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.