(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
new avenue, forms and strategies of learning - a learning that provides new stances of disposition and
spaces for creativity and imagination.
2.2. Understanding WoW
In WoW, players create a character, or an avatar, as a form of representation in the virtual world that
is inhabited by unearthly creatures, unusual locations and other players represented by their own
characters. A player may choose to belong to any of the ten races and nine classes (as of writing) and
a faction (either Horde or Alliance), on which the player’s choice has an impact on what players can
(or cannot) accomplish (Blizzard Entertainment, 2010). As the character travels in the world, a player
must combine completion of quests, exploration of new destinations, and defeating monsters to gain
experience points or XPs and to level up to the next. Also, it is important for characters to be
equipped with valuable items (known as loot) to prepare for next encounters. These loots may be
found in the corpses of defeated monsters. As the character advances to the next level (maximum
level as of writing is 85), the player would encounter quests that would need groups in order to
accomplish them. A player will have to team-up with a maximum of five other players to form a
group who are working on completing the same quest and defeating the same monster. However,
when the character reaches the Level 60 to Level cap, a group would not suffice to defeat uncommon
monsters and conquer complicated quests, a special group called raid groups, which is composed of
up to 40 members, will have to be formed.
It is important for raid groups to consist of favorable mixture of different character classes to
compensate for each other’s weaknesses. For instance, it is necessary for a raid group to have a
warrior to endure the impact of the blows of the monsters because of its high stamina. Nevertheless,
a healer is also necessary to negate the blows caused by the uncommon foes. A correct proportion of
abilities, strengths, and power are vital to the success of the group’s adventure.
3. METHODOLOGY
The research questions were addressed by conducting an issues ethnographic study where participant
observation was used as the primary method in identifying the knowledge creation in collaborative
gaming, such as group raiding, and email interview in finding out the knowledge creation in
modding. Issues ethnography veers away from the usual ethnographic approach of including the
whole culture in its study that is commonly contested in media and anthropological studies (Ortner,
1993). It focuses on specific contested issues and conflicts within a culture on which the whole idea
lies on its capacity to isolate and explore how a conflict plays itself out in a single instance of a given
culture. This isolation will best provide understanding of the assumptions that underlie the conflict in
connection to the interests of the primary parties involved.
With an average of 20 hours a week for three months (from December 2009 to March 2010), I
assumed the role of a covert participant observer or ethnographer to carefully analyze the knowledge
creation during raid group sessions. Being a WoW gamer myself for more than two years, I was able
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