearing if others who are doing work with virtual simulations have heard similar concerns and to learn about other's experiences with users who have no prior gaming experience.