(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
frames of creating new ways of knowing. Gee (2003) argued that games can bring a whole lot of
“embodied empathy for complex systems” as well as an “embodied experience” when a gamer feels
a connection with the system itself (hierarchy, rules, ludology); therefore, this concept of
embodiment has no reference between the avatar and the gamer. Moreover, Squire, Shaffer, Gee, and
Halverson (2005) suggested that the power that lies in virtual games is its capacity to provide situated
understanding.
Both approaches provide significant and valuable ways of exploring the creation of knowledge and
skills in games, but this study provides an additional perspective to large-scale MMORPG,
particularly in World of Warcraft (WoW). This study does fit into either category of direct transfer of
skills or of situated learning and knowledge. In both approaches, they examine how knowledge is
acquired from the game to the learner (player) or how it “teaches” valuable knowledge and skills.
Although games are increasingly well studied, its appeal to the imaginative consciousness and bring
about knowledge and skills in both in-game and actual worlds has not received the same attention.
This article offers a variety of analytic categories structured to assist us to understand what sets
MMORPG apart from the typical learning environment. This is with no intention to mean that a
typical learning environment is not available in MMORPG or any other virtual worlds; rather this
intends to identify an additional facility that makes knowledge acquisition in MMORPG powerful
compared to the traditional conception of education.
The timed quest in WoW that last for about 45 minutes illustrates the different perspectives of
knowledge and skills creation. On one hand, a direct transfer of skills in a WoW timed quest focuses
on improved hand-eye coordination or the gamers’ ability to construct analytical reasoning and
solving problems to achieve certain goals depending on the level the gamer is at. While on the other,
the pressure of accomplishing a task in a limited time may improve time management skills by
understanding how each game requirement is interconnected and the maximum amount of time that
must given on a certain task. A timed quest in WoW may also, sometimes, be a group effort of
fifteen to forty gamers working simultaneously and harmoniously carrying with them specific tasks
to fulfill. Understanding the rules and the design of the game provides what Gee (2003) called
“embodied empathy for complex systems”. It is imperative to say that all of these develop valuable
skills that are undeniably important. Despite these, limited studies address the implications of the
unique and broader social systems embedded within and outside of WoW.
Within the perspective of this study, it aims to understand how gamers learn and acquire valuable
knowledge and skills in a quest as part of a broader social system of gamers and not as a personal
accomplishment. The shared social system on which gamers participate involves coordinated skills in
both in-game and actual worlds that are strongly adhered by the culture of knowing and learning that
both identify and are identified by the game. Learning, suggested by Brown and Duguid (1996), is
not about getting information, but “developing the disposition, demeanor, and outlook of the
practitioners”. The avatar or an “interactive, social representation of a user” (Meadows, 2008); game
design and its rules; and the complex social systems and cultural networks inside and outside of the
game make up the game space of MMORPGs. It is the combination of these factors that provide a
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