Resources, capital, and players inside the game worlds: Bourdieusian approach to game cultures

Online gaming is all the time more ubiquitous. With the World becoming increasingly digitized and inter-connected, it is no wonder that the most popular pastime, gaming, is reachable quite literally anywhere. With this popularity comes the multitude of choices to fulfil any gamer’s needs and satisfaction for interactive media as companies are trying to tap into the ever-growing market. Some play to spend time with family and friends, some play to dominate others, some play to become rich, and everything in-between. The online game worlds, especially the games in the genre of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, can house inhabitants of all backgrounds, with all types of motivations, and offer more than enough activities for the inhabitants to enjoy. Despite the immense success of certain games that have defined the future of their respective genre, the research into the immersive and complex virtual worlds has been heavily focusing on aspects and effects external to the game and the act of gaming itself. There is a stern lack of focus on the happenings and lives of the inhabitants of the virtual worlds, apart from very few autoethnographies that attempt to go beneath the surface to explain the affordances that exists. Studies still largely focus on the players before and after they play the games where the in-game actions are rather nuance than the focus. This dissertation shifts the focus upside-down and explores, and explains, deeply through the resources circulating in and around the online multiplayer game worlds with the players themselves being rather side-lined. Used methods include quantitative survey, scoping review, qualitative, and frequency count. This dissertation shows that there just as many ways to live inside the game worlds as there are players. Thus, the main arguments of the work are related to: 1) socializing, the numerous ways to do so, and the importance of it inside the game worlds; 2) the ways avatars and players are able to, or willing to, accumulate resources; 3) using Bourdieusian approach to resources as types of capital is feasible and offers unique insight into the happenings of game worlds; 4) the types of capital as they have more nuance to them in the domain of video games than their broad definitions might let one expect. The results promote the view, that despite the sheer power of statistical analysis to categorize players, there can be found unique approaches to the games varying from the motivations and demographical attributes to focusing on the betterment of the game’s community through discussion forums. Every instance and every approach to gaming is just as valid as any other, which might seem like an obvious statement, but it is clear that the player-bases and sometimes even scholars forget about those playstyles that are in the margin. Further, the results increase the knowledge of how resourceful avatars can be, and what are possibly some intra-game and extra-game limiting factors on how well an entity can utilize the possible affordances. The academia has studies about the social life inside the game worlds, and studies about capital as resource around the game worlds, but they are rarely combined. Even more rare are the comprehensive studies taking a wider look on the life of the citizen of the game worlds with specific research aims or questions in mind. This dissertation gives multi-layered insight into this phenomenon with tangible examples to deliver a very precise message. For one to understand the avatars of games, one must think and approach them as conscious entities rather than only as tools for enjoyment. There is so much more going in the virtual worlds than one mere dissertation can ever include within its pages.Resurssit, pääomat ja pelaajat pelimaailmojen sisällä: Bourdieulainen lähestyminen pelikulttuureihin Verkkopelaaminen on enenevissä määrin kaikkialla läsnä. Maailman muuttuessa jatkuvasti digitaalisemmaksi ja verkostoituneemmaksi, ei ole ihme, että suosituin vapaa-ajan viete, pelaaminen, on saavuttanut lähes jokaisen kodin. Tämä kasvava suosio takaa sen, että jokaiselle pelaajalle on useita vaihtoehtoja, miten lähestyä ja käyttää interaktiivista mediaa, sillä yritykset taistelevat siivusta markkinoilla. Jotkut pelaavat viettääkseen aikaa kavereiden ja perheen kanssa, jotkut taas dominoidakseen toisia, joillekin rikkaus on ainoa tavoite, ja kaikkea tältä väliltä. Verkossa olevat pelimaailmat, etenkin massiivisten monen pelaajan verkkoroolipelien genreen kuuluvat, pystyvät tarjoamaan kodin pelaajille taustasta ja motivaatiosta huolimatta, sekä tarjoamaan heille enemmän kuin tarpeeksi aktiviteetteja ja tekemistä. Huolimatta tiettyjen pelien valtavasta menestyksestä, jotka ovat määrittäneet oman genrensä tulevaisuuden, tutkimus mukaansatempaaviin ja monimutkaisiin virtuaalimaailmoihin on keskittynyt voimakkaasti pelin ja itse pelaamisen ulkopuolisiin näkökohtiin ja vaikutuksiin. Virtuaalimaailmojen asukkaiden tapahtumiin ja elämiin keskittyvässä tutkimuksessa on suuria puutteita, lukuun ottamatta hyvin harvoja autoetnografioita, jotka yrittävät mennä pinnan alle selittääkseen kuinka erilaista kahden eri avatarin elämä voikaan olla. Tutkimukset keskittyvät edelleen suurelta osin pelaajiin ennen ja jälkeen itse pelisessioiden, jolloin pelin sisäiset toimet ovat enemmän vivahde kuin painopiste. Tämä väitöskirja kääntää painopisteen ylösalaisin ja tutkii sekä selittää syvällisesti verkkomoninpelien maailmoissa ja niiden ympärillä liikkuvia resursseja pelaajien itsensä ollessa melko sivussa. Käytettyihin menetelmiin sisältyy kvantitatiivinen kysely, kartoittava tarkastelu, laadullinen tutkimus sekä frekvenssilaskenta. Tämä väitöskirja osoittaa, että tapoja elää pelimaailmoissa on yhtä monta kuin pelaajiakin. Siten työn pääargumentit liittyvät: 1) lukuisiin tapoihin sosialisoida ja sen tärkeyteen pelimaailmassa; 2) tapoihin, joilla niin avatarit kuin pelaajat voivat, tai haluavat, kerätä resursseja; 3) Bourdieulaiseen lähestymistapaan, jossa pääomatyypit käsitellään resursseina, on käyttökelpoista ja tarjoaa ainutlaatuisen käsityksen pelimaailmojen tapahtumista; 4) pääomatyyppeihin, sillä niillä on enemmän vivahteita videopelien piirissä kuin niiden laajat määritelmät antavat odottaa. Tulokset tukevat näkemystä, että vaikka tilastollisen analyysin voimasta kategorisoida pelaajia, pelitutkimukseen voidaan löytää ainutlaatuisia lähestymistapoja, jotka vaihtelevat motivaatioista ja demografisista ominaisuuksista peliyhteisön parantamiseen keskustelufoorumeiden kautta. Jokainen tapaus ja jokainen lähestymistapa pelaamiseen on yhtä pätevä kuin mikä tahansa muu, mikä saattaa tuntua itsestään selvältä väitteeltä, mutta on selvää, että pelaajakannat ja joskus jopa tutkijat unohtavat marginaalissa olevat pelityylit. Lisäksi tulokset lisäävät tietoa siitä, kuinka neuvokkaita avatarit voivat olla ja mitkä ovat mahdollisesti joitain pelin sisäisiä ja pelin ulkopuolisia rajoittavia tekijöitä sille, kuinka hyvin he voivat hyödyntää resursseja. Akatemiassa on tutkimuksia pelimaailmojen sosiaalisesta elämästä ja tutkimuksia pääomasta resurssina pelimaailmoissa, mutta niitä yhdistetään harvoin. Vielä harvinaisempia ovat kattavat tutkimukset, jotka tarkastelevat pelimaailmaa asuttavien pelaajien elämää laajemmin erityisiä tutkimustavoitteita tai kysymyksiä silmällä pitäen. Tämä väitöskirja antaa monitasoisen käsityksen tästä ilmiöstä konkreettisten esimerkkien avulla. Ymmärtääkseen pelien avatareja, niitä täytyy ajatella ja lähestyä tietoisina kokonaisuuksina eikä vain viihteen työkaluna. Virtuaalisissa maailmoissa tapahtuu paljon enemmän kuin yksi väitöskirja voi koskaan pitää sisällään

Virtual Property, Real Concerns

The status of digital property protection, especially in virtual worlds, is uncertain to say the least. These are the issues that I will review in this note. In section II, I will discuss the foundations of virtual worlds and their growth from pre-computer roots to present day sprawling universes. This background will provide a foundation for novices in the virtual world realm and an anchor for the important role that these games play in the lives of not only young Americans, but people of all ages and nationalities around the world. Part III will discuss the critical characteristics of virtual property. The conjunction between virtual property and physical property-such as exclusivity, persistence, transferability and transformative properties-create the value in virtual property that makes protection of the property important. With virtual property characteristics described, I will discuss various examples of just how critical this virtual property has become, not only to the lives of individuals, but to society in general, and what protections are currently in place, such as licensing agreements. This will set the stage for the remainder of the note. Part IV will describe several common theories on virtual property rights, including the Lockean Labor Theory, Personality Theory, Utilitarianism, and the idea of treating virtual property as intangible real property. The merits and shortcomings of these various theories will be discussed. Part V will discuss current implementations of virtual property protection, including physical protection through code and some actual and current legal frameworks-both within the United States and abroad-that are currently available to gainers and virtual world developers. Finally, Part VI will discuss some practical considerations of any system that intends to extend protection to virtual property and the inherent dangers of applying virtual property protection with a broad brush. I propose a new solution to protecting user rights in property through a hybrid of natural protection. The protection is layered and built on the extension of an existing framework that is made up of the same software code that already controls virtual worlds. The software creates a high-level boundary of allowable behavior. In areas where software cannot properly protect, such as in areas of fraud or theft, the current legal-property regime takes over-much as it does with tangible property. Courts can apply standard property law while overlaying the virtual world rules and the social norms within virtual world. In this way, property can be protected even in virtual worlds where certain kinds of theft are part of the game play

Video game preservation in the UK: a survey of records management practices

Video games are a cultural phenomenon; a medium like no other that has become one of the largest entertainment sectors in the world. While the UK boasts an enviable games development heritage, it risks losing a major part of its cultural output through an inability to preserve the games that are created by the country’s independent games developers. The issues go deeper than bit rot and other problems that affect all digital media; loss of context, copyright and legal issues, and the throwaway culture of the ‘next’ game all hinder the ability of fans and academics to preserve video games and make them accessible in the future. This study looked at the current attitudes towards preservation in the UK’s independent (‘indie’) video games industry by examining current record-keeping practices and analysing the views of games developers. The results show that there is an interest in preserving games, and possibly a desire to do so, but issues of piracy and cost prevent the industry from undertaking preservation work internally, and from allowing others to assume such responsibility. The recommendation made by this paper is not simply for preservation professionals and enthusiasts to collaborate with the industry, but to do so by advocating the commercial benefits that preservation may offer to the industry

Relationship between online role-playing games, personality and interpersonal relationships

Online gaming is a relatively new concept, yet due to the millions of followers these games have attracted over the past decade; it is not difficult to deduce that they are not going away any time soon. Individuals use the Internet for many things, including news, email, shopping, instant messaging and entertainment (gaming) (Griffiths, et al., 2003; Yee, 2006a; 2006b). Millions of these same individuals play Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) as their source of entertainment. These players interact socially within the game with one another, many on a daily basis, and spend huge amounts of time doing so. During these long hours, research has shown that many of these players form relationships and some of these relationships lead to real life relationships (Cole & Griffiths, 2007; Yee, 2006b). Many of these individuals consider these online relationships equal to their offline relationships (Ng & Wiemer-Hastings, 2005). It is suggested that these players are introverted and lack social interaction; however, some believe that using the Internet in this manner is equivalent to offline face to face social interaction. Many lose track of the time while playing MMORPGs and when engaging in other online activities, and some of these individuals experience symptoms related to loneliness (Ng & Wiemer-Hastings, 2005). Therefore, previous research suggests there is a relationship between Online Gaming, Personality, and Interpersonal Relationships. This study was designed to examine relationships between personality characteristics and amount of time playing a popular game called World of Warcraft (WoW). Additionally, this study examined how motivations to play the game are related to personality characteristics, preference for online interpersonal interaction, and social anxiety. A Demographics Questionnaire including age, country of residence, sex, occupation, employment status and other information about their online game playing was used. Additionally, the M5-50 Personality Inventory (McCord, 2002) was used as a short measure of the participant’s personality traits, collected through a fifty item scale which resulted in scores for the five domains of: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. The participants also completed the Preference for Online Social Interaction Questionnaire (Caplan, 2003) which is a 4 item measure of the individual’s preference for online vs. offline face to face social interaction. The items were summed for a total score with higher scores representing preference for online social interaction. Motivations for Play Questionnaire (Yee, 2006a), which measures activities the participant engages in while online, which MMORPGs they play, the amount of time spent playing the specified MMORPG per week, and activities they are involved in while playing the MMORPG. The scale consisted of 40 questions which participants answered using a five point response scale then the individual items were summed into each of the primary components. Finally, the Interaction Anxiousness Scale (IAS), a measure of social anxiety was completed by the participants. The scale consisted of 15 items which participants answered based on a five point Likert-type scale. Scores were summed and overall higher scores on the scale reflect higher levels of social anxiety. The study included 381 participants who were recruited from the Internet sites where WoW players frequently post and read messages. The participants were 88% male and 12% female and the range of participants’ ages was 18 to 69 years, with a mean of 24.29 years. Participants were actually engaged in playing the MMORPG “World of Warcraft”. The median amount of time spent playing WoW per week was 16 to 20 hours. A small, positive correlation was found between the amount of time spent playing WoW and Neuroticism and a small, negative correlation between of time spent playing WoW and Extraversion. Examination of the relationships between achievement motivation to play and Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness found small, negative correlations between achievement motivation to play and Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness with higher levels of motivation to play associated with lower levels of Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness. An examination of the relationship between social motivation to play, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Openness to Experience found small, positive relationships between social motivation to play and Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness to Experience. The relationship between immersion motivation to play and Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience was investigated which found small, negative relationships between immersion motivation to play and Extraversion and Conscientiousness; and a small, positive relationship between immersion motivation to play and Openness to Experience. Finally, the relationship between the preference for online social interaction and the interactive anxiousness scale was investigated resulting in a moderate to strong, positive relationship, with higher levels of preference for online social interaction associated with higher levels of interactive anxiousness