World of Warcraft

Course Design

• Course in Game Design
• 18 students (2 female)
• 10 students played 5/wk
• Students chose a faction (Horde) and formed a guild
• Built Horde Tough (ok for ethics)

Culture of Games

• Importance of looking at culture constructed by digital games
• Display behavior and norms that constitute a culture (p. 201)
• Shared practices, shared goals
• Observe its conventions

WoW's Culture

• Players must communicate and collaborate
• The group ends up sharing an 'ideological perspective' (p. 201)

‘The classroom became an extension of the playspace as they blended game and non-game spaces.” (p. 207)

Ethnographic Methods

• Qualitative methodology
• Fieldnotes
• Blog postings
• Chatlog
• Coding