Someone Else is There:Presence,Embodiment and Aspects of Third Place Theory In World of Warcraft

Oldenburg\u27s (1999) theory of Third Place was used as a lens to determine whether World of Warcraft (WoW), a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), acts as a virtual third place where users go to engage in informal social interaction. Based on Shields\u27 (2003) seminal study on virtuality, WoW is examined as a liminality that exists between the physical realm and what exists in essence. Virtual communities exist on the threshold between the tangible and the iconic, creating a sort of liminality that allows us to feel them without actually having them present in a purely physical sense. Similarly, Third Places are examined as existing on the threshold between formal public life and private life. The study found that while WoW shares many aspects with Oldenburg\u27s Third Place, the theory as designed by the author does not stretch to accommodate the peculiarities of virtual places and the communities that exist within

Disseminated Aspergillus citrinoterreus and concurrent localized dermal phaeohyphomycosis in an immunosuppressed dog

Key Clinical message We report on a dog with immune‐mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA) treated with immunomodulatory therapy that developed phaeohyphomycosis and Aspergillus citrinoterreus infections. This is the first reported case of A. citrinoterreus in dogs. It details cytological and microbiological findings leading to diagnosis and highlights the importance of investigating new lesions in immunocompromised patients. Abstract A 5‐year‐old Staffordshire terrier mix treated with immunosuppressive therapy for IMHA was diagnosed with concurrent disseminated A. citrinoterreus and localized Curvularia lunata infections. This case highlights the potential development of multiple concurrent opportunistic fungal infections and is the first reported case of A. citrinoterreus infection in a dog

"Hey guys? there's been a change in the raid": information use and social change in World of Warcraft

This study examines public sources of information, their usage and how these factors fect social change in virtual communities, specifically in the MMORPG World of Warcraft. Using the concepts of the "public" and the "public sphere" as developed by Jürgen Habermas, Robert Park, and John Dewey and the weak-tie theory by Granovetter, this study used a loose ethnography coupled with forum monitoring and in-depth interviews to determine public sources of information and information usage by players in in-game decision making. Also, the study seeks to clarify how players use information, and how this information sparks social change both at micro, meso and macro levels within the game and meta-game. This study found that players use internet forums and in-game social tools as their sources of public information to engage in free discussion about issues in the game, their lives and their community. This study also found that social change is influenced by information players retrieve from the forums and that weak ties are often generated in the forums. Guilds that frequently engage in the forums are in the public eye and subject to instability from external pressure. Guilds that do not interact regularly in the forums are less subject to external pressures, but subject to stagnation. These results support that WoW does have a function public sphere, public information sources and weak ties within the game often transmit more information, and with this information a chance for innovation and social change. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries