Communication, Coordination, and Camaraderie in World of Warcraft
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Transcript of Communication, Coordination, and Camaraderie in World of Warcraft
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Research Overview• concept: game mechanics = player
behavior?• analysis: coordination in high-end
raids; camaraderie and trust; group norms vs. individual expectations
•implications: mechanics too narrow to understand behavior; trust based on experience; replication of social marginalization
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Game Mechanics & Communities
• Assumptions:– helping people see how individual
affects community and vice versa important
– responsibility of educators• If games can be used as training
grounds, how do we get people to value community?
• Previous research looked at game design and mechanics—change mechanic, change player behavior
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Ethnography of MMORPGs
• personal experience didn’t match up with models
• players’ actual choices are complex and socially situated
• look at social practice (Taylor, Steinkuehler)
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World of Warcraft
• ~9 million subscribers• each server has 1000s
• fantasy world• character classes• kill monsters, complete
quests to gain experience and loot
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Game Interface
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Attributes and Items
better loot and experience = more powerful character
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Raid Group• 40 players - Molten Core • each played different role• labor was divided/roles
emerged through social practice (Strauss, Stevens)– through game defined roles
(character class and ability)– through merit (case-specific
ability or prior knowledge)– through existing structures
(previous relationships)
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Communication• text chat channels
– standard (raid)– specialized
(madrogues)• voice chat
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Coordination• chat interwoven• on and off task• simultaneously coordinated• contextually meaningful
– 18:11:20.421 : [4. soulburn] Lori: Remember, ss target will change at Domo, but until then, your rezzer is to be ssed at all times.
• jovial
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Molten Core
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An encounter with Molten Giants• two Main Tanks• healers• damage dealers kept track of aggro
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Learning in Molten Core
• individual learning• group learning through failure:
– “Now I hope no one's getting frustrated. This is how raids go. It's normal: You fight and fight and fight until your gear is broken, repair and do it again... It can take a while to master these encounters but we're doing good work!”
bodies from previous failures
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Camaraderie (lack thereof)• One night, raid suffered meltdown.• doubt, bickering in specialized chat channels
– Shaun: .... Sven, you are fired.– Sven: Hey, most people avoid you, Shaunie! It's the breath. I'm
giving an alternative!– Shaun: an option that is closer to the caves. you... you are
trying to kill us all....– Sven: Well? It hasn't happened, now has it?? Stop being so
paranoid!
• camaraderie, level of communication in shared channels low (8 min of silence)
• no communication = no trust (Iacono & Weisband)
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• bottom-up reflection on meltdown– “I love our raid... We are like brothers and sisters
really. Stuff like this is going to happen. However I think we have all been playing long enough to know that we have a pretty great group of people going here and truly we care about and try to do what is best for one another.”
• reaffirmed goals• trust built through valuing shared experience
Recovery
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Drama: group vs. individual goals• Ways of talking / making arguments• Norms vs. cultural diversity?
- “Most of your argument was made up of class roles in a raid, and that’s a valid point. However, the other 75% of WoW isn’t a raid, and that needs to be taken into consideration too… So I’m passed up for a shield that could definitely benefit me… because that ¼ of the game has more precedence? Jeeze, don’t do me any favors.”
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Instance requirements: Who gets to go?
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Implications• Must look at player social practice• Learning happens socially, through lived
experience and practice• Coordination needed to succeed in group work• Trust among team members crucial
• What builds trust?– specialized roles– willingness to fail– communication– relationships/shared
experience goal– ability to reflect on goal
• Sustainable = equitable?