In this paper, we present a study of 182 youths (ages 9-17) playing a closed-system Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG), Guardian Academy. Its purpose was to investigate the online virtual world behaviours of youth under the age of 18 playing in an educational setting. We report on a mixed-methods study of minor players in situ across eight socioeconomically diversified educational communities, focused on characteristics, patterns, and trajectories of development of school-aged youths'

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... ne play. The study has implications for other trajectories of MMOG research, particularly those concerned with distinctive features of minors' play, the development of game-play expertise, and previous.