Academic Loop-Holes & Pot-Holes
The last few months, I have been working diligently towards a career in academia. The first year and a half of my BA was spent floundering around random classes and mild interests, and to be honest, my grades reflect that. In the last year and a half, as may be evident with past posts, I have found my academic niche in video game studies and sociology, and my grades have been quite impressive (especially as a mom of two!). From this newly discovered passion, I made it through a few academic loop-holes, with special letters and extra-curricular interests.

But now, it seems I am stumbling in some of the academic pot-holes. Each university, province, state and country have different curriculums, and I can only speak of the two universities I have experienced. One was bore a rigid program structure where most of your classes were predetermined in a building block fashion while the latter is based on it being the responsibility of the student to make sure they fulfill the degree requirements with a skeletal progressive structure.

I am close to graduation, and am venturing towards realms of academia they dont much discuss at the undergrad level. Papers that are longer then 10 pages are rare for most (with one course and honours thesis aside). Theory is often (but not always – as I have been lucky) is taught in a memorize and re-iterate fashion, rarely giving the student the chance to think outside the box, or learn any element of theory that they can apply it to something and make it their own. Yet I find myself in a position where, in a few short months, 10 page papers are a weekly requirement (according to an MA friend) and the theoretical framework is to help structure our own ideas pertaining to our research.

My question is – when did they teach me this process? I am heading into writing my own research that requires a level of writting and theorizing that I dont feel I have learned anywhere.

There are so many other pot-holes that are not filled, and when I ask about them, I get these blank looks and weak responses that it is not necessarily their place to help me. I am venturing into the world of requesting funding for conferences and travel. With these requests, I am told I have to ‘sell myself’ – you know, convince those doling out the money, that my research is the one they want to fund. But again, my question is … where am I supposed to learn this? I have been asking around, even to those who have applied for funding before, and I continuously get the same weak comments…

Why doesnt the university prepare students for all elements of academic life? I know I have been told that a BA today is the equivalent a high school diploma 20 years ago, but at least in high school we had shop and home-ec to teach us the basics of day to day life mixed in with the great literary classics and complex physics equations.

More on Server Mergers
Just an update on the discussion on server mergers. Always one to be on top of things, there is now an active discussion on the matter over at Terra Nova. Here is the direct link.

Born Again N00bies
A recent post on old and new players and experience expectations over at Academic Gamers got me thinking about my gaming status in Everquest. Back in the proverbial day, I was a high level shaman with elite armor and a master alchemist. (no easy feat in EQ at that time!) After we hit the peak of our game, three years of intense weeks, many many hours later, our guild started splintering off to do other things, play different games and generally, just getting on with life.

In recent weeks, after an almost 2 year hiatus, of nothing but puttering around to say hi to old friends, I have decided to come back and play again (for both personal and research purposes).
After about a week of puttering around, trying to get my sense of direction and remember the mental maps in my head of zones and whatnot, I realized … I am a well equipped n00bie! Sometimes i feel that i might as well have bought Velixious (my shaman) on ebay!

I have enjoyed many deaths and looking silly in front of others for the last 2 weeks, and am trying to get the courage to start ‘LFG’ (looking for groups) again. But I have been feeling painfully shy about my aging skills and comparatively tattered armor – I cant believe how far behind the success game i have fallen.

I feel like they should put my character’s creation date over her head along with her name to give her some cred when it comes to getting a group to play with.

CyberSociology
An interesting site for readings on the field of sociology and all things digital with journal links and other interesting tidbits of information.

There is also a forum site. It is a mixture of academic discussion and anectdotal conversation.
A good place to keep an eye on.

Server Merges & Society

It has come to my attention over the weekend, that Everquest will be merging some of the lesser populated servers. This merge has peeked my interest because it raises a few questions about the non-design elements of the game – community. Although the game is designed with the idea of community and society, people can still play the game without actually forming cohesive groups of friends and foes.

Within each server, there is a social hiearchy containing your one or two “uber guilds”, a few top tier guilds and so on, down to the casual gamer guilds. The top tier and “uber” guilds usually work out a system that allows them to compete for the same end-game resources. In the case of a merger, essentially, you are doubling the social structure – I wonder how that affects the competition and ego levels of the top guilds.

When we played Horizons, they also merged their servers, and there was alot of complaints within the game about property allocation and community balance. Essentially, the height of the game was to buy hot property and build on it using the resources and skills of players. Each server, being a carbon copy of each other, each had the same scale of best lots down to the commonly empty lots way out in the middle of nowhere. When the merge happened, there had to be a compromise between lot owners, since they went from two worlds to one, someone inevitably lost out.

So in the case of the Everquest merge, they state that earlier mergers were more successful then they had hoped but besides server population, how is that success measured.

Although, it does allow for a ‘shake up’ of a potentially stale server. There was a conversation over at Terra Nova that talked about how to keep a game fresh over long periods of time. From character wipes to server wipes, perhaps this is a decent solution.

Work in Progress

Midway through my last semester of my undergrad degree at Concordia University, and I have been keeping relatively busy. Working on my honour’s thesis, which will be presented at the upcoming Sociology & Anthropology Graduate Students Association (SAGSA) conference and a conference paper for DiGRA, and figured I would share the abstracts on my work in progress.

Here is the Honour’s abstract:
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A Definitional Exploration of Identity in Massively Multi-User Online Role-Playing Games

The concept of identity is a wide ranging and ambiguous concept that spans across several academic disciplines. The word identity is flung about quite liberally, without much regard to any deeper definitional concern. This is problematic when dealing with topics that are multi-disciplinary in their very nature. The relatively young field of video-game studies suffers from this problem. Words and concepts are borrowed from several disciplines such as literary studies, film studies, and sociology. This melding of terminology often leads to many discussions and disagreements surrounding definitional concerns, and at times, can cause a potentially exciting theory to be lost in a debate of semantics.

In order to work towards a theoretical perspective in order to understand identity in the context of massively multi-user online role-playing games [MMORPG’s], this presentation will investigate existing theoretical work categorized in three thematic categories; fixed identity, negotiated identity and fluid identity. Through the various theories of identity and its construction, from classical sociological perspectives to post modern theories of identity in the digital age, this paper will explore the impact of how one constructs their identity, how important commitment is to identity and how individuals perceive their identity found within each thematic category.

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And here is the DiGRA abstract:
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Role Theory: The Line Between Roles as Design and Socialization in EverQuest

The point of entry for a player into the game of EverQuest occurs through the role of a primary character. Each character fulfills a particular, functional role within the game that defines the game-play experience for the player. A character’s role defines the basis of identity for both the player and the character while in the game space. The character’s role determines the initial purpose of the player once in the game world. Inherent in the game design is a hierarchy based on class which affects how the game is appropriated by the player.

Traditional sociological role theory explores the functional role of each member within structured groups found in society. Using the works of Parsons [1965], Merton [1949], Turner [1952] and Biddle [1986], among others, this paper aims to work towards a foundational theory that can be used to explore the layered elements that create the social world of massively multi user online games.

This framework will be employed to understand how class structure is designed in the game of EverQuest as expressed through the ideal group. From this ideal group structure, this paper aims to demonstrate how players redefine the role based hierarchies through self regulated rules of play, player choices, and sociability – which in essence, deconstructs the very foundation of role theory that the game is based on.

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Any feedback or insight is always more then appreciated

Spring Cleaning

Decided to change the look and feel to the space – again …
Something a little lighter. Hoping to encourage lighter, warmer days with lighter colors.

Conferences

Been a busy few weeks, but just wanted to mention that I will make a sidebar list of upcoming conferences and their links surrounding digital and game culture.

Nostalgia & Technology



Simply defined, nostalgia is a yearning for something experienced in the past. For most people, its usually a yearning for the way things were in their childhood, or college years or something appropriately time-lined. But in the case of technology, the speed that it develops and changes significantly alters the time frame for nostalgia. My neighborhood did not change drastically in 5 years when i was a child, but the game world of Everquest changed significantly – to the point that many people picked up and moved. With all nostalgia, there is always the glossing over of the bad times and exagerration of the good – but isnt that always the way when we experience a great first of anything?

How does this quick paced nostalgia affect the way we perceive future technology and the worlds created by it? Is my yearning for a community lost 5 years ago any different then those from who talk about what the internet ‘used to be’ and how great it was back in the day of MUD’s …

Welcome 2005



Another year ahead, 2005 looks to be one of my more exciting years academically. First and foremost, i will be putting to bed my first degree in my academic career. I had started my bachelor of arts degree in the 1994-1995 academic year at the University of New Brunswick. My daughter had just turned two. After a year of single-parenthood and a full course-load, i decided that it was not the time to pursue my education and focus on taking care of her. 10 years, another lovely daughter and great spouse later, i will finally graduate in April.

This year proposes to be a challenging one nonetheless. With big academic aspirations, I have submitted two papers for the upcoming DiGRA conference; one by myself and one with a fellow gamecode member, Maude Bonenfant. We are also planning to submit for an upcoming issue of the journal Simulation and Gaming. I am applying to graduate school here in Montreal at Concordia to continue working on my research on video games and identity with Prof. Bart Simon. Prof. Simon, myself and a fellow student (Mark Silverman) are also working on a chapter for the forthcoming EQ Theory Reader – the work is due for June 2005, the book is due out in 2006.

And somewhere in there, I plan on fitting in some serious EverQuest data collection and research, finish my honour’s thesis and spend time with my family – I am sure my daughters get tired of seeing my face in books!

I am both nervous and excited for this year to unfold, I can’t remember my life path being this clear and on track! 2005 I am ready!