This study examines the social organization of Gaiscíoch, a large online gaming
community that exists within the simulated world of a massively multiplayer online role
playing game (MMORPG). It provides an ethnographic account of an online gaming
community that is open to any player without skill or time commitment requirements, but
still maintains high status within the game world. This project identifies eight elements
that make this inclusive, friendly, and casual community successful in virtual worlds that
tend to be dominated by communities that have a competitive, strict, and exclusive
approach to online gaming (social interaction, code of values, leadership, rank system,
events, community building, population size, gameplay). Lastly, this project briefly
inquires about the nature of the border between the virtual and the physical and
establishes that gamers can be considered pseudo-border-inhabitants that are in control of
the community they place adjacent to them in the cyber world. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_31317 |
Contributors | Perez, Michael (author), Harris, Michael S. (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology |
Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
Format | 100 p., application/pdf |
Rights | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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