Players as Producers: Gaining Insight in the Motivation of Role-Players in World of Warcarft Lukie Stalenhoef Utrecht University, Department of New Media Studies Elzas 103, 3524 RV, Utrecht L.R.Stalenhoef@students.uu.nl +31619008073 ABSTRACT
Since the potential of games to learn effectively is broadly acknowledged, this pre-study investigates how gamers are motivated and why this is important for the design of future learning experiences. More specifically, the way in which role-players in World of Warcraft feel a sense of ‘productive agency’ is examined for this could indicate how players can experience the game as producers and why they are motivated to engage in role-play activities. This prestudy suggests that role-players experience productive agency and are especially motivated because of the opportunities they get to construct their own social system and character. Furthermore, role-players appear to test the limits of the game design in creative ways. Author Keywords
World of Warcraft, motivation, creativity, players, producers, learning, education, role-play, sense of ownership, agency.
INTRODUCTION: LEARNING
GAMING
AND
THE
FUTURE
OF
Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning things. - Diane Ackerman Although computer games are most often perceived as pure entertainment, games, beyond their value as entertainment media, are currently key entry points for many young people into productive literacies, social communities and digitally rich identities [20]. Many communication scholars believe we should study video games for they create effective new learning opportunities that matter for the future of learning [3; 6; 7; 8; 16; 20; 21; 22; 27]. Regarding learning and games, an issue that comes up frequently is “the fact that video games appear to be deeply motivating to young people in ways in which much of
school, say, is not” [7]. Clearly, the source of this motivation is an important subject for research as it provides us with insight in how future learning experiences can be successfully designed. Currently, a common goal when constructing a game that can be implemented in education is to design instructional games. Then, however, “[…] the greatest learning benefit remains reserved for those engaged in the design process, the game designers, and not those at the receiving end, the game players” [9]. Rather than embedding lessons directly in games and treating players as passive consumers, we should pay attention to the way in which players could function as producers and are actively engaged in developing gaming ideas and strategies [9]. This train of thought is not new. In the book Ecology of Games (2008), editor Salen pushed the authors to explore the design and behavior of games as systems in which young people participate not only as gamers and learners, but also as producers [20]. With more than 11.5 million subscribers worldwide, the most popular MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) World of Warcraft (WoW) is argued to be worth studying for it provides one of the best ways to obtain a better understanding of game studies as a whole [16]. In WoW, there are four distinct types of servers, one of which is ‘Role-Play’, an understudied game mode wherein narrative worlds are constructed [13]. In this pre-study, I argue how role-players in WoW come to feel a sense of ‘ownership’ or ‘agency’. Although these concepts are not easily translated, Gee (2008) offers a useful description of these feelings when he notices that: “In a video game, players make things happen; they don’t just consume what the ‘author’ (game designer) has placed before them. In good games, players feel that their actions and decisions – and not just the designers’ actions – cocreate the world they are in and shape the experiences they are having” [7].
Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory. Proceedings of DiGRA 2009 © 2009Authors & Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA). Personal and educational classroom use of this paper is allowed, commercial use requires specific permission from the author.
Role-Play in Education
Obviously, the notions of ‘agency’ and ‘ownership’ are related to the experience that players feel like (co-) producers in a game and are therefore also referred to as ‘productive agency’. In this pre-study, it has been investigated if the concept of ‘productive agency’ relates to the motivation of role-players in WoW and why this relation could matter for the future of learning. Therefore, the main question throughout this pre-study will be:
Just as the concept of ‘role-playing game’ consists of various meanings, scholars have trouble defining educational ‘role-play’ as it is used interchangeably with terms like ‘simulation’, ‘drama’ and ‘game’ [10]. Rather, role-play should be perceived as one component or element of these terms, instead of using them as one of the same. For instance, while ‘simulation’ represents a situation in which students play a ‘natural’ role, a role that you can have in real life, ‘role-play’ can also represent a role that is imagined and doesn’t have to exist in real life.
How is the notion of ‘productive agency’ related to the way in which players of WoW are motivated to engage in roleplay and why could this be useful for the design of future learning experiences in Europe?
In this pre-study, I have used the definition of ‘role-play’ as it is given by Kodotchigova (2002), who uses the term to describe:
The focus in this pre-study will be on the learning skill of creativity. Today, some basic assumptions of our educational system need to be reviewed in order to promote the motivation and skills that students need and creativity is fundamental to meet these objectives in the 21st century. Therefore, in the design of future learning experiences, there needs to be an emphasis on ‘creative education’, a form of education that develops young people’s capacities for original ideas and action [15].
“[…] a teaching technique in which the students are asked to identify with the given familiar and non-familiar roles and to interact with the other role characters within the given socio-cultural situation” [10]. Various scholars have developed guides on how role-play could be implemented in the classroom and provided us with information on why the role-play method could not only be useful as a learning tool, but is also necessary in order to develop practical professional skills as well as academic knowledge [2; 10; 12].
In order to gather information for my research, I conducted ethnographical research in WoW. I participated on the roleplaying server Argent Dawn as a ‘Gnome Warrior’ named Lukie. This enabled me to get familiar with the phenomenon ‘role-play’ and to acquire insight in what motivates players to engage in this type of play from my own personal experiences. Furthermore, I interviewed roleplayers either by e-mail and face-to-face to conduct information about their thoughts on role-play.
For instance, according to Blatner (2002), much of education today is, unfortunately, oriented on the kind of learning that can be more easily tested and is learned by books. Yet, the world is more in need of people with skills than of people with knowledge of facts. Skills reflect a type of learning that is less easily forgotten and accounts for flexible, creative and rational thinking that is learned in a process of interaction, risk-taking, self-expression, feedback and encouragement [2].
ROLE-PLAY
Gathering knowledge today has shifted from repeating information to learning to integrate knowledge in action, by addressing problems, exploring alternatives and seeking novel and creative solutions. Therefore, when considering how learning experiences are successfully designed in the future, contemporary research has to move beyond an analysis of media as a way to become literate and has to focus on how media could be used to stimulate creative production [20].
The term ‘role’ comes from Ancient Greece when actors were said to play the ‘role’ of e.g. Hamlet. Unlike traditional theater, which was, according to modernists around 1910, encrusted with obsolete forms, emotionally phoney and dead, role-play, as an act of improvisation, was perceived as an act of creativity and spontaneity because people were able to use their own ideas [2]. From the mid-1960s, the concept of ‘role-playing game’ (RPG) emerged from the growing popularity of the Fantasy genre and cultural practices such as improvisational theater, educational classroom role-play, wargaming and historical re-enactment [5]. Before the concept of ‘role-playing game’ is elaborated on, the ability of educational role-play to stimulate learning skills of creativity is discussed since this clarifies why the concept of ‘role-play’ in the classroom could be beneficial for learning.
As games are able to create effective new learning opportunities that matter for the future of learning and are able to motivate their players, it thus seems useful to investigate how players of WoW are motivated to engage in role-play and how creative production is stimulated amongst them. Role-Play in WoW
Role-playing games consist of a rather heterogeneous group of game systems and styles of play that can be subdivided in three categories; pen-and-paper RPGs, live (action) 2
RPGs and computer-mediated online RPG’s [5]. WoW, part of the last category, is used in this paper to investigate how role-play could motivate students to engage in creative production. Although the concept of role-play that WoW has adopted might not be entirely new, the practices of roleplay seem to be distinct enough from general online gaming practices to warrant study in their own right [16].
While the imaginary world created with offline role-play is only limited to the players’ imagination, creation in WoW is limited to the game’s programming. Yet, despite the restrictions that the design in WoW imposes on players, it seems as if the players can have the feeling that they have an impact on this world. Although WoW is designed to set up certain goals for players, they are often left free to achieve these goals in their own ways and allowed to construct their own goals [20; 7]. Therefore, I investigated how role-players come to feel a sense of ‘productive agency’.
When considering why people engage in role-play, we need to be careful not to confuse the server ‘role-play’ with the game style of role-play. On the server, different styles of play are encouraged. The most important ones are ‘instrumental play’ wherein characters gain experience points and advance in level and ‘role-play’, a game style that defines itself by players that act out their character [5]. The latter is more specifically defined as:
Interestingly, this sense of ‘productive agency’ is a quality of video games that is often perceived to be critical to gaming as it helps explain the motivation they recruit and the learning that they enable [7]. Although many have argued that the interactive character of games is important when considering the learning experiences of games, what matters is not interactivity per se, but the fact that in many games players come to feel a sense of agency or ownership:
“[…] a game playing motivated with narrative desires, focused on creating imaginary worlds and based on making decisions on how personified characters act in imaginary situations” [13]. This definition is chosen because it resembles the one that is given by role-players themselves in the Role-Playing’s frequently asked questions (FAQ), found on WoW RolePlaying Forum:
“I would argue that all deep learning involves learners feeling a strong sense of ownership and agency, as well as the ability to produce and not just passively consume” [7]. We should thus pay attention to how players actively take part in creating the game environment and take on active roles in determining how, when and why they learn [20; 22]. Therefore, I have tried to gain insight in how roleplayers in WoW come to feel a sense of productive agency and how this relates to the way that players of WoW are motivated to engage in role-play. From a learning perspective, I examined if role-players, based on the notion of productive agency, are engaged in creative production.
“Role Playing is when you act out a specific character InGame or in a Role-Playing thread [out-game]. Basically you are an actor in an unscripted environment and act as you think your avatar would” [24]. Interestingly, the game mechanics are exactly the same for all of the servers on WoW as well as for the two styles of play mentioned before. Role-play is different only in: “[…] the fact that you are required to Role-Play as your character. If you are caught going Out-Of-Character too often and in the wrong ways you can, and probably will be reported for it” [24]
Based on Montola (2008), who states that the most central goals that provide role-play with content are defined and accepted by players who define the world and its characters, the following three elements that define role-play from the player’s point of view are discussed, namely: (1) a power structure, (2) personified player characters, and (3) an imaginary game world [13].
When considering how role-play in WoW stimulates creative production, more information on how players experience the game as (co-)producers is needed. Therefore, I did not focus on the policies of Blizzard concerning the way in which role-play is carried out in WoW, but on how players have designed rules of their own, independently of Blizzard. This way, we might gain insight in how people are motivated to engage in role-play and why it is useful for the design of future learning experiences in Europe to consider this.
A Power Structure
Although role-play, as a type of game play earlier discussed, is expected on RP servers, many players fail to take the role-playing aspect seriously. It seems that roleplay is not really supported by the game despite the special reserved servers and the fact that role-playing is in most cases counterproductive, when compared to instrumental play, it may discourage new players from spending time and effort pursuing it.
PLAYERS AS PRODUCERS
Apparently, “[…] to role-play World of Warcraft is to add to the game an extra set of rules and challenges that is often in conflict with the already existing rules and challenges” [23]. An observation that resembles the idea that RPGs, in general, are a form of cultural practice, that allows players
It is a common thought that gamers want to feel like they have an impact on the game world. However, when comparing the online role-play that occurs in WoW to offline versions of role-play, some authors stress the limited impact gamers have in online role-playing [11; 14; 16]. 3
to intervene productively [17] and that rules and goals are brought to the game activity by players to give it meaning [13; 14].
the screen, as imagination takes on a big role when roleplaying [16].
To effectively engage in role-play, role-players are required to come up with ideas on how limitations of the game design are overcome. Consequently, just as role-play is used in education to integrate knowledge in action and to seek for novel and creative solutions, WoW is said to demonstrate some fundamental principles to think creatively [8].
The way in which virtual environments enable people to hide and change their appearance, identity and other aspects have been discussed for a while now. People can become who they want to be online, and interestingly, their online persona can become as real as their own lives. Actually, people are able to create multiple representations of themselves and thus explore new aspects of themselves [16].
Personified Player Characters
Evidence for the fact that players are actively engaged in developing material production can be found in shared practices of, for instance, frequently asked questions (FAQ’s), maps, monster databases and plug-ins. In the socalled Role-Playing Policy, the rules that are added by players in addition to Blizzard’s normal in-game policy are outlined. Clearly, it is a requirement that role-players are to create imaginary worlds and that the responsibility is put on the players altogether:
For role-players, the anonymity that is accustomed with online communication is a clear advantage. WoW provides the opportunity to refrain from exposing yourself and offers a significant amount of privacy. It is said to encourage interactivity amongst role-players, to stimulate immersion and to be an advantage of online role-play, in contrast to offline role-play [16]. The advantage of creating an online character when roleplaying is emphasized by a research done by Bessiere et al. (2007). Their results suggest that WoW allows players the freedom to create successful virtual selves regardless of the constraints of their actual situation. They also suggest that the players’ characters express aspects of the players’ ideal selves, allowing players to free themselves from real life constraints and to be more like the person they wish to be [1].
“Cultivating an environment that allows this level of immersion rests largely upon the shoulders of you, the player. […] Remember to be respectful of others' storylines for we must all work together to maintain the continuity of the Base Storyline” [18]. Furthermore, the policy mentions that players are expected to create a name that fits within the universe of WoW and to stay ‘in-character’ (ICC), which means that players should not discuss topics that hold a connection to real life. When one does, he or she is said to be ‘out of character’ (OOC), and is talking about things his or her character could have no knowledge of [18].
While participating in WoW, I tried to ask role-players why they were motivated to engage in role-play. Most of the answers I got were similar to this one: Lukie to [Level 17 Dwarf]: but you like roleplay?
More insight on this subject matter is provided by one of the interviewees. He mentioned that he was particularly motivated to role-play in WoW because of the experiences he acquired when playing together with other people he knew from the game. When someone got OOC, he said that the cohesion of the group felt apart and that certain narratives that were developed were broken. Therefore, going OOC is, according to him, indeed ‘not done’.
Lukie to [Level 17 Dwarf]: because I want to investigate why people like to RP [Level 17 Dwarf] whispers to Lukie: its fun and e release from normal life i guess [25]. These answers showed how role-play could indeed function as a release from real life. From the interviews I conducted out-game, I also received information about the way in which virtual selves could relate to actual selves. For instance, somebody told me how he knew someone that was incredibly outspoken and tough in-game, while he appeared to be very shy and polite in real life.
Players in WoW thus appear to have joined an environment where there is room for creativity, also apparent as players acquire ‘tacit knowledge’: the kind of knowledge that cannot be easily expressed and develops through shared practice that comes to exist through interaction between people with similar goals. It involves learning on how well co-created information can be passed on to others. A process in which most of the creativity is said to occur [3; 7; 8].
Although the same person told me that some aspects of the virtual selves in WoW seemed to be retraceable to the person behind the screen, the actual self, the fact that players have the opportunity to construct their own character and act it out in-game is apparent on role-play servers. Therefore, it seems plausible that role-players have the feeling that they co-create the game world with their character, as their actions in-game, acted throughout their character, shape the experiences they are having personally.
Useful to note here is that when players engage in role-play activities, they are not only becoming authors of texts, but also of themselves. Through social interaction, role-players appeared to be actively engaged in constructing characters that may or may not reflect qualities of the person behind
4
An interesting view on the relation between identity and ownership is provided by Champion (2009). According to him, in full role-play, the player experiences a varied and rich amount of choices, meaningful decisions and complex consequences. Moreover, there is not only a possible selection of characters, role-players also experience some degree of freedom in how one interprets and performs the role. Furthermore, players are given some responsibility in fulfilling their role, otherwise they are accused of being OOC [3].
when designing games for learning, we should incorporate these learning aspects and pay attention to the way in which players construct a virtual self. Thus, either in the process of constructing a character and the process of developing and following the rules that are established in the shared practices, the social system is a crucial aspect for role-players for it defines the way in people are expected to role-play. Another crucial aspect of role-playing games is the construction of imaginary game worlds.
One of the people I interviewed told me about the so-called ‘cookie cutter’, a name given to people who try to make their character as strong as possible. Mostly, these cookie cutters are not appreciated, for they do not express the variety that role-players appreciate when it comes to constructing a character. Clearly, this shows how creativity is expected amongst role-players. Also, Collister (2008), in her thesis on conversations in WoW has found that someone said that, about the way in which their characters behaved, “if you RP, it requires some creativity” [4]. Furthermore, one of the interviewees mentioned that:
An Imaginary Game World
When comparing a role-playing server in WoW with the other servers, it is clear that WoW adds a more developed narrative dimension to the gameworld in which the potential rewards are of a different kind than the usual progress-oriented rewards that are strived for on other servers, such as armor weapons, gold and experience points [23]. On the motivation behind the fact that role-players enjoy creating narrative dimensions, the Role-Playing Policy mentions that:
[Role-Players] are creative. I mean in most cases you have to really think of what you type to another player to make it in the right context. So their minds are constantly trying to come up with a way to stay in character.
“Creating an immersive world that holds true to the "Base Storyline" of the World of Warcraft is the driving motivation behind our Role-Play Servers. While other servers allow you to play World of Warcraft, these servers are intended to let you live World of Warcraft” [18].
While I was participating in WoW, I was eager to join the Rollers Club event as I thought it would provide me more information on how role-play is actively performed in- and out-game. In order to be approved for the event, I had to fill in an application. What I found interesting was that I had to describe my character with a social background, purely made up by myself. Funny thing is that it was actually stated that we should ‘Be Creative’ [19]. One of the character descriptions looked like this:
Apparently, role-play enables players to built unto the narrative history of WoW, letting them live the story more than on other servers. While academic interest in RPG’s focuses especially on collaboration during play sessions, Punday (2005) discusses how role-playing games construct narrative worlds. Clearly, the construction of worlds demand the imaginative and emotional involvement of those who attend to them. And besides that, RPGs are linked to changing ideas in contemporary culture of creativity and innovation:
Name: [First and Last name] Occupation: Freelance Assassin and Dragon Hunter Short background story: In life, he was a Dragon hunter of skill, after an unfortunate accident of being eaten by a frostwyrm he took up the relatively safer occupation of Assassination and Theft, doing well for himself, particularly good at infitrateing fortresses, he challanges himself to break into better secured buildings [19].
“RPGs provide a framework in which players may adopt a more active relation to fictional texts and genres. In the process, I suggest, these games imply a very different way of understanding creativity” [17].
From a learning perspective, it is also interesting to take a closer look at the process of creating an online character. For instance, Gee (2008) argues that a ‘social identity’ is crucial for learning. An identity is connected to either characteristic norms and characteristic goals and requires participation in ‘communities of practice’ wherein distinctive ways of talking, interacting, interpreting experiences and applying values are apparent [7].
Most of the people I interviewed could confirm that they all liked the fact that they could construct their own narratives, because most of them answered that ‘storytelling’ was one of their motives to engage in role-play activities. However, one also said that: “I don’t think the narrative desires are the biggest motivation. I think the possibility of being someone you want to be is a bigger motivation for role-playing”.
From my own experiences I can also tell that to create a ‘successful’ character, the role-player must master a certain set of skills, facts, principles and knowledge. Consequently,
About the relation between storytelling, creativity and agency, Punday (2005) suggests that when we look at the
5
way players construct a narrative, we can also define a type of agency that RPG’s make possible. Narrative play, according to him, is influenced by the creative practices that are imagined in RPG’s. Therefore, the shift in thinking about agency and creativity is evident. Creativity, in this sense, can then be understood as ‘the creative use of predetermined statistical rules’ [17]. Thus, to play WoW is to creatively use statistics and manipulate prefabricated objects in unexpected and resourceful ways.
agency and are motivated to engage in the game as coproducers. From a learning perspective, it is also interesting to investigate how players deal with the imaginary world as they are encouraged to engage with information about the game world’s fictional history, cosmology and current affairs, since instructions on how to undertake a quest must be read carefully as they contain sometimes less than obvious clues, helping them to contextualize the narrativities. Although players might choose to ignore backstory, playing as Horde or Alliance or a particular class does nonetheless have an impact on the way the world is experienced.
One of the role-players I interviewed offered a useful description on how creativity is required while there is a story developed amongst role-players. He said that when they were battling in a group, it was actually appreciated when things got wrong or out of hand, because then the story could be further developed. When trying to find out if role-players also enjoy a sense of productive agency while they are engaged in storytelling, I could get almost no answers. However, literature does provide some interesting views on the relation between role-playing and agency which are interesting to notice which I could relate to while role-playing on WoW.
DISCUSSION
Although educational role-play is said to be a beneficial research tool for several reasons, there are certain problems when using it in the classroom. The most common problem is that role-play is an improvisational procedure that requires feelings of safety. When the teacher does not manage to warm up and prepare a class properly, students can have unpleasant experiences.
For instance, Krzywinska (2006) who investigated the mythology of WoW, argues that the mythological mode of creating a world enables players to live virtually in ‘once upon a time’. For many role-players, the ability to play as a mythological hero in a world filled with myths and magics, apparently lost to us in real life, is one of the major attractions of this game world since it offers a pleasurable sense of agency [11]. Something which also connects to the way in which WoW offers their players an escape from real life.
In this pre-study, I have used a common definition of ‘roleplay’, however, Copier (2007) argues in her thesis that roleplaying games are not necessarily about ‘interactive storytelling’ and that it is not true that players ‘act out the role of the fictional character’. It appears that, although players often identify with their character’s role and experience game-play as creating their own story, this should not be considered to be ‘role-play’ [5].
When traveling this imaginary world, the availability of ingame maps and online atlases promotes a sense for the players that they are free to travel the world according to their own desires. Role-players are provided a sense that they can contribute to the game world by locating themselves in it spatially and temporally, possibly undertaking quests or visiting places that are mentioned on the map on their way [11].
Furthermore, although I have discussed the quest system of WoW in order to point out how role-players experience a sense of agency, undertaking quests is something that fits the idea of instrumental play more than the idea of roleplay. Therefore, it might not have been very relevant to discuss the agency that is said to be acquired when it comes to undertaking quests.
Quests, which are not discussed until now, but make up one of the fundamental parts of WoW, are identified as tasks given by an NPC (non-player character) to a player character that yield a reward when completed [26]. When looking at quests from a narrative point of view, it provides insight in the agency and motivation they can recruit.
Most of the interviews I did were conducted out-game. While I participated in WoW as a player, I tried to chat with role-players and ask them about their motives to engage in role-play. Unfortunately, in most cases I got no (serious) answer or an answer that was given in-character. This can be explained for by the fact that role-play is a process wherein players have an audience and collaborators who have no prior knowledge of the player of his or her real-life situation [1]. The reason why I could not always get insight in the way in which role-players experienced productive agency is probably because this is a process which is not always experienced while being aware of it.
First of all, by undertaking quests players are offered a sense that they are playing a role in the history of the game world, even though it is obvious that all players undertake the same quests. Second of all, the rule that the quest log can only show 20 logs at a time demands that players, forced by the game’s infrastructure, make choices about their actions. This way, choice and management are fore grounded, showing once again how role-players experience
In the main question, a focus is on the design of learning experiences in Europe. However, not all the authors I have used throughout this pre-study have focused on Europe in 6
their findings. Therefore, findings in this pre-study might not be all applied to how learning experiences are manifested in Europe.
own storylines. Creative production thus appears to be present and stimulated amongst role-players. Based on these findings, this pre-study suggests that further investigation on the relation between the notion of ‘productive agency’ and motivation is needed, because it could provide insight in the source of the motivation that games recruit, something which scholars are eager to find. In addition, this pre-study suggests that role-playing games stimulate creativity. Therefore, it is useful for the design of future learning experiences in Europe to, based on the need for creative education in the 21th century, stimulate further investigation on how educational role-play is successfully implemented in the classroom.
Last, but not least, this pre-study has not focused on one particular target group. In order to be more precise about the motivation, learning experiences and sense of agency that players of WoW acquire during play, one needs to make a distinction in e.g. age, level of education and play experiences.
CONCLUSION
Currently, instructional games are developed. However, the game designers are remained with the greatest learning benefit. In order to be able to argue why games matter for the future of learning, we should thus consider how game players are actively engaged in developing gaming ideas and strategies. Another issue that is often discussed when considering games and learning is the fact that games are able to motivate more than school does.
REFERENCES
1. Bessiere, K., Seay, A. F. & Kiesler, S. (2007) ‘The Ideal Elf: Identity Exploration in World of Warcraft’ in CyberPsychology & Behavior (4): 530 – 535. 2. Blatner, A. (2002) ‘Role-playing in education’. Available at: http://www.blatner.com
In this pre-study, the concept of ‘productive agency’, as a way in which players experience a game as (co-)producers, is used to investigate how players of the popular MMORPG WoW are motivated. In particular, the game players that are engaged in role-play are examined for this is a type of education that is able to stimulate creative production, a learning skill that is fundamental for the design of future learning experiences wherein an emphasis is put on creative education.
3. Champion, E. ‘Roles and Worlds in Hybrid RPG Game of Oblivion’ in Internation Journal of Role-Playing 1: 37 52. Available at: http://journalofroleplaying.org/
My findings suggest that role-players on WoW have an active relation to the production of (fictional) texts, manifested in the rules and shared practices that are added to the game system. Also, role-players appear to have an active relation to the construction of themselves as character and to the production of their own narratives. This indicates that it is likely that feelings of productive agency, either in the way material is produced or in the way experiences are created, are apparent on role-play in WoW.
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Motivation appears to be recruited by the fact that players are held responsible for creating a game world by a social system. Furthermore, role-play appears to be an advantage for players, because their character can offer them an escape from normal life and because they can engage in storytelling. Interestingly, these motivations are, in a certain sense, related to the way in which a feeling of ‘productive agency’ can be experienced amongst role-players.
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My findings also suggest that role-players are required to come up with ideas on how limitations of the game design are overcome. Apparently, role-players are particularly required to be creative in constructing their own rules, in acting out their character, in learning how well co-created information can be passed on to others and in creating their
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at:
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20. Salen, K. (2008) ‘Towards an Ecology of Gaming’ in Salen, K (ed.) The Ecology of Games, Cambridge, Massachutes: MIT Press (pp. 1 – 17). 21. Steinkuehler, C. (2008) ‘Massively Multiplayer Online Games as an Educational Technology: An Outline for Research’ in Educational Technology, Jan-Febr: 10 – 21.
13. Montola, M. (2008) ‘The invisible rules of role-playing. The social framework of Role-playing process’ in International Journal Of Role-playing 1: 22-36. Available at: http://journalofroleplaying.org/
22. Taylor, T. L. (2006) ‘The Future of Persistent Worlds and Critical Game Studies’ in Play Between Worlds. Exploring Online Game Culture, Cambrige, Massachutes: MIT Press (pp. 150 – 163).
14. Mortensen, T. E. (2008). ‘Humans Playing World of Warcarft: or Deviant Strategies?’ in Corneliussen, H. G. & Rettberg, J. W. (eds.) Digital Culture, Play, and Identity, Cambrige, Massachutes: MIT Press (pp. 203 – 223).
23. Tronstad, R. (2008) ‘Character identification in World of Warcraft: The relationship between capacity and appearance’ in Corneliussen, H. G. & Rettberg, J. W (Eds.) Digital Culture, Play and Identity. A Word of Warcraft reader. Cambrige, Massachutes: MIT Press (pp. 249 – 263).
15. National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (1999) ‘All our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education. Available at: www.cypni.org.uk/downloads/alloutfutures.pdf
24. World of Warcraft Role-Playing Forum. Available at: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html;jsessionid= DB6BF30CCD5E70B94000D1EE11260E8B?topicId=1196 1523&sid=1|the
16. Pittman, J. & Paul, C. (2009) ‘Seeking Fulfillment: Comparing Role-Play in Table-top Gaming and World of Warcraft’ in Internation Journal of Role-Playing 1: 53 – 65. Available at: http://journalofroleplaying.org/
25. WoW Chatlog from my character Lukie, in the period of 24 – 04 - 09 until 22 – 06 – 09.
17. Punday, D. (2005) ‘Creative Accounting: Role-Playing Games, Possible-World Theory, and the Agency of Imagination’ in Poetics Today 26 (1): 113 – 139.
26. Wowwiki. World of Warcraft Universe Guide. Available at: http://www.wowwiki.com
18. The Roleplaying Policy. In-Game Support. Available at: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&a rticleId=20458&rhtml=true%3Frhtml%3Dy
27. Yee, N. (2006) ‘ The Labor of Fun: How Games Blur the Boundaries of Work and Play’ in Games and Culture 1: 68 –71.
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