The Effects of Information Behavior on the Formation and Maintenance of Peer Cultures in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: An Exploratory Study

Suellen Adams—suellen@mac.com

1. Introduction

According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) online games are in the early stages of a growth spurt. Almost half of those playing online games have been doing so for less than a year. (ESA, 2003). Online games are played over computer networks, particularly the Internet. The games allow for two or more distant players to meet and share their game of choice.

There are many types of online games, including traditional card games and board games with connection capabilities, as well as fantasy role-playing games. Recently, so-called “massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG)” have combined the concept of a graphical virtual community with the forum of play. In such games players are presented with a persistent world to discover and with which players can interact. The gamer is allowed to choose a role within certain designated limits and then to proceed into the game to play that role as he or she sees fit. Players interact with each other to achieve certain quests or goals and in the process often create cohesive groups, some of them quite elaborate and extensive. Multiplayer role playing games have existed for decades on the computer in text forms such as MUDs (Multi-User Domains) and MOOs (Object oriented MUDs) for example, but within the last decade they have become more elaborate, adding graphics to multiplayer environments. They also have more players by at least an order of magnitude, and more players can play simultaneously. For instance, in 1995 statistics showed that the total number of people logging in to a popular MOO named LambdaMOO was 10,000 (D’Amico 1995). Everquest, one popular MMORPG, reportedly has users in the hundreds of thousands. (Everquest Station 2004).

There are a variety of types of online communities, some for sharing information, buying and selling, and so forth, like Craigslist, others for sharing political information with like minded people or fulfilling work or school goals, and some just for social interaction (for instance see Orkut). MMORPGs are particular kinds of online communities that encompass both social elements and an element of immersive play in an “alternative environment”. Murray (1997) offers insight into the social nature of online games when she refers to MUDs as gaming environments that allow distant players to interact in ways that are shared by the players as an alternative reality they all live in together. Yee’s (2001) work shows that one of the most important reasons his respondents played MMORPGs was enjoyment of social interaction.

Many adults share in the alternative reality of games, spending many hours a week involved in massive multiplayer games. While gamers can choose to play as relative loners, many join others in elaborate types of social interactions in cohesive groups often called guilds. A majority of Yee’s (2001) respondents, for instance, belong to guilds. In many ways these MMORPG worlds take on an aura of reality for the players, an actual place where players can choose who they want to be, without the constraints of the outside world, by designing avatars with characteristics they themselves choose. Their groups or guilds take on the role of groups of friends, with some of the friends being considered closer than those in the outside world. (Yee, 2001). The proposed study will examine how information behavior and play combine to create the peer cultures found within the alternative world of the MMORPG, and how they help to maintain the coherence of these micro-cultures.

2. Research questions and goals

The proposed study will be an in-depth ethnographic study of the players of City of Heroes (CoH), as represented by their avatars. An avatar is the on-screen representation that a gamer has chosen to “embody” herselfhim or herself online. CoH is a relatively new MMORPG with a substantial user base. New groups or teams are being formed regularly. Because it is a new enough game for players to be forming groups regularly, rather than an older game that is either losing players or has groups that are so established that it is difficult for new players to be accepted into them, City of Heroes seems particularly appropriate for research on group formation and maintenance. Furthermore, it has one of the most advanced avatar creation systems in an MMORPG to date, allowing for players to imbue their avatars with unique identities.

Although there are a small number of free MMORPGs available, CoH is a commercial game. This game requires an initial purchase of the software and a monthly fee to play.

2.1 Research goals

Within the MMORPGs players have the ability to create anonymous personae that do not have to adhere to the social conventions of the offline world. Nevertheless, small groups, with their own rules and mores, are clearly created and maintained within the world of the game. Some of the rules are imposed from outside the game world, but the players themselves create many of the rules. Sometimes these conventions and mores seem to reflect the world outside the game, and other times to bear little resemblance to “real life.”

The concern in this research is primarily with the information behaviors, particularly meaning-making, as represented inside the game world and not between the in-game world and the outside world inasmuch as is possible. The second research goal is to discover if and how the concepts and theories of play arising from a variety of disciplines enter into the process of building and maintaining peer cultures within the game world.

The purpose of this research, then, is to examine how the conflation of play theory and information behavior theory, predominantly meaning-making research, serve to explain the development and maintenance of peer cultures within the virtual world of the game or games.

2.2 Research questions

The questions that will guide the proposed investigation are:

-How are groups and/or peer cultures formed in the world of the Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game?

-How, if at all, do play theory and meaning-making theory, particularly in combination, serve to explain this phenomenon?

2.3 Studying avatars

One of the most difficult dilemmas for the researcher is the anonymity of the game environment. Avatars, the digital representations people have chosen and to some extent designed for themselves, conceal the identity of the player who chose or created them. It is difficult to say that one is not dealing with “real” people, because avatars serve as the vehicles by which players express their chosen identities within the game. The avatars can, in fact, be seen as another dramatic representation of identity that is played out within a specific environment (See Goffman, 1959). It is nearly impossible, though, to examine the creation and maintenance of peer cultures in the game, except by observation of avatars.

The ability to choose and create avatars as a means to construct personal identity in the game world is one way that role-playing games differ from other games. In essence, any kind of game can be called broadly construed as a role-playing game (RPG). A player may take the role of a fighter in a fighting game, the coach or player in sports and so on. However, the RPG character is not a pre-ordained role (that is, there are expectations of the role of the second baseman or fighter), but an integral part of the game-play experience. (Poole, 2000). Therefore, it is the meaning-making and play displayed by the avatar or chosen character that the researcher wishes to study.

It is obvious that behind every avatar is a human, and that this complicates matters. The avatar and the human are inextricably linked, and it is possible that humans are exploring meanings by way of an assumed identity embodied by the avatar. It seems apparent that the meaning-making displayed by the avatar may offer some implications about the meaning-making of the human, However, the proposed research will attempt to locate meaning-making within the game world rather than directly to the human in the outside world.

3. Background

3.1 Historical Background

MMORPGs spring from a variety of sources as diverse as improvisational troupes, children’s playground games, groups such as the Society for Creative Anachronism, as well as pencil and paper role-playing games. The most well known of the pencil and paper type games is Dungeons and Dragons, which was often vilified as being somehow satanic or evil (Farmer, 1997). MMORPGs today continue to be controversial. The most often heard of criticisms are that the games are addictive and antisocial.

Dungeons and Dragons and similar games have one particular trait in common with MMORPGs. One of the major appeals of pencil and paper role-playing games to players is the negotiation of rules as they play. As the players negotiate the rules, they also negotiate the meanings of their actions within the game.

MMORPG environments come in a variety of styles, but the vast majority of them can be described as “Tolkeinesque” (Thompson, 2004). Regardless of fantastic nature of the games, players and researchers alike view them as “places” that become as real to many players as the outside world the players live in. (Castranova, 2003).

3.2 Concepts

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games consist of computer games comprised of a persistent graphical virtual world that players can enter and leave at any time. In order to experience the virtual environment, the player selects a character (or sometimes characters) to play. The character is displayed on the screen as an avatar, which is a visual representation of the character that one is playing. In addition, other avatars represent characters currently present in the game world. Because of the confusion when discussing the virtual or game world versus the outside or “real world,” the term “game world” or “in-game” will refer to the virtual or in-game environment and the term “outside world” will refer to the non-virtual. In-game environments include five common elements: shared space, shared presence, shared sense of time, a way to communicate, and a way to share items in and of the environment. (Manninen 2000).

In the course of this research the terms “player” and “gamer” will be used interchangeably to mean those who participate in the MMORPGs. Often within the game industry “gamers” is the preferred term.

Micro-cultures and peer cultures are segments of an overall culture. “Peer cultures” and “micro-cultures” will be used interchangeably to refer to groups that are formed within games. Information behavior and meaning-making, as well as play theory may have a role in both formation and maintenance of the peer cultures or micro-cultures. In the case of the proposed research, culture can be can be defined as consisting of three basic elements: the things people do (cultural behavior), the things people know (cultural knowledge) and the things people make and use (cultural artifacts). (Spradley, 1980, Bodley, 1994). Since online games exist as bits and bytes, through which people navigate their avatars (also composed of bit and bytes), it may be difficult to grasp the concept that they may be studied as cultures. The games do, however, possess the same basic elements of any culture: cultural behavior, as expressed by the speech and movement of the avatars; cultural artifacts, there are existent in the game space items that signal wealth and status; and cultural knowledge, presumably displayed in the communication which is one of the five common elements of MMORPG environments mentioned above. Speech is by far the most important behavior in the MMORPG since facial expression, natural movement and so on are limited by the software.

.Spradley (1980) and Bodley (1994) agree that culture is not biologically defined, but rather conceive of culture as learned. From the perspective of the symbolic interactionists like Cooley (1902) and Mead (1934) society and culture shape and constrain conduct, but they are also the products of conduct, including meaning-making and play. It is these theories that are most likely to allow some elucidation of how individuals generate cultural groups, as their foundations lie in the concept that individuals and cultures are in effect simultaneously “making” one another. That is, culture has an effect on the identity of an individual, just as individuals have an effect on the making of a culture. Both culture and the individual are then constructed by the interaction between individuals and between the culture and individuals. MMORPG’s, by their very nature, culture cannot be considered biologically defined in any traditional sense of the word. People from a variety of cultures play Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games together, but the games seem to develop a culture all their own. From the newly created culture evolve the sort of micro-cultures and the peer groups sometimes discussed in terms of play.

3.3 Rhetorics of play

Brian Sutton-Smith (1997) identifies seven rhetorics of play, that is, seven groupings, generally based on the academic disciplines from which they come, of the ways in which researchers have viewed play over the years. Three of the rhetorics or disciplinary backgrounds of play theory are of particular interest in this research. These theories grow out of the following disciplines: psychiatry, anthropology/folklore, and sociology. The scope of these theories suggests that there are matters of identity and community extant within the study of play that are vital to the research proposed here. It is important to note that the rhetorics, although roughly grouped by discipline, are not distinct and mutually exclusive, but rather overlap and interact with one another.

3.4 Peer culture theory in the outside world

According to Frost, Wortham, and Reifel (2001), “There are many notions of peer culture but most seem to assume children, as they interact, create communities of participants who share common values, interests and rituals.” (p. 54). Although many theorists believe that play is considered to be a vehicle for child development, under this set of theories play becomes an activity that is important in its own right and not part of some individual developmental scheme. (Frost, Wortham & Reifel 2001)

Singer and Singer (1990) suggest that children’s make-believe games continue into adulthood in the form of such activities as Renaissance Fairs and that such imaginative activities enrich adult life. These groups share an identity that consists of values, interests and rituals, just as children’s games do.

3.5 Role-playing games

“Role-playing games (RPGs) themselves seem to be unheard of outside of certain circles. It is hard for role-players to explain what RPGs are to non-gamers; and it is even harder for non-gamers to understand what the appeal of RPGs is. RPGs are not just games; they are an experience.” (Yee, 1999, p. 1). Role-playing games on the computer seem to have grown from the roots of Dungeons and Dragons and similar games in the 1970s to something far more sophisticated. Types of role-playing games include everything from the pencil and paper types involving many-sided dice and innumerable calculations, such as Dungeons and Dragons, to live action improvisational role-playing clubs to such fantasy groups as the Society for Creative Anachronism and military re-enactment groups, to MUDs and online RPGs.

3.6 Information Behavior Theory

Just as play theory grows from the roots of many disciplines, what is referred to as information behavior theory encompasses a wide variety of theories. This research will utilize what is generally referred to as meaning-making theory. Meaning-making is not just one theory, but rather a collection of related theories, among them Everyday Life Information Seeking Theory (ELIS) (Savolainen, 1995), sense-making, (Dervin, 1983), and folk psychology (Bruner, 1990).

Each of the above-mentioned meaning-making theories arises from a different disciplinary background and views meaning-making from a different perspective. Sense-making began with communications scholar Brenda Dervin (1983) and has been adapted by many other researchers in a variety of disciplines. (see the Sense-making website, 2004). It has been used in innumerable ways to examine how both individuals and groups of individuals make sense of their world. ELIS, is a product of information science and has as its primary concern how groups of people seek information to maintain coherence within their communities (be it a work community, a particular status, or any other group) and therefore attain mastery of life. The focus of ELIS is on the group. Finally, Bruner’s (1990) notion of folk psychology is inseparably connected with the concept of meaning-making within and through culture.

3.7 Previous work specific to Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

While little is yet known about the role of meaning-making and play theory in the building of micro-cultures in the persistent world of the online game, there are a number of studies that consider the social and psychological components of MMORPGs. Yee, for instance, (1999. 2001, 2002a, 2002b, 2002c) is possibly the most prolific researcher into Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing games. He has conducted five in-depth studies that employ primarily survey techniques. He has examined who plays MMORPGs, how personal relationships are built and motivational factors for play among other things. Yee’s studies are perhaps the best available to date; but they do have one significant flaw. He recruits his participants from web sites devoted to online games, giving him a sample made up of the most dedicated players of these games, as opposed to casual gamers. Casual gamers are less likely to visit these sites. He bases conclusions about players of the games in general on the data gathered from this group of participants. He does, in an updated footnote to his 2000 work, attempt to counter this criticism by pointing out that demographic statistics, such as age, gender and so on, gathered by the developers of the games resemble those in his sample.

Even if Yee’s conclusions are based on a sample of the most devoted players, the conclusions are still suggestive of possible avenues of research in the area. For instance, the majority of people surveyed in Yee’s (2001) study of EverQuest belong to a guild. Most of these players often or always participate in guild events while online. A guild event can be anything from a mutual quest to a memorial service for a guild member who has passed away in real life.

When considering guild events and rituals, it does not seem logical that anything real or lasting can come out of a “make-believe” world. One 39-year-old female player is, however quoted in Yee’s “Mosaic” (2002) :

I’ve been playing for over two and a half years. Like most people, I have found that you can make real friends in this game once you realize there’s someone behind the toon [avatar]. You look forward to seeing them every time you play; when they are gone you feel the loss. The day our guild leader retired from EQ [EverQuest], we held a ceremony in her honor. As the MC of the ceremony, I was startled to realize I was crying real tears when we said goodbye.

Manninen (2000, 2000, 2003) has also considered social and communication theory as they relate to MMORPGs, Some of Manninen’s conclusions are also intriguing as they touch on some of the concepts to be considered in the proposed research. In his study of communication in networked gaming environments, for example, Manninen (2000) observed that the representation of membership in a particular group was sometimes related, as is often the case in cultural festivals, to the wearing of certain colors by avatars, to denote their team, guild, or clan affiliation.

Jakkobsson and Taylor (2003) in a recent paper present another view of the way social networks are built on EverQuest, comparing them to typical romanticized versions of mafia family connections. The researchers use a variety of methodological approaches, primarily online ethnography and participant observation, as well and some interviews of players. The researchers also made an examination of written communications from bulletin boards and Web pages devoted to the MMORPG EverQuest. They consider informal groups, more established groups and guilds as social networks. Jakobbsen and Taylor evaluate these groups in relation to concepts such as trust, honor and reputation.

Finally, Turkle observes about MUD environments, “Since the excitement of the game depends on having personal relationships and being part of a MUD community’s developing politics and projects, it is hard to participate just a little.” (p. 184). Previous research shows that there are certainly social alliances within the MMORPG communities as well. The task of this research, then, is to see how meaning-making and play theory combine to explain the building of these social alliances, if they do.

4. Significance of the proposed research

Research in this field is significant for a number of reasons, including the sheer size of the online gaming industry and the rate at which it is growing. Poole (2000) asserts that video games in general are more popular than TV, movies and movie rentals. Revenue from MMORPGS (which often require a monthly fee to play) is expected to grow from $300 million this year to $1.8 billion by 2005. (Pham 2002).

In addition to the amount of money spent on online games, many people spend a great deal of time on them. Often the players of these games are adults who work away from home, yet the average time spent per week playing one such game was reported to be 23.9 hours (Yee 2001). Online RPG players often report being lost in a game for hours at a time. The players describe their experience in much the same way as respondents identified as experiencing “flow” in earlier studies have (Csikzentmihalyi 1975).

Finally, it is important to study any leisure activity, because oftentimes it is the “expressive” activities, as opposed to the “instrumental” ones, which are important ones. Csikszentmihalyi (1981) points out that, although there seems to be an implicit assumption that the meaning of leisure grows out of work, in fact the opposite may very well be true. “Thus it could be argued that the most basic meaning of work and other instrumental activities is naturally determined by reference to meanings developed in leisure settings rather than vice-versa.” (p. 333). Despite Csikszentmihalyi’s assertion that the meaning of work may grow out of the meaning of play, studies of meaning-making and other information behaviors as an element of leisure pursuits remain few and far between.

With increasing numbers of games available and increasing numbers of people playing, it is important to know what happens in the context of the game, particularly since Turkle (1997), Yee (2002), Lee (2000) and Leslie (1993) have noted significant ways in which people bring their in-game characters and associations back to their outside lives and vice-versa.

5. Methodology

5.1 Ethnography

Although ethnography grew out of the studies of various cultures in anthropology, non-anthropologists tend to use it to study subcultures in their own society. (Silverman, 2000). The intent of the proposed study is to examine how the conflation of play theory and meaning-making theory serve to explain the development and maintenance of peer cultures within the virtual world of the game or games.

The primary method of data gathering will consist of participant observation the world of the game or games. Because such an environment involves at least some personal relationships, it will be impossible to participate on a surface level. In fact, native understanding is vital to the purposed research. Specifically, this research will consist of participant observation in the world of City of Heroes, with the intention of eventually studying a particular guild or group, preferably as a member of that group. Specific hours and days of play will be determined by long sessions at the beginning of the research period to discover the periodicity of play for particular groups. Thereafter, regular hours of play will be established.

Many examples of research exist in which the researcher serves as an instrument of the research (see for example, Liebow, 1968 and Howell, 1973) There are also examples of this type of participatory research, with regard to sports activity. Sociologist Wacquant, (2004), for instance, and participatory journalist Plimpton (1965) have written about a variety of sports. Turkle (1984, 1994, 1997) researched identity in various MUDs (Multi-User Domains) and MOOs (Object Oriented MUDs) and observed the impossibility of observation without participation, as even the observation requires some significant personal involvement. The very definition of RPGs, according to their aficionados, is that they are not games so much as experiences.

One ethical dilemma of research in the anonymous and somewhat anarchical environment of the games is the implausibility of revealing that the researcher is in fact studying the group, much less obtaining informed consent. There is also the possibility that under-age players will be participating at any given time. The anonymous gamers communicate freely with one another in the game world and it is largely a public performance, with others in the game world as the audience with no expectation that others will not see, which reduces, but does not eliminate the difficulty.

5.2 Data collection

Data for the proposed research will be gathered in a number of ways, including field notes, personal journals, viewing of fan sites and discussion forums and possible interviews. Each of these ways of collecting data will provide a rich source of information for the proposed study.

Field notes are vital to any research involving participant observation. Spradley (1980) suggests four types of field notes including personal journals. The other three are condensed accounts, expanded accounts and notes for analysis and interpretation. Personal journals offer a place for introspection, a vital part of data gathering in participant observation. By participating fully in a social environment, the researcher becomes an instrument of the research and her thoughts, feelings and experiences become part of the data.

Reviewing a number of the main web sites/forums to supplement observation is a data-gathering tactic used by previous researchers (Jakobssen and Taylor, 2003) to supplement observations within the world of EverQuest. It will be used for the purposes of collecting additional data, but also as a place to seek possible interviewees. Such interviews will be conducted, when and if possible, with guild leaders and others who seem to hold important responsibilities in the peer culture.

5.2.1 Electronic recording

The most important way of gathering information while playing the game will be traditional field notes recorded during and after play sessions. However, there is also the possibility of capturing data in some novel ways as well. Some examples of these novel approaches are electronic recordings, electronic interviewing and reviewing materials on public message boards.

The nature of information exchange in the game environment requires the immersion and direct observation of participant observation because of the unique character of the exchanges involved. The milieu of the in-game communication resembles that of a chat room with conversations overlapping each other. It may be possible, with permission of the games’ owners, to record some of the in-game dialog. It is obviously impractical to record 20 or more hours per week, if for no other reason than the sheer amount of data to be sifted through. Nevertheless, it could be useful to electronically record exchanges, as a supplement to field notes and a source of more direct quotes and paraphrases.

5.2.2 Interviews and forums

Any interviews conducted would also be electronically recorded with permission of the respondent. The interviews would be conducted via instant message software, otherwise known as chat software, which can be captured in text form by use of electronic means. Naturally, just as in a face-to-face recorded interview written permission of some sort would have to be provided by the respondent. While some nuances are lost in electronic recording, it aids in the ability to gain access to people all over the world, and the ability to quote them accurately. Adams (2002) has used electronically recorded interviews successfully in two small studies. Web forums are also a kind of public communication that contain the participants’ own words and can supplement observation within the game world.

5.3 Human subjects concerns

There are two concerns inherent in the proposed research about “human subjects.” As noted above, although the researcher proposes to study the avatars in the game environment, there is no escaping the fact that the avatars are created and controlled by humans. Because of the anonymous nature of the games, it is difficult or impossible to obtain informed consent.

Further, although statistics show that the majority of players are over 19 years of age, this does not preclude the fact that there are children who play. Children are a special concern in research situations.

However, a case can be made that this research may qualify for a waiver of informed consent under Federal regulations for the following reasons:

-The research poses little or no risk to those observed.

-The research will not adversely affect the rights and welfare of the subjects.

-The research cannot be practicably carried out without the waiver.

Because there is a possibility that children will be studied in this research it will require a stringent review by the IRB to assure that the above conditions are met.

5.4 Data analysis

The analysis of data gained from field notes and other supporting materials will be cyclical in nature. While the components of the intended analysis are being discussed here as roughly sequential, they actually proceed through repeated iterations as the participant observation progresses. Furthermore, data continue to be collected at different levels of detail throughout the research and field notes will be consulted repeatedly.

Although a specific focus has been selected for this research, it would be myopic to attempt to begin by looking only for those elements that support the conceptual background laid out earlier in this proposal. Therefore, the researcher must first act as an observer of the general culture of City of Heroes by collecting general descriptive data. Wolcott (1990) refers to the descriptive sections of any qualitative research as a subtle analysis of the data. It is at this level Spradley (1980) suggests the use of a matrix or matrices to capture the descriptive information gleaned from field notes and begin to categorize it. He suggests that the matrix contain information regarding place, actor, activity, object, act, event, time, goal and feeling as they intersect with each other. The matrices will serve as an initial source of analysis to provide cultural context for the proposed study

Going beyond the overall context, the researcher will seek direction from the initial analysis to focus her observations in order to answer her questions. It is impossible to observe everywhere at once no matter how diligent the researcher and it is important to focus on what to observe, as well as to be aware of what is being left behind. It will be necessary during the research to observe a larger part of the overall culture to examine group formation and also to study the internal peer culture of a specific group or team to examine group maintenance. The analysis of the cultural context should offer some ideas on where to look next. It is at this point that the matrices produced by descriptive analysis may serve to create an initial set of descriptive codes (Miles and Huberman, 1994) to be considered, expanded, refined and rejected as the research continues. Miles and Huberman (1994) even suggest that researchers may wish to begin their research with a very small set of codes already in place. In reflecting on the proposed project, however, the researcher has chosen to wait until the initial overview of the cultural setting is begun.

Wolcott (1990) and Spradley (1980) emphasize the need to maintain the essence of the work without being overwhelmed by so much data that final analysis becomes nearly impossible. Miles and Huberman (1994) suggest that by performing initial coding along the way, the process becomes more manageable. By providing such coding the researcher will begin to perceive trends and patterns. The use of margin notes, codes ranging from descriptive to thematic, and systemic entry in a personal journal will be used aid in identifying patterns. Naturally once a pattern is perceived it will seem to appear over and over again. Therefore the researcher will take care to notice and reflect on instances that do not fit into the pattern and be willing to consider that there is actually something different happening. Introspection of this kind is extremely important in cases in which the researcher is also an instrument of the research.

Writing will also be a continuous part of the data analysis in this study. Wolcott (1990) suggests that a researcher can never start the writing process too early. He suggests free-writing, that is, just letting ideas flow, as a means of thinking about the research as it progresses. He also says that writing helps to sort and organize thoughts. The creation of charts and visual displays may also be used in determining relationships by clarifying them both for the researcher and the reader (Miles and Huberman, 1994, Spradley, 1980, and Wolcott, 1990).

Finally a number of software systems exist that can help the researcher sort, organize and assist in finding trends in qualitative data. The researcher expects to use one of these pieces of software to assist in analysis, especially when the amount of material becomes cumbersome.

5.4.1 The researcher as an instrument of the research

A number of qualities combine to create a researcher with the ability to serve as an instrument of research in participant observer research. These qualities go beyond the ability to observe. For example, the researcher must open herself to not only watching but to “surrendering” (Wacquant 2004, p. 11) to the culture or situation in order to become a trusted member of the group. At the same time she must remain able to examine the situation from the outside. This dichotomy is what Spradley (1980) refers to as being an insider/outsider, sometimes fully consumed in the activity, others more engaged in watching from the outside, but always aware of both roles.

Another important quality of a researcher who is serving as an instrument of research is the ability for introspection. The introspective ability is related to the insider/outsider quality in that the researcher must be able to step back, think and write about the feelings and experiences that are occurring. What does it “feel” like to take part in the activity or culture? What is the “experience” like? A good deal of time must be spent in personal journaling to consider these and other questions.

Life experience is never really left out of any research, but it is particularly important in participant observation for the researcher to be aware of what she brings to the situation. Naturally there are biases, but there are also strengths.

I believe that I possess many of the characteristics that will make me an effective instrument in research of this type.[1] For example, I have already polished the art of introspection and journaling in other parts of my own life, and believe that I can make use of that practice in the course of the research as well.

I also have training that, while it may not be apparent as strength, can certainly serve this study. My original undergraduate degree is in the field of theater arts. As an actress I became accustomed to looking at myself as both myself and as a character. This is an ability that will be invaluable in the proposed research since in order to participate I must create a character of my own. Oftentimes those involved in acting serve both as actor and as audience to their own performances and the performances of others, particularly during rehearsals. Further, and perhaps more specific to this particular proposed research, I have the experience of both interacting with and observing others who have taken on assumed identities. Finally, in acting I found that I possessed a willingness and ability to be consumed by or surrender to a particular situation, whether pre-written or improvisational, and to extricate myself from it when necessary.

The final strength I have for conducting this particular research is my background in the game business. I have been a partner in a small game development company and served in the capacity of business manager. During the time that I was involved in the business I spent time in chat rooms devoted to games and I learned the language, which will allow me to communicate, at least nominally, in conversation immediately.

5.5 Trustworthiness, reliability and transferability

Establishing trustworthiness and reliability in such an anonymous environment is a necessary challenge. Miles and Huberman (1994) refer to this part of the research as “the crunch question: truth value” (p. 278). In qualitative research it is important to consider whether we have an authentic account that makes sense to our readers. Such an account should provide a “vicarious presence” (p. 279). The researcher will share the text with selected readers as it emerges in order to check for the above qualities.

In order to further test reliability and trustworthiness, triangulation between sources will be used. Participant observation versus forum posts and any possible interviews will offer a "life as lived" point of view compared to a "life as told" point of view. (Miles and Huberman 1994, p. 267) In addition, a comparison and contrast to other research on the social nature of games that has a different focus but may have some overlapping concepts is an effective way to check the consistency and reliability of the study.

Member checking is an exercise often recommended as a way of checking the reliability of research. Because of the sort of anonymity that exists in the game environment this tactic may prove difficult. Initially, soliciting comments on the research from known players of the game in question or players of other similar games could be a type of "member-checking" in an otherwise highly anonymous environment. It is also probable that the researcher will become well enough acquainted with someone in-game that she might be able to do member-checking within her own group.

The intent of the proposed study is not to attempt to generalize to other situations, but rather to provide a full and detailed description of the context and research that may be applied and tested in other situations. In order to make this transferability possible it will be necessary to provide sufficient information about context of the study and processes of the research to provide other researchers meaningful comparisons with their own studies. Further there must be enough “thick description” to let readers know whether the research is potentially transferable and appropriate for their own setting. (Miles and Huberman, 1994).

6. Conclusion[2]

Video games in general and Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) in particular are one of the fastest growing segments of the entertainment industry. Millions of dollars are spent on them every year and hundreds of thousands of people are spending countless hours playing them.

In the course of playing these games, often the players (as represented by their avatars) join to form elaborate peer cultures with rules and rituals all their own. My own background in the gaming industry allows me to see just how important MMORPGs are to their players, and how intensely social they can be.

And yet many people see such pursuits as MMORPGs as unworthy of study. Whether one wishes to characterize “leisure” activities as play, recreation or simply leisure, there has been a tendency to trivialize them as frivolous. Or worse yet there is, “the denigration of play as a waste of time, as idleness, as triviality…” (Sutton-Smith 1997, p. 201). The intensely social nature of MMORPGs and the bonding that occurs between avatar-players seems to belie this notion of triviality. Not only that, but Csikzentmihalyi (1981) claims that those meanings developed in leisure activities, such as playing a games may be very important to those activities seen as instrumental or work situations.

The purpose of my research is to examine how the conflation of play theory and meaning-making theory serve to explain the how micro-culture or peer cultures are formed in MMORPGs, and how they are maintained once formed within the virtual world of the game or games. The research is necessarily limited by the fact that it is an in-depth ethnography of only one such game. Nevertheless it will provide a starting point for others interested in the same issues in the future.

As an end product of this research, I would like to provide a detailed description of how a conflation of play theory and meaning-making theory might serve to explain the formation and maintenance of peer cultures in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games.

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[1] Due to the articificiality of speaking about one’s own qualities in the third person, I have deliberately shifted to the first person for the remainder of this section.

[2] This section will be written completely in the first person.

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