Thursday, October 27, 2011
Throughout much of the book Nardi discussed aesthetic experience and the magic circle and other similar things. Towards the end of the book Nardi switches to more general topics. In particular she deals with the topics of addiction, gender and culture.
She starts with reminding us that Dewey and others who study problematic internet use (PIU) can be easily frazzled by video games. World of Warcraft is no exception. Blizzard explicitly creates these games so that they are “addictive”. It’s about profit, the more people that play the game, the more money they make.
Its interesting that many of the most devout players of wow acknowledge that they are addicted to the game and even use pathologized terms to describe themselves. Nardi references the one fellow who compares himself to a dealer of crack in regards to trying to get his friends to play WOW.
It seems prudent to address the notion that addiction in video games is not necessarily the end all be all. People can suffer from PIU for a variety of reasons, addiction being prominetly featuered. But, often addiction to the video game can be caused by the fact that the player finds their “real life” to be less than satisfactory.
As with any other “abnormal” condition, the symptom is only “abnormal” when it begins to cause the subject duress and harm their lives. That being said, there is no norm for what an appropriate amount of Internet play is. I’ve often wondered if we all are not completely hooked on technology. Turkle so eloquently described the “cyborgs” who had a difficult time when they were not hooked up to the computer. Nardi Reference Dewey saying that it is important to find a balance in doing things. As with any aesthetic experience things can quickly get out of control. Balancing out one thing with another is perhaps a good idea.
Nardi also covers theory crafting and Mods. I’m particularly interested in Mods in part because I am curious about how “purists” and “tweakers” view games. WOW has a lot of room for each and many people may consider it “cheating” to use keybinds or macro’s. Indeed many of the more “seasoned’ players tend to have their characters automatically set up so that one button drops a mob.
I have a friend who is quite a techie. At one point this fellow set up a five screen display. Hooked up several computers to his display and linked 5 wow accounts together so that he had but use one keyboard and mouse and all five characters would act simultaneously. In terms of PVP this is ridiculus. How could one person (or even a PUG) deal with one optomized super bot of this nature?
The section on Gender is easily one of my favorite of the book. Though the topic is somewhat old hat at times, Nardi does a good job of keeping the concepts “fresh” and relating things to WOW. The notion of a guild really opens up the Gender studies in WOW. While in the game itself one mght avow to be a male or female there is no real way to be certain. Whereas in a guild often voice chat is an integral part of the gaming experience. When these factors come to bare it becomes much more difficult (but I suppose not impossible) to cover up who is in fact male or female.
Much of Nardi’s analysis of the Gendered speak kind of reminds me of Foucault. Who says what, when where and to whom. The use of blue language is one of the easiest measures for Nardi. She mentions that while the male dominated game tends to have somewhat course language the guild is very family friendly and as such they seek to be respectful of other members. This strikes me as a good balance for all kinds of team work. Being respectful of others-- powerful idea.
Moving to one of the last topics Nardi deals with is the use of WOW in Asia. I find the notion of “Gold farmers” to be very interesting. Amazon.com has an online tool called The Mechanical Turk where people will sign up to do very menial internet tasks often related to transcribing or entering numbers. The pay for these tasks is extremely low and almost anyone (with an internet connection) can undertake any number of tasks with little to no thought. Gold farming seems like this. I cannot imagine that an individual would be able to sit around and engage in the most mundane of tasks. I found it especially hard to believe that some of these people would want to continue to play the game even after their shift at work had ended.
Questions: Will another MMORPG be able to be “The WOW Killer”?
Where do you see the most potential for beneficial educational practices in MMORPG’s?
How has writing this book changed your outlook on video games?
She starts with reminding us that Dewey and others who study problematic internet use (PIU) can be easily frazzled by video games. World of Warcraft is no exception. Blizzard explicitly creates these games so that they are “addictive”. It’s about profit, the more people that play the game, the more money they make.
Its interesting that many of the most devout players of wow acknowledge that they are addicted to the game and even use pathologized terms to describe themselves. Nardi references the one fellow who compares himself to a dealer of crack in regards to trying to get his friends to play WOW.
It seems prudent to address the notion that addiction in video games is not necessarily the end all be all. People can suffer from PIU for a variety of reasons, addiction being prominetly featuered. But, often addiction to the video game can be caused by the fact that the player finds their “real life” to be less than satisfactory.
As with any other “abnormal” condition, the symptom is only “abnormal” when it begins to cause the subject duress and harm their lives. That being said, there is no norm for what an appropriate amount of Internet play is. I’ve often wondered if we all are not completely hooked on technology. Turkle so eloquently described the “cyborgs” who had a difficult time when they were not hooked up to the computer. Nardi Reference Dewey saying that it is important to find a balance in doing things. As with any aesthetic experience things can quickly get out of control. Balancing out one thing with another is perhaps a good idea.
Nardi also covers theory crafting and Mods. I’m particularly interested in Mods in part because I am curious about how “purists” and “tweakers” view games. WOW has a lot of room for each and many people may consider it “cheating” to use keybinds or macro’s. Indeed many of the more “seasoned’ players tend to have their characters automatically set up so that one button drops a mob.
I have a friend who is quite a techie. At one point this fellow set up a five screen display. Hooked up several computers to his display and linked 5 wow accounts together so that he had but use one keyboard and mouse and all five characters would act simultaneously. In terms of PVP this is ridiculus. How could one person (or even a PUG) deal with one optomized super bot of this nature?
The section on Gender is easily one of my favorite of the book. Though the topic is somewhat old hat at times, Nardi does a good job of keeping the concepts “fresh” and relating things to WOW. The notion of a guild really opens up the Gender studies in WOW. While in the game itself one mght avow to be a male or female there is no real way to be certain. Whereas in a guild often voice chat is an integral part of the gaming experience. When these factors come to bare it becomes much more difficult (but I suppose not impossible) to cover up who is in fact male or female.
Much of Nardi’s analysis of the Gendered speak kind of reminds me of Foucault. Who says what, when where and to whom. The use of blue language is one of the easiest measures for Nardi. She mentions that while the male dominated game tends to have somewhat course language the guild is very family friendly and as such they seek to be respectful of other members. This strikes me as a good balance for all kinds of team work. Being respectful of others-- powerful idea.
Moving to one of the last topics Nardi deals with is the use of WOW in Asia. I find the notion of “Gold farmers” to be very interesting. Amazon.com has an online tool called The Mechanical Turk where people will sign up to do very menial internet tasks often related to transcribing or entering numbers. The pay for these tasks is extremely low and almost anyone (with an internet connection) can undertake any number of tasks with little to no thought. Gold farming seems like this. I cannot imagine that an individual would be able to sit around and engage in the most mundane of tasks. I found it especially hard to believe that some of these people would want to continue to play the game even after their shift at work had ended.
Questions: Will another MMORPG be able to be “The WOW Killer”?
Where do you see the most potential for beneficial educational practices in MMORPG’s?
How has writing this book changed your outlook on video games?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
I’m rather intrigued by the sort of self classification that World of Warcraft has. Different players play different races of characters that have aesthetic as well as skill based differences. I wonder if people who line up in different personality types tend to play one kind of character or another. I could see a very helpful person wanting to be a helping class such as a priest. Priests are healers that typically play in the back to heal the group (or themselves.) When I played AION I was a priest because the priest was not so squishy. WOW seems to do a good job stratifying the strengths of the different races. I am electing to be a paladin because I have been lead to understand that these characters can level easily in individual play. Because I am a very pragmatic person, I seek the most efficient character. WIth that in mind, does my character speak to who I am and--do I inform who my character is? The correlation seems very obvious, but it seems very likely that there would be exceptions to this rule.
The Magic Circle!
My wife played WOW one summer while I was working. I did not get it. She was clicking a screen, not getting anything done. However, to her she was levelling her druid and spending time with her friends (she was playing with her IRL friends....in a common location). To her, WoW was an adventure, a break from the “real” world. It was a chance for her to spend some quality time with her friends. I was not in the magic circle. I later joined the game (and had to quit as school started) but I got to see a bit of the allure of being in the circle. This does draw a major line in the sand for me -- Work Or Play.
Often to me, video games can feel like work. I like to play with people or I get board questing on my own. But, I have very little patience for PUG groups or for not taking the game seriously. That being said, I am not super competitive in gaming. The scarlet raven guild sounds like a good kind of guild to be in as they factor in that characters in wow are real people living in the real world. I do not often have the patience to play a video game all night long, because at some point I feel like I am putting off the things in the real world that demand my attention. I’m not sure if this is “true” or not, but it is my feeling anyway.
The word “grinding” seems to be very fitting. Ultimately, that is what you do (in some instances) to quickly level and to get good loot without having to be bothered with pick up groups or with disappointing quest mates. Grinding. Kill 10 monsters. Kill 10 more. I’ve done some grinding- it gets old- quick. The interesting part about this is that if I am grinding for a quest or if the drops are particularly good it is more thrilling. This notion supports the idea that the opportunity for occasional award coupled with the ability to complete a step in a sequence is a powerful thing.
I’ve noticed lately that many web surveys have a bar at the bottom that show the surveyed how close they are to being through with the survey. This seems very much like an XP bar in WOW. It gives an abstract reference so that you know where you are in relative terms to completing the activity. It seems that we (as humans) are constantly seeking new tools to inform us of our relative positions in the world (geographically) or within a process (XP bars). There seems to be a driving sort of desire to constantly *know. These notions can (and are) being incorporated into all sorts of every day things. The survey that I referenced is just one example. As games become more and more the norm, I expect that things based on “games” will become more prevalent.
At another point Nardi discusses Group play. I hope that I have the opportunity to play with some of the people in class. While I know that the low level areas are mostly just for getting a hold of the games basic tasks these are still things that could be made more interesting with a group of people. I am fascinated by the notions of different people bringing different tools together to complete a task. Wow takes that to the extreme with the idea that people have different innate strengths and so do their characters. This combination of self and character makes for a very rich environment to study and discuss the notions of group dynamics and leadership.
WOW!
Bonnie Nardi
Being and Becoming
Nardi states that she enters the ethnographic field at her kitchen table. This statement might baffle most ethnographers, but Nardi is doing “digital ethnography”. Through her computer Nardi is able to access the World!....of Warcraft. In this Massively multiplayer online role playing game Nardi becomes an avatar. A digital being that has the option of being chosen by the player.
I am particularly interested in the notion of “avatars” and the notion of mediating multiple online persona’s. I’ve heard many people attribute unique characteristics to each character that they “play” online. My wondering is if these characters are necessarily an extension of their “In-real-life-self” (IRL) or if people are actually able to create a character independent of their own experiences.
Today I am flying to Michigan, and as I write this I am sitting in the Atlanta airport. This is the poster child of being and becoming. Everyone is trying to go somewhere. Hurry up, let’s go, we’re late. Nardi mentions that Dewey says something to the effect that life is in the processes as well as the end result. These people in the airport (while I imagine they are not ‘interpreted’ in their process) are certainly heading towards a goal. Throughout there are the opportunities for reward, meeting someone, seeing something interesting, going here---or there. There are numerous opportunities for aesthetic experience (as long as you are not the one pulling the lever over and over).
“The self acts as well as undergoes” (41) This is a quote from dewey that Nardi references. I’m imagining a warrior or some other Warcraft creature running around in a digital forest. As this creature/character/avatar/persona progresses through the game that being is “undergoing”. Also, that being is “acting”.
The notion of motivating people through intermittent random reward is very powerful. I experienced this just the other night while playing minecraft. In this particular instance I was literally flatting off a mountain. In this instance I was dually motivated. Firstly, I was motivated by the chance that I would find some iron-ore or coal as I was mining. Secondly, I was working towards an end goal. While Dewey might dispute the idea of cutting down a mountain as an aesthetic experience, I certainly enjoyed relaxing and hacking away at the mountain.
Community
Community certainly plays a big part in a multi-player role playing game. The cliché “come for the game, stay for the community” is thrown around quite often. However, Nardi notes that driven toward achieving arious goals and experiences more advanced players will leave a guild (which is a long lasting team of players) in order to join a more advanced guild.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Alone Together and SIPT
Joseph Walther’s Social Information Processing theory (SIPT) suggests that computer-mediated communication (CMC) is just as effective as Face-to-face(FTF) communication but that CMC takes about twice as long. Walther employs the notion of drinking a cup of coffee; whether you sip or you gulp you still get the same amount of coffee.
Sherry Turkle suggests in Alone Together that people who are “tethered” feel that FTF communication, or even synchronous (Specifically telephone calls) take far too long to use. She argues that the “tethered” want to communicate only in ways that allow only partial attention.
I put a lot of credence into SIPT and Turkle’s idea that CMC causes people spend less time is troubling to me. I’m not discrediting Turkle’s work because she is not speaking in terms of communication richness, but in terms of frequency and time spent. For my money, when I want to get something done fast I send an email or a make a phone call. 140 characters or less? In most cases-- I’ll pass.
-----
Assigning identity through media:
Turkle brings up a case in which a 16 year old girl suggests that when she feels bad she’ll “pull up” her “friend...uh..phone” (175). Turkle makes a point of pointing out that she assigns identity to her friends through the phone. The notion of having multiple identities--one in every medium?--is fascinating. Are you the same person on TXT MSG’s as you are FTF or on Facebook.
------
Rabbit Hole
At another junction Turkle references the progression of treatment from womens sexual repression to tranquilizers and now to drugs that treat symptoms of isolation.
I’ve noticed that several of my students are doing work on the effect of technology in communication and also on the notion of solitude. Does this suggest that they feel that they do not get enough “alone” time?
Mark Powell, the author of Blood Kin suggested to me that younger people (and older people too) are often in-able to write because they cannot suffer to be alone with their thoughts. He notes that writing is not a knee-jerk response nor does it involve regurgitation, but that it requires self reflection. Does communicating with others require reflection?
------
Performing Self
Another interesting section deals with the performance of self. Turkle states that “whenever one has time to write, edit and delete, there is room for performance.” (180) This causes me to wonder if we have a self that is performative or if we have multiple selves? AND are our multiple selves multiply-mediated.
Internet communication immediately feels “scarier” when you turn the camera and the microphone on. The hyper-personal qualities of messaging change with the medium. So, in a way our identity changes.
What happens on the Internet stays on the Internet.
Often is more casual relationships it seems that one is “creepy” or a “stalker” if they follow your facebook profile too closely. But, you do it too. The numbers suggest that many people do it. But, perhaps no one wants to admit it. While we are all living (editing) our vital lives we are also creating a composed self. But, it seems that often what happens online is not socially transferable to “real life”.
The Internet brings more things into the public than in times past. Much of the moratorium is now public. Behaviors that are often seen as forgivable in young people that should happen and be forgotten are now preserved forever and all time on the Internet.
Final Thoughts
I’m troubled at the frequency of examples in this book of children feeling ignored by their parents. This is the intersection of technology and life that troubles me. For me, family is quite important. But, is our incessant need to be plugged in causing us to not relate to those most dear to us? I hope not. I need to write another 60 words in order to hit the word count for this blog. I think I’m going to take my wife out to lunch. :Unplugged:
Questions:
Which takes longer for you: CMC or FTF styles?
Can you “know” a person through Text messaging? Is the person you know authentic?
With Regard to a lack of solitude, does communication suffer if there is a lack of reflection? Are we “bad” at communicating if we don’t spend time to understand and craft messages/responses?
Are we one self that performs, or do we have multiple selves?
Is the perception of privacy on the ‘net dangerous?
Joseph Walther’s Social Information Processing theory (SIPT) suggests that computer-mediated communication (CMC) is just as effective as Face-to-face(FTF) communication but that CMC takes about twice as long. Walther employs the notion of drinking a cup of coffee; whether you sip or you gulp you still get the same amount of coffee.
Sherry Turkle suggests in Alone Together that people who are “tethered” feel that FTF communication, or even synchronous (Specifically telephone calls) take far too long to use. She argues that the “tethered” want to communicate only in ways that allow only partial attention.
I put a lot of credence into SIPT and Turkle’s idea that CMC causes people spend less time is troubling to me. I’m not discrediting Turkle’s work because she is not speaking in terms of communication richness, but in terms of frequency and time spent. For my money, when I want to get something done fast I send an email or a make a phone call. 140 characters or less? In most cases-- I’ll pass.
-----
Assigning identity through media:
Turkle brings up a case in which a 16 year old girl suggests that when she feels bad she’ll “pull up” her “friend...uh..phone” (175). Turkle makes a point of pointing out that she assigns identity to her friends through the phone. The notion of having multiple identities--one in every medium?--is fascinating. Are you the same person on TXT MSG’s as you are FTF or on Facebook.
------
Rabbit Hole
At another junction Turkle references the progression of treatment from womens sexual repression to tranquilizers and now to drugs that treat symptoms of isolation.
I’ve noticed that several of my students are doing work on the effect of technology in communication and also on the notion of solitude. Does this suggest that they feel that they do not get enough “alone” time?
Mark Powell, the author of Blood Kin suggested to me that younger people (and older people too) are often in-able to write because they cannot suffer to be alone with their thoughts. He notes that writing is not a knee-jerk response nor does it involve regurgitation, but that it requires self reflection. Does communicating with others require reflection?
------
Performing Self
Another interesting section deals with the performance of self. Turkle states that “whenever one has time to write, edit and delete, there is room for performance.” (180) This causes me to wonder if we have a self that is performative or if we have multiple selves? AND are our multiple selves multiply-mediated.
Internet communication immediately feels “scarier” when you turn the camera and the microphone on. The hyper-personal qualities of messaging change with the medium. So, in a way our identity changes.
What happens on the Internet stays on the Internet.
Often is more casual relationships it seems that one is “creepy” or a “stalker” if they follow your facebook profile too closely. But, you do it too. The numbers suggest that many people do it. But, perhaps no one wants to admit it. While we are all living (editing) our vital lives we are also creating a composed self. But, it seems that often what happens online is not socially transferable to “real life”.
The Internet brings more things into the public than in times past. Much of the moratorium is now public. Behaviors that are often seen as forgivable in young people that should happen and be forgotten are now preserved forever and all time on the Internet.
Final Thoughts
I’m troubled at the frequency of examples in this book of children feeling ignored by their parents. This is the intersection of technology and life that troubles me. For me, family is quite important. But, is our incessant need to be plugged in causing us to not relate to those most dear to us? I hope not. I need to write another 60 words in order to hit the word count for this blog. I think I’m going to take my wife out to lunch. :Unplugged:
Questions:
Which takes longer for you: CMC or FTF styles?
Can you “know” a person through Text messaging? Is the person you know authentic?
With Regard to a lack of solitude, does communication suffer if there is a lack of reflection? Are we “bad” at communicating if we don’t spend time to understand and craft messages/responses?
Are we one self that performs, or do we have multiple selves?
Is the perception of privacy on the ‘net dangerous?
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