8/28 Course overview

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9/2 Multiplayer games: Blog set-up

Ducheneaut, Nicolas, Yee, Nick, Nickell, Eric, Moore, Robert J. (2006) "Building an MMO With Mass Appeal: A Look at Gameplay in World of Warcraft." Games and Culture 1: 281-317.

Richard Bartle (1997) "The future of virtual reality." [Relatively short article.]

9/4 Multiplayer games: Mechanics

Scott Rettberg, “Corporate Ideology in World of Warcraft.” Book chapter in World(s) of Warcraft, a Critical Anthology of World of Warcraft Studies. Hilde Corneliussen and Jill Walker, eds. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008

Reeves, B., Malone, T., & O'Driscoll, T. (2008, May). Leadership’s Online Labs. Harvard Business Review, 86(5), 58-66.

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9/9 Virtual worlds: Anda’s Game

Dotorow, C. (2007) “Anda’s Game.” Short story excerpted from Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present.

9/11 Players: Motivations

Bartle, R. (1996). Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades: Players who suit MUDs. Journal of MUD Research, 1(1) [Classic]

Yee, N. (2006). The Demographics, Motivations, and Derived Experiences of Users of Massively Multi-User Online Graphical Environments. Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, 15(3), 309-329.

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9/16 Players: Demographics

Williams, D., N. Yee & S. Caplan (2008, in press). Who Plays, How Much, and Why? A Behavioral Player Census of Virtual World. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication.

Optional : Pearce, C. (2008). The truth about baby boomer gamers: A study of over-forty computer game players. Games and Culture, 3(2), 142.

9/18 Players: Gender and gender-bending

Cox, B. (2005) “Sexism in World of Warcraft.”

Bruckman, A. (1993). Gender swapping on the internet. Proceedings of INET, 93, 1-7. [Classic]

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9/23 Players: Gender and gender-bending

Real Boys Carry Girly Epics: Normalising Gender Bending in Online Games. Esther MacCallum-Stewart. Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture. 2008, 2 (1), p.27-40.

Optional : Hussain, Z., & Griffiths, M. (2008, February). Gender Swapping and Socializing in Cyberspace: An Exploratory Study. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(1), 47-53.

9/25 Communities: Guilds

Williams, D., Ducheneaut, N., Xiong, L., Zhang, Y., Yee, N., & Nickell, E. (2006). From tree house to barracks: The social life of guilds in world of warcraft. Games and Culture, 1(4), 338.

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9/30 Communities: Collaboration and griefing

Nardi, B. and Harris, J. 2006. Strangers and friends: collaborative play in world of warcraft. In Proceedings of the 2006 20th Anniversary Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work ( Banff, Alberta, Canada, November 04 - 08, 2006). CSCW '06. ACM, New York, NY, 149-158.

Gregson, K. (Oct. 2007) "Bad Avatar: Griefing in Virtual Worlds," M/C Journal, 10(5).

10/2 Research methods: Overview

Williams, D. & L. Xiong (2008, in press). Herding Cats Online: Challenges in Deriving a Sample from Online Communities. In Hargittai, E. (Ed.). Research Methods from the Trenches: The Nitty-Gritty of Empirical Social Science Research. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.

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10/7 Research methods: Approaches

Williams, D. (2005). Bridging the Methodological Divide in Game Research. Simulation & Gaming. 36(4), p. 447-463.

10/9 Research methods: Ethnography

Fetterman, D. (1989) Walking in rhythm: Anthropological concepts. Chapter 2 (pp. 16-30) in Ethnography: Step by step. London: Sage.

Fetterman, D. (1989) A wilderness guide: Methods and techniques. Chapter 3 (pp. 31-62) in Ethnography: Step by step. London: Sage.

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10/14 Research methods: Ethics

Kafai, Y. B., Feldon, D., Fields, D., Giang, M., & Quintero, M. Life in the times of whypox: A virtual epidemic as a community event. Community and Technology.Berlin: Springer Verlag,

10/16 Research methods: Ethics

Steinkuehler, Castranova, Lastowka, Reynolds et. al. (2004) What constitutes “ethical participant observation” in MMOG ethnography?

Fetterman, D. (1989) Walking softly through the wilderness: Ethics. Chapter 7 (pp. 29-146) in Ethnography: Step by step. London: Sage.

Take-home exam distributed

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10/21 No class: AD at State of Play ( Chicago)

10/23 Research methods: Discussing projects

Take-home exam due

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10/28 Game design: Insights from developers

10/30 Game design: Insights from developers

Raph Koster, 2003, "A theory of fun."

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11/4 Virtual property

Bartle, R. (2005). Pitfalls of virtual property. Report for Themis Group.

Castranova, E. (2001) Virtual worlds: A first-hand account of market and society on the Cyberian frontier. CESifo Working Paper No. 618. [Classic]

11/6 Surveillance and privacy

T.L. Taylor (2006) "Does WoW Change Everything?: How a PvP Server, Multinational Playerbase, and Surveillance Mod Scene Caused Me Pause," Games & Culture, v. 1 n. 4, October 2006.

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11/11 Education

Dickey, M. (2007, June). Game design and learning: a conjectural analysis of how massively multiple online role-playing games (MMORPGs) foster intrinsic motivation. Educational Technology Research & Development, 55(3), 253-273.

Optional : Childress, M., & Braswell, R. (2006, August). Using Massively Multiplayer Online Role‐Playing Games for Online Learning. Distance Education, 27(2), 187-196

11/13 Addiction

Smyth, J. (2007, October). Beyond Self-Selection in Video Game Play: An Experimental Examination of the Consequences of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Play. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(5), 717-721.

Optional : Chuang, Y. (2006, August). Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game-Induced Seizures: A neglected Health Problem in Internet Addiction. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9(4), 451-456.

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11/18 Small fish in big pond: Global dimensions

The realities of virtual play: video games and their industry in China, Yong Cao and John D.H. Downing, Media, Culture & Society, Jul 2008; vol. 30: pp. 515 - 529.

11/20 Small fish in big pond: Global dimensions

John Funk (2008) “My Korean fantasy life.” The Escapist. August 26, and Jared Rea (2008) “Global dimensions.” The Escapist. August 26, and Allen Varney (2008) “Gamer nation.” The Escapist. August 26. [All three articles are very short.]

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11/25 Research workshop

11/27 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

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12/2 Research workshop

12/4 Research workshop

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12/9 Last day of class

Official final exam period: December 17 th. 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Papers due at beginning of exam period, and presentations to follow.