Welcome to the digital puppet show: Positioning work and make-believe methods in role play MMORPG servers

Bennerstedt, Ulrika,1979Gothenburg University,Göteborgs universitet,Institutionen för pedagogik och didaktik, enheten för Lärande och undervisning,Linnécentret for forskning om lärande (LinCS),Department of Education, Learning and Teaching Unit,The Linnaeus Centre for Research on Learning, Interaction, and Mediated Communication in Contemporary Society (LinCS) (author)

In this paper it will be suggested that a role play MMORPG server is a complex, institutionalized practice which is built on competent acting in and through a digital puppet. The paper takes departure in four different in-game situations to investigate players’ achievement of various social roles, where role play is one dimension of the interaction. This is made through methods stemming from interaction analysis. The empirical material consists of screen-captured video-recorded data from World of Warcraft and The Lord of the Rings Online. The detailed analysis makes visible the achievement of (in-character) role play, as well as social roles achieved out-of-character. The players’ competences are seen as interactional achievements where they by means of the avatar and other interface resources manage moment-by-moment positioning. Players are seen to make visible their positioning via their digital puppet to move and speak from three different footings; the physical player, the virtual personae and a fantasy character. Furthermore, through the multi-voiced activity the analysis point out players ever-present out of character stance when engaged in various kinds of ‘puppet shows’. Playing on a role play dedicated server demand skilled acting in social and technical characteristics to be able to produce and perceive phenomena seen and heard as a role play event.

Göteborgs universitetInstitutionen för pedagogik och didaktik, enheten för Lärande och undervisning (creator_code:org_t)

In:In S. Mosberg Iversen (Ed.), Proceedings of The [Player] Conference. IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark, August 2008, s. 53-87

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SOCIAL SCIENCES: SOCIAL SCIENCES; and Media and Commun ...; and Communication St ...

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