Chen.aera2011.social dimensions of expertise

SOCIALLY  SITUATED  EXPERT  PRACTICE  IN  AND  

AROUND  GAMING  

Mark  Chen,  U  of  WA,  @mcdanger,  markchen@uw.edu  Moses  Wolfenstein,  UWisc,  @mosesoperandi,  wolfenstein@wisc.edu  Sean  Duncan,  Miami  U,  @scd,  sean.duncan@muohio.edu  Rebecca  Reynolds,  Rutgers,  rebecca.reynolds@gmail.com  Leah  Bricker,  U  of  WA,  lbricker@u.washington.edu  Philip  Bell,  discussant,  U  of  WA,  pbell@u.washington.edu    

Google Doc for AERA2011: http://j.mp/fy8Jw1

SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF EXPERT PRACTICE IN ONLINE GAMING

Mark  Chen  University  of  Washington  

@mcdanger  markchen@uw.edu  

This work is funded by the National Science Foundation through the Science of Learning Center program under grant SBE-0354453.

World of Warcraft

§  MMOG  §  6  million  subscribers  in  2006  

World of Warcraft

§  MMOG  §  6  million  subscribers  in  2006  §  Fantasy  with  races  /  classes  

World of Warcraft

§  MMOG  §  6  million  subscribers  in  2006  §  Fantasy  with  races  /  classes  §  Complete  quests,  kill  monsters  for  loot  and  XP  

Raiding §  Large  group  joint  acPvity  §  Highly  coordinated  §  Specialized  roles  §  OrganizaPon  and  leadership  §  Molten  Core  

Leadership  tasks  required  for  raiding  

Ethnographic methods (Steinkuehler, 2004) §  Pool  of  60  regular  players,  40  per  session  §  Met  2-­‐3  Pmes  a  week  for  10  mos  (11/05-­‐8/06),  4-­‐5  hrs  each  Pme  §  Larger  ethnography  has  over  1000  hrs  of  chat  data  §  ~100  hrs  of  video  +  select  posts  on  web  forums  §  Disciplined  percepPon  (Stevens  &  Hall,  1998)  

Remember, ss target will change at Domo, but until then, your rezzer is to be ssed at all times.

Ethnographic methods (Steinkuehler, 2004) §  Pool  of  60  regular  players,  40  per  session  §  Met  2-­‐3  Pmes  a  week  for  10  mos  (11/05-­‐8/06),  4-­‐5  hrs  each  Pme  §  Larger  ethnography  has  over  1000  hrs  of  chat  data  §  ~100  hrs  of  video  +  select  posts  on  web  forums  §  Disciplined  percepPon  (Stevens  &  Hall,  1998)  

Remember, ss target will change at Domo, but until then, your rezzer is to be ssed at all times.

Remember, who you give soulstones to will change when we encounter Majordomo Executus, but, until then, the priest or shaman who you’ve been assigned to should have your soulstone at all times.

Ethnographic methods (Steinkuehler, 2004) §  Pool  of  60  regular  players,  40  per  session  §  Met  2-­‐3  Pmes  a  week  for  10  mos  (11/05-­‐8/06),  4-­‐5  hrs  each  Pme  §  Larger  ethnography  has  over  1000  hrs  of  chat  data  §  ~100  hrs  of  video  +  select  posts  on  web  forums  §  Disciplined  percepPon  (Stevens  &  Hall,  1998)  

Remember, ss target will change at Domo, but until then, your rezzer is to be ssed at all times.

Remember, who you give soulstones to will change when we encounter Majordomo Executus, but, until then, the priest or shaman who you’ve been assigned to should have your soulstone at all times.

a magic item that warlocks can give to others so that they can come back to life if they are killed

priests and shaman can bring others back to life (resurrect)

it’s important to give rezzers the ability to come back to life so they can rez the rest of the raid group

Theorizing the practice •  Push-­‐pull  relaPonship  of  objects  in  a  network  of  acPvity…  –  Actor-­‐Network  Theory  (Latour,  2005)  –  Distributed  CogniPon  (Hutchins,  1995)  – Mangle  (Pickering,  1993;  Steinkuehler  2006)  –  Assemblage  (Deleuze  &  Guitarri,  1987;  Taylor,  2006)  –  Arrangement  (Stevens,  Satwicz,  &  McCarthy,  2009)  

–  Object-­‐Oriented  Ontology  (Bogost,  2006,  2009)  –  Roles  and  responsibiliPes  constantly  renegoPated,  redistributed,  and  reconfigured  to  adapt  to  local  seengs  

Expertise in game mechanics?

unit  frames  showing  health  and  status  of  raid  members  

my  health  and  status    

enemy  health  and  status  

cooldown  Pmers  for  temporary  effects    

threat  meter   enemy  

debuffs  

ability  bugons  

more  ability  bugons  

tank  targets  

chat  window  

various  bits  of  info  to  keep  track  of  

temporary  bonuses  or  impairments  (buffs  

and  debuffs)  

minimap  and  

addon  bugons  

streaming combat text

name and health of enemy

the jumble in the middle is the actual in-game fight

Expertise as sociomaterial practice §  Emergent  through  push-­‐pull  of  constraints-­‐workarounds  §  Limited  by  access  to  the  right  social  networks  

World of Warcraft wiki

Conclusions and Takeaway Issues •  CogniPve  frameworks  for  experPse  don’t  account  for  emergent  situated  pracPce  that  depend  on  available  sociomaterial  resources.  

•  Becoming  expert  depended  on  access  to  expert  groups  and  expert  pracPce  (Collins  &  Evans,  2007)  

•  Not  all  players  could  gain  access  

SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF EXPERT PRACTICE IN ONLINE GAMING

Mark  Chen  University  of  Washington  

@mcdanger  markchen@uw.edu  

This work is funded by the National Science Foundation through the Science of Learning Center program under grant SBE-0354453.

Some  game  play  

Fight  conPnued  §  Look  at  coordinaPon  and  use  of  addons  

SOCIALLY  SITUATED  EXPERT  PRACTICE  IN  AND  

AROUND  GAMING  

Mark  Chen,  U  of  WA,  @mcdanger,  markchen@uw.edu  Moses  Wolfenstein,  UWisc,  @mosesoperandi,  wolfenstein@wisc.edu  Sean  Duncan,  Miami  U,  @scd,  sean.duncan@muohio.edu  Rebecca  Reynolds,  Rutgers,  rebecca.reynolds@gmail.com  Leah  Bricker,  U  of  WA,  lbricker@u.washington.edu  Philip  Bell,  discussant,  U  of  WA,  pbell@u.washington.edu    

Google Doc for AERA2011: http://j.mp/fy8Jw1