Allmänheten verkar ha en del förutfattade meningar om onlinespel och hur dessa influerar barn och ungdomar. Dessutom finns det lite forskning gjord inom området onlinespel och engelsk språkutveckling. I ämnesplanen för engelska i Lgy 11 går det att urskilja att det engelska språket omger ungdomar dagligen inom olika kulturella områden, som i detta arbete är onlinespel. Syftet med detta examensarbete är därför att undersöka hur ungdomars engelska språkutveckling influeras av att spela onlinespel, som World of Warcraft, och hur de upplever dessa influenser. Detta för att förhoppningsvis skapa större förståelse för lärandets villkor utanför skolans undervisning utifrån onlinespel. Arbetet utgår från det sociokulturella perspektivet där interaktion och samspel anses utgöra en del i onlinespel. Ungdomars perspektiv kring ämnet i fråga kommer till uttryck utifrån en kvalitativ intervjumetod i form av tre fokusgrupper. Fokusgrupper fokuserar samtal där informanterna interagerar med varandra och uppmuntras att utveckla sina tankar och erfarenheter genom att författarna ställer frågor utifrån en frågeguide. Fokusgrupperna bestod av 12 manliga informanter i åldern 16-17 år. Samtalen skedde på ett spelcenter, i en gymnasieskola samt på ett LAN i Stockholms län. Resultatet visar att onlinespel kan ses ha både positiva och negativa influenser på ungdomars engelska språkutveckling. Dock är de positiva influenserna övervägande. Det synliggörs bland annat att ungdomar verkar uppleva den engelska språkanvändningen i onlinespel i interaktion med modersmålstalare vara meningsfull och stimulerande vilken leder till att de kan tillämpa språket utanför spelandet. Det påvisas dock att grunderna i språket införskaffas i skolan, vilka ungdomar finner vara en nödvändighet för kommunikationen med andra spelare i onlinespel vilket visar att skolan likaså har en bidragande influens på ungdomars engelska språkutveckling i onlinespel.

This essay is predominantly a qualitative piece of research by which I mean it is mainly based on my own observations and analysis of the material. To do this I will cover the theories of communities of practice together with gendered language and apply it to the community and language of the online game World of Warcraft. Through using collected chat logs, I will analyse conversations held in World of Warcraft with a specific focus on gender and identity, I will then compare these to examples of face-to-face conversations. My analysis will draw on the works of theorists such as Holmes (2006), Sunderland and Litosseliti (2002), Eckert and McConnel-Ginet (1992) amongst others. This study will show that although Netspeak within World of Warcraft is written and not spoken, the strategies for creating gendered identities are not very different from real life discourse. The essay will be a general study of gendered language in a virtual community and will discover that there is an extremely nuanced language within the limited communication medium of chat, and lays the ground for more extensive research on the subject.

When discussing games and the experience of gamers those with disabilities are often overlooked. This has left a gap in our understanding of the experience of players with disabilities in virtual game worlds. However there are examples of players with disabilities being very successful in the virtual world video game World of Warcraft, suggesting that there is an opportunity to study the game for usability insight in creating other virtual world environments. This study surveyed World of Warcraft players with disabilities online for insight into how they used interface addons to manage their experience and identity performance in the game. A rubric was also created to study a selection of addons for evidence of the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The study found that World of Warcraft players with disabilities do not use addons more than able-bodied players, but some of the most popular addons do exhibit many or most of the principles of UDL. UDL principles appear to have emerged organically from addon iterations over time. The study concludes by suggesting that the same approach to user-generated content for the game interface taken by the creators of World of Warcraft, as well as high user investment in the environment, can lead to more accessible virtual world learning environments in the future.

No description available.

Nyckeln i att utveckla ett bra flerspelar-spel ligger i spelets möjlighet till samarbete. Det är därför viktigt att veta hur olika spelsätt skiljer sig åt ur ett samarbetsperspektiv. Tidigare forskning har endast studerat samarbete för en given spelstil, till exempel spelare som möter andra spelare eller spelare som möter datorstyrda spelare, och har inte gjort någon direkt jämförelse mellan dessa. Bristen kring detta område har inspirerat till den aktuella undersökningen, som ämnat att undersöka eventuella skillnader på samarbete i spelet World of Warcraft. Det har utförts ett antal experiment, där deltagare fått möjligheten att spela World of Warcraft i slumpmässiga grupper. Dessa experiment har observerats för att analysera olika utslag som uppstått i samarbetet gentemot bestämda bedömningskriterier. Undersökningen har visat på stora skillnader i samarbete och har även visat vikten av social kompetens när det kommer till att interagera med sina medspelare. / The key to developing a good multiplayer game lies in the possibilities for cooperation. Therefore it is important to know how different playstyles differ from a collaborative perspective. Previous research has only studied cooperation within a given playstyle, such as player versus player or player versus environment and has not made a direct comparison between different playstyles. The lack of information about this topic is the inspiration for this study, which examines the difference in collaboration between the aforementioned playstyles in the game World of Warcraft. A number of experiments were carried out in which randomized groups of participants played the game World of Warcraft. The results of these experiments have been analyzed according to specific criteria and show large differences in cooperation as well as the importance of players’ social skills when interacting with other members of a team.

The possibility of co-creation exists for all media, but game design has developed a culture that is unusually open to co-creation. This dissertation investigates significant cases of co-creation in mainstream games in order to explore how games can be co-created as alternative or critical media by their players. The core argument in the dissertation is that players co-create the design of a game only if certain conditions are met, namely: (1) player creation of a text or communication infrastructure that modifies the properties of the game and from which play emerges; (2) that this is done for a considerable group of players who share a particular practice of play; (3) that this is done not only by playing the game but by changing how others play it in a distinct creative activity, and (4), with the potential to subvert or contest the original design of the game. This situation where player creators have influence over the design of the game (but little power to enforce their interests) is problematic from the perspective of alternative or critical media, as alternative, local, production is seen as one reason for why a medium can have an alternative message. The industrial production of games as cultural commodities does limit the potential of co-creative game design for subversion because it reduces the level of participation in the creation process, thus keeping player creators relatively disempowered. Player creators do have influence on the design of the game, while at the same time having very little power to enforce their interests and design visions. The influence of player creators comes from the consumer power of millions of players who use co-created assets and who want to them to continue exiting, and this creates a mutually dependent relationship (and even partnership), between co-creators and commercial owners. The dissertation concludes that co-creative game design, despite limitations related to the industrial production of games as cultural commodities, is already happening, and shows a potential for turning games into alternative media.

<p>Purpose/Aim: The aim of this paper is to study how guild leaders in World of Warcraft (WOW) and leaders of real life organizations compare in terms of tasks, every-day experiences, environment, responsibilities and motivation. This comparison is used to build a new theory describing leadership in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs).</p><p>Material/Method: The paper uses the grounded theory approach to build a new theory. 12 interviews were conducted, six with WOW guild leaders and six with leaders of real life organizations. The Four Capacities Framework and the Leadership Grid were used to analyze and compare the results of the interviews.</p><p>Main results: Leadership in MMORPGs is as complex and challenging as real life leadership with the difference that it stresses the internal relationships of the organization very much while neglecting outside relations to a big extend. Guild leadership is in many ways similar to real life leadership as both require long term political decisions, policy setting and good work in the field of human resources. However, it stresses the ability to build working social relationships and to motivate using only digital communication. Some aspects of real life leadership like customer orientation and an organizational instance over the leader like an owner or share holders that the leader is responsible to are not existent.</p>

The significance of technology and technological devices in the modern western society is steadily expanding, and affecting how the consumers of these products interact with one another. Both through these devices, but also how they interact without them the importance of studying these forms of interaction is therefore of rising significance. This thesis explores the world of online-gaming in order to map out how the players use, and are affected by the virtual aspects of the platform they use to create and reproduce their social bonds with one another. By analysing the relationship between the virtual and the actual it is possible to shed light on the potentials as well as the limits of online communication. The thesis purpose is to add to a deeper understanding within the anthropological discipline for interpersonal interaction within the frames of virtual spaces. The research has been conducted through a qualitative ethnographic field study with a guild of players who interact through the game World of Warcraft. This thesis will show that there is a strong interaction between the virtual worlds and the actual world. Thus it is possible for events that occurred in either space to affect the player.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-08-17T13:20:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruno Ayres Razera.pdf: 1685514 bytes, checksum: 0f3c94e0ba6321b9ab0ecec435acdf70 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T13:20:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruno Ayres Razera.pdf: 1685514 bytes, checksum: 0f3c94e0ba6321b9ab0ecec435acdf70 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-06-26 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The research investigates how the game mode Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), by strategic concomitance, directs the player to operate by the visibility, to build the meaning of their simulacra identity. Concomitance, according to linguistics, is the designation of one or more actions, things or facts that occur simultaneously; coexistence or simultaneity. In this study the strategic concomitance has the coexistence as the relation of a strategist sender with the subject that provides his own tactic in simultaneity, working values in a same logical line. The most popular game of the genre, World of Warcraft (WOW), is taken as an object, as the immersion of its players is sanctioned by its great geographic reach and number of users who remain, year after year, faithful to the product, generating a movement large volume financial instrument, as well as employing new electronic technology tools and practices. The act of playing keeps the subject in interaction with other subjects and in the operation of this visibility that they construct identity simulations, shaped by the enunciative choices to make-see. In the analysis of the game, the use of the device called "transmog" was used to transform the appearance of the player's equipment. Syntagmatic operations call the device in its placement in discourse and thus build the axiology that makes the subject have to be, a simulacrum of socialized doing that establishes visibility as its main value. The theoretical-methodological support for the analysis is given by the discursive semiotic theory of Greimas (2014, 2007, 2002), which structures the generative path of meaning, the basis of the construction of meaning. It is also supported by Landowski's (1992, 1997, 2013, 2014a, 2014b) socio-demographic concept that, through the regimes of meaning and interaction, as well as through the regimes of visibility, allows to elucidate lived practices of the participants and their simulacrums built in the game. The theories of other semioticians are also bases for the elaboration of the axiological taxonomy of transmog. The bibliographical references also include a review of the history of the games and the survey of works with this theme. To carry out the study, there are analyzes of the transmog phenomenon, highlighting the dynamics of the interactions of the audience of World of Warcraft; in short, the study of the discursive practices of this device in the game, surrounded by the regimes of visibility, meaning and interaction. It was possible, with this, to verify the hypothesis that the visibility values in the game allow to maintain and extend the immersion of the players in a continuity, corresponding to the social practices: transmog, this device in game, does not determine the values in game, as facilitator and computer of an axiological exchange shared to the player. In addition, this work contributed to the theoretical basis for the area of communication that deals with the strategies of the gaming industry / A pesquisa investiga como a modalidade de game Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), por concomitância estratégica, direciona o jogador a operar pela visibilidade, para a construção do sentido de seus simulacros identitários. Concomitância, de acordo com a linguística, é a designação de uma ou mais ações, coisas ou fatos que ocorrem em simultâneo; coexistência ou simultaneidade. Neste estudo a concomitância estratégica tem como coexistência a relação de um destinador estrategista com o sujeito que provê própria tática em simultaneidade, trabalhando valores em uma mesma linha lógica. O game World of Warcraft (WOW), mais popular do gênero, é tomado como objeto, pois a imersão de seus jogadores é sancionada por seu grande alcance geográfico e número de usuários que permanecem, ano após ano, fiéis ao produto, gerando uma movimentação financeira de grande volume, além de empregar instrumentos e práticas novas de tecnologias eletrônicas. O ato de jogar coloca o sujeito em interação com outros sujeitos e é na operação dessa visibilidade que são construídos simulacros identitários, moldados pelas escolhas enunciativas para fazer-ver. Recortou-se, na análise do game, o uso do dispositivo denominado como “transmog”, que consiste em permitir transformar esteticamente a aparência dos equipamentos do jogador. As operações sintagmáticas convocam o dispositivo na sua colocação em discurso e assim constroem a axiologia que faz o sujeito ter para ser, simulacro do fazer socializado que instaura a visibilidade como seu principal valor. O suporte teórico-metodológico para a análise é dado pela teoria semiótica discursiva de Greimas (2014; 2007; 2002), que estrutura o percurso gerativo de sentido, a base da construção da significação. Apoia-se também na sociossemiótica de Landowski (1992; 1997; 2013; 2014a; 2014b) que, pelos regimes de sentido e de interação, assim como pelos regimes de visibilidade, permite elucidar práticas vividas dos partícipes e do seu fazer em sociedade, pelos simulacros construídos no game. As teorias de outros semioticistas são também bases para a elaboração da taxonomia axiológica do transmog. Os referenciais bibliográficos incluem ainda uma revisão da história dos games e do levantamento de trabalhos com esta temática. Para realizar o estudo, há análises do fenômeno do transmog, destacando a dinâmica das interações do público de World of Warcraft; em minudência, a do estudo das práticas discursivas desse dispositivo no game, nos envoltos dos regimes de visibilidade, de sentido e de interação. Foi possível, com isso, verificar a hipótese de que os valores de visibilidade no game possibilitam manter e ampliar a imersão dos jogadores em uma continuidade, correspondente às práticas sociais: o transmog, este dispositivo in game, não determina os valores em jogo, funcionando como facilitador e ordenador de um câmbio axiológico partilhado ao jogador. Além disso, este trabalho contribuiu para o embasamento teórico para a área da comunicação que trata das estratégias da indústria dos games

<p>In this essay, I have investigated whether players of World of Warcraft change their language to suit the gender of the character they play. I have researched if there are gender differences that correspond to what is defined as male and female language in mixed-sex conversations. Chat-logs, collected during four participant observations, were used for making an analysis based primarily on research by Coates (1993) and Yale (2007). Seven features were selected for analysis: amount of participation, hedges, questions, directives and commands, taboo language, compliments and grammar. It was possible to discover gender differences, but these were not consistent in all areas of research. For example, female characters had a higher contribution than males, as well as a higher use of hedges and tag-questions among males, which contradicts previous research. The lack of consistency might be due to the fact that the participants do not specifically consider all areas as typically female or male, or their unawareness of these tendencies. We also need to consider disagreement in previous gender studies as well as folklinguistic belief. The explanation of the lack of consistent differences may be a more equal relationship between males and females in this context, or due to thepossibility that the participants, who are usually male, make use of their normal male language.</p>