Over the summer, I received a grant from Denison to conduct anthropology research on World of Warcraft-- the popular multi-player online game. Yes, every teenage boy's dream job! Because WoW is a pop culture phenomenon, people seem intrigued.
I have made the full manuscript available HERE.
Note that isn't meant to sound harsh, but inevitably will: As I work towards possibly publishing the manuscript, I request it only be used or referenced with my consent.
The paper is about gender in World of Warcraft, and draws on my own experience and interviews with fellow players. It is quite lengthy and heavy on theory-- If you're short on time but still intrigued, I suggest skipping to either Chapter III (game design), Chapter IV (virtual gender), or Chapter V (actual gender and marginalization).
I am proud of my work and much indebted to my research advisor, Susan Diduk, for overseeing the project. Neither of us had any experience studying technology, gaming, or anything even vaguely related before the summer-- it was definately a shot in the dark!!
1 comment:
Quite an interesting read. I'm not a WoW player, but I know lots of them (and I used to be a MUD player in the text-only internet days). I would love to see you comments on The Guild, and am wondering if your work has been or will be brought to the attention of the producers of that webshow.
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