WOW...ANTHROPOLOGY
In this first part of her book, My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft, Bonnie A. Nardi gives a general overview of World of Warcraft as well as laying out her anthropological procedure for studying and observing the game world and its players. She tells us how she initially knew absolutely nothing about World of Warcraft and that it was thanks to her son Christopher (who was home from college for the Christmas holiday) that she eventually found her footing in this game. She recounts how she started to find World of Warcraft truly interesting. One day while she was playing, she notice two small icons appear on the upper right portion of her monitor. Her son explained to her that these were buffs, temporary spells that boosted her character’s attributes. She says of the moment, “In that moment I became aware of other players. I was not alone int eh Night Elves’ Garden of Eden but surrounded by real human players who would interact with me. I was touched that another player had given me something for free, without my asking or even having a way to thank him.” (5).
Nardi says how, once she got over her initial disorientation, she felt as if she woke up inside a fairytale where she wasn’t just an onlooker, but a participant, and not just any participant, but the star of the production. I’ve played World of Warcraft very briefly before, as well as many other video games, and I can relate to Nardi sense of wonderment. Wold of Warcraft does a wonderful job of making you feel like you are integrated into its world, immersing you in a deep story that rivals any mythology you may have read before. Part of this integration is due to the activity of raiding. Raids are a very important factor of World of Warcraft, especially considering it is an MMORPG, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Nardi recounts the moments leading up to her first raid with the kind of giddy excitement that one expects of a young child about to go on a much anticipated field trip with her fellow classmates. Her excitement is palpable. She details how her raid “wipes” (gets wiped out) while fighting “trash mobs” (guards that must be defeated in order to access bosses). They eventually reach the boss, the Lurker, who causes them to wipe two more times before they finally figure out the strategy needed to defeat him. This, of course, is another component that makes World of Warcraft so addictive--the teamwork and critical thinking that is crucial to success. This game is designed to bring people together.
The fact that World of Warcraft brings together so many people is often overlooked by those that have the common stereotypical view of the game. Nardi addresses this stereotype, that the people who play World of Warcraft are overweight, pimply, socially awkward, insecure grown men who live in their mothers’ basements. Some World of Warcraft players fit this description, to be sure (I know at least two...they only deviate from the stereotype in that they don’t live in their mothers’ basements. The water table in South Carolina is so high that basements are a rare feature). However, Nardi does her part to dismiss this stereotype and points out that World of Warcraft Players are a varied group of individuals made up of students, professionals, men, women, parents, and even grandparents. This is not unlike the same effort by Celia Pearce in her book, Communities of Play. In fact, I found myself having a weird bit of deja-vu as I read Nardi because it was all so very similar to what Pearce did. Such is the case, of course, with anthropological studies of games. The difference in the two is that Pearce relied too heavily on citations at times, and I never really believed that she was as into the game world that she was studying as she would have us believe. Nardi, by contrast, has a very relaxed and accessible approach to her writing. So far, I don't doubt at all that she enjoys World of Warcraft as much as she seems to in this first portion of the book. Further reading shall reveal if this holds true for the rest of her book.
questions:
1) Would you be willing to let an anthropologist become a member of your gaming community in order to study you or would you feel threatened by their observation?
2) Why do you think negative stereotypes about WOW players persist so much?
In this first part of her book, My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft, Bonnie A. Nardi gives a general overview of World of Warcraft as well as laying out her anthropological procedure for studying and observing the game world and its players. She tells us how she initially knew absolutely nothing about World of Warcraft and that it was thanks to her son Christopher (who was home from college for the Christmas holiday) that she eventually found her footing in this game. She recounts how she started to find World of Warcraft truly interesting. One day while she was playing, she notice two small icons appear on the upper right portion of her monitor. Her son explained to her that these were buffs, temporary spells that boosted her character’s attributes. She says of the moment, “In that moment I became aware of other players. I was not alone int eh Night Elves’ Garden of Eden but surrounded by real human players who would interact with me. I was touched that another player had given me something for free, without my asking or even having a way to thank him.” (5).
Nardi says how, once she got over her initial disorientation, she felt as if she woke up inside a fairytale where she wasn’t just an onlooker, but a participant, and not just any participant, but the star of the production. I’ve played World of Warcraft very briefly before, as well as many other video games, and I can relate to Nardi sense of wonderment. Wold of Warcraft does a wonderful job of making you feel like you are integrated into its world, immersing you in a deep story that rivals any mythology you may have read before. Part of this integration is due to the activity of raiding. Raids are a very important factor of World of Warcraft, especially considering it is an MMORPG, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Nardi recounts the moments leading up to her first raid with the kind of giddy excitement that one expects of a young child about to go on a much anticipated field trip with her fellow classmates. Her excitement is palpable. She details how her raid “wipes” (gets wiped out) while fighting “trash mobs” (guards that must be defeated in order to access bosses). They eventually reach the boss, the Lurker, who causes them to wipe two more times before they finally figure out the strategy needed to defeat him. This, of course, is another component that makes World of Warcraft so addictive--the teamwork and critical thinking that is crucial to success. This game is designed to bring people together.
The fact that World of Warcraft brings together so many people is often overlooked by those that have the common stereotypical view of the game. Nardi addresses this stereotype, that the people who play World of Warcraft are overweight, pimply, socially awkward, insecure grown men who live in their mothers’ basements. Some World of Warcraft players fit this description, to be sure (I know at least two...they only deviate from the stereotype in that they don’t live in their mothers’ basements. The water table in South Carolina is so high that basements are a rare feature). However, Nardi does her part to dismiss this stereotype and points out that World of Warcraft Players are a varied group of individuals made up of students, professionals, men, women, parents, and even grandparents. This is not unlike the same effort by Celia Pearce in her book, Communities of Play. In fact, I found myself having a weird bit of deja-vu as I read Nardi because it was all so very similar to what Pearce did. Such is the case, of course, with anthropological studies of games. The difference in the two is that Pearce relied too heavily on citations at times, and I never really believed that she was as into the game world that she was studying as she would have us believe. Nardi, by contrast, has a very relaxed and accessible approach to her writing. So far, I don't doubt at all that she enjoys World of Warcraft as much as she seems to in this first portion of the book. Further reading shall reveal if this holds true for the rest of her book.
questions:
1) Would you be willing to let an anthropologist become a member of your gaming community in order to study you or would you feel threatened by their observation?
2) Why do you think negative stereotypes about WOW players persist so much?
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