scholarly journals Bittihautakiviä ja pikselimuistomerkkejä

Elore ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Haverinen
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Internet Culture ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The Family ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Death Culture ◽  
Communal Support ◽  
The Web

In her article the author reviews the preliminary results of her doctoral thesis, in which she asks why online memorials are being created. Is the privatization of mourning becoming more public in the 21st century? Does the popularity of internet mourning tell us more about the coherent internet culture or about the diffusion of the American (commercialized) death culture? The author’s methods are virtual anthropological and her research material consists of participant observation, three queries, online interviews, video and screenshot documents. The material was collected during 2007 and 2011. The research results indicate that the Web has given new possibilities for experiencing communal support through different applications, such as Facebook, virtual memorial websites, online (role-playing) games, blogs and discussion forums. The Web has increasingly become a larger part of people’s everyday lives, enabling virtual bereavement, loss and honouring. Sharing memories, photos and videos with the family and friends makes these virtual memorials an important part of the mourning process. Privacy is often concerned, but seldom executed properly. The publicity of the memorials is justified by the notion of giving information. The results also indicate that virtual memorials are a culture on their own, independent from geographical, cultural and national boundaries, and constitute a part of internet sociality

scholarly journals Game Balance: Designed structure and consumer agency in an online game

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elizabeth Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Physical World ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Consumer Identity ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The North ◽  
Game World ◽  
Consumer Movements

<p>Massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) attract millions of people every year and are now a major industry. Using the internet, these games connect players and give them goals to pursue within virtual worlds. This thesis examines the early life of one such game, the North American version of TERA, based on participant observation on a player vs. player server. TERA’s players met and interacted within a virtual game world controlled by the company which developed the game, and although players constructed their own social groups and factions within this world they were constrained by software that they could not change. Everything from the combat rules to the physics of the environment was designed, and players could only take actions that were accounted for and allowed by that design.  However, TERA launched as one of many available MMORPGs which were competing for the attention of the same audience. Its players tended to be experienced and well-informed about the genre, and used their knowledge to evaluate and critique TERA both privately and in public forums. Aware that game companies’ chief concern was for profit, players exercised agency by embracing a consumer identity and pressuring developers in their own commercial terms. To retain players’ loyalty and continue receiving their fees, companies were obliged to appease their customers. This allowed players to see the game world develop and change in accordance with their desires despite the fact that they lacked the access or the expertise to change it themselves. I link this approach to agency to the rise of consumer movements in capitalist societies, and show how the virtual world of TERA can serve as an example for other situations in the physical world where contemporary technologies are used to both enable and constrain agency.</p>

Questing for Standards

2011 ◽  
pp. 81-97
Author(s):  
Mark G. Elwell
Keyword(s):  
Second Life ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Life Issues ◽  
Role Playing Game

This chapter reports on movements toward de facto standards for role playing games in the freely accessible and configurable shared virtual environment of Second Life. All users can not only freely join, but also construct and implement role playing games of their own design. Consequently, new games are constantly emerging, and others either persisting or failing. The resulting body of practice has implications for business, technological, and social dimensions of computer games. To elucidate these implications, this chapter presents the case of the Role Play Nexus, a venue created for role playing game designers, managers, and players to share experiences, questions, resources, and proposals for sustainable ventures and communities in Second Life. Issues, controversies, and problems are identified, and solutions and recommendations discussed. Source material is drawn from transcripts of public lectures, discussions and demonstrations, from interviews, and from participant observation.

scholarly journals “IT’S OVER 9000.” APEIRON NARRATIVE CONFIGURATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY MEDIASCAPE

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-94
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Idone Cassone
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Growth Process ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Individual Growth ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Internet Culture ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The Individual

Recently, a peculiar narrative configuration has developed and is spreading through the internet culture and new media. Characterised by a specific representation of the individual growth process, Apeiron narratives find their origin in pen & paper role-playing games, but it is only after the development of digital games and the diffusion of the Japanese cultural codex through the contemporary mediascape that they have become a coherent, autonomous and viral phenomenon. In the following pages, this narrative configuration will be described through a series of paradigmatic examples; its roots will be traced back to the peculiar traits of role-playing games, and the importance of recent digital adaptation will be highlighted. Finally, I will describe its diffusion beyond the domain of fictional text, hinting at possible environments for its diffusion.

scholarly journals Learning to Reflect in Online Fantasy Role-Playing Games

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-162
Author(s):  
Tunç D. Medeni ◽  
Kazunori Miyata ◽  
Mustafa Sağsan
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Reflective Learning ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Interviewing Techniques ◽  
Gaming Communities

The online role-playing games and their virtual communities, which are free and run by volunteers, attract much attention from business and academics, although studies on smaller gaming communities are still limited. One of these small online fantasy roleplaying communities, the world of Wold, is researched, using participant observation and Internet interviewing techniques within an e-research framework. After providing background information about the research, the paper then presents the conceptual framework, which consists of three main parts: (1) use of asynchronous communication tools for learning and reflection, (2) conceptualization of reflection, and (3) role of roleplaying and storytelling in reflection and learning. In the light of this framework, research findings about the learning and reflection that occurs at (1) intrapersonal, (2) personal and (3) interpersonal levels in online role-playing games will be discussed. The paper will then be concluded by research implications and limitations. It is hoped that, relating to learning in terms of developing sustainable virtual communities for reflective learning, this research will provide insights into the function of multiplayer games for serious purposes like learning and socialization, as well as the role of hard technology for soft purposes like reflective learning and practice.

scholarly journals The friends that game together: A folkloric expansion of textual poaching to genre farming for socialization in tabletop role-playing games

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Robert Underwood
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Fictional Narratives

Tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) are a folkloric form for creating and reaffirming community bonds and performing identity. Gaming is used to communicate and perform cultural capital and identity through fictional narratives, functioning as a form of community building and/or personal expression. With quotations from ethnographic research over the course of 2 years, including interviews with several groups of gamers and participant observation, I examine the ways that players create and affirm social bonds. I return to Michel De Certeau's idea of textual poaching, as adapted by Henry Jenkins, to contrast with it a new concept of genre farming. As both platform for and object of genre farming, RPGs allow players to display cultural competence, create and reaffirm social ties, and seek entertainment in a collaborative fashion.

Chapter 1: “I piss a lot of people off when I play dwarves like dwarves”: Race, Gender, and Critical Systems in Tabletop Role-Playing Games

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (13) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Antero Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Critical Systems ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Rule Sets ◽  
Role Playing Game

Background This chapter explores player interactions and engagement in tabletop role-playing game settings. Objective Particularly focusing on the intersection of gaming systems, virtual settings, and player interactions, this chapter seeks to explore how implicit systems shape individuals’ experiences and behaviors. Through this focus, the chapter intentionally draws parallels between informal gaming settings and classroom-based interactions. Setting Though this study makes specific connections to classroom pedagogies, data were collected from a multiyear ethnographic study of playing tabletop role-playing games with adult participants in informal learning environments. Data were collected from within public gaming cafes and shops. Research Design Participant observation within a role-playing game community served as the primary approach to this ethnographic study. In addition to fieldnote-based observation, interviews with players and archival analysis of gaming artifacts helped triangulate meaning-making at the gaming table. Analysis was conducted through an inductive coding approach that focused on player interactions, systems, and settings. Findings Cultural values, including racism and sexism, shaped player experiences at the table, based on systemic designs and textual guidance from game-related fiction. While games speak to broad possibilities for exploring race and gender, these constructs become limited through the layers of player beliefs, designed rule sets, and depictions within narratives. The emancipatory possibilities of ludic imagination are flattened by cultural norms that may oppress. Conclusions Broadening the findings from this study, this chapter concludes with classroom-based recommendations. If a contemporary approach to critical pedagogy depends on dialogue and cultural understanding, this chapter points to the limitations of confining such work to traditional classroom settings. Instead, it suggests that an interrogation of these systems, alongside youth, is a necessary step in critically oriented classrooms.

scholarly journals A Short History of Table-Talk and Live-Action Role-Playing in Japan: Replays and the Horror Genre as Drivers of Popularity

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 621-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn-Ole Kamm
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Horror Genre ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
Live Action

Background. The history of larp, live-action role-play, in Japan may be rather short but documents exponential growth in the entertainment sector as well as in educational gaming. Following trends of related forms of analog role-playing games, the horror genre functions as a motor of increasing popularity. Aim. This article explores the development of non-digital role-playing games in the Japanese context in light of the online video platform niconico popularizing horror role-playing and practical considerations of adopting the genre to live-action play. Method. Cyberethnographic fieldwork including participant observation at larps between 2015 and 2018 forms the data basis for this article, followed by qualitative interviews with larp organizers, larp writers, and designers of analog games as well as observations online in respective webforums. Results. Replays, novelized transcripts of play sessions, have been an entry point into analog role-playing in Japan since the 1980s. With the advent of video sharing sites, replays moved from the book to audio-visual records and a focus on horror games. Creating a fertile ground for this genre, the first indigenous Japanese larp rulebook built on this interest and the ease of access, namely that players do not need elaborate costumes or equipment to participate in modern horror. Discussion. The dominant form of larps in Japan are one-room games, that work well with horror mysteries and function as a low threshold of accessibility. Furthermore, the emotional impact of horror larps, the affective interaction between players and their characters, allows for memorable experiences and so continues to draw in new players and organizers.

scholarly journals ПРОФИЛАКТИКА АСОЦИАЛЬНОГО ПОВЕДЕНИЯ ПОДРОСТКОВ: ПОТЕНЦИАЛ СУБЪЕКТ-СУБЪЕКТНОГО ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЯ РОДИТЕЛЕЙ И ДЕТЕЙ

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Burilkina ◽  
Nelli Suprun
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Work ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
Psychological Training ◽  
The Family ◽  
Role Of Parents ◽  
Training Exercises

Раннее выявление психологических особенностей ребенка и неблагоприятных факторов воспитания могли бы способствовать коррекции его асоциального поведения, прежде всего созданием условий субъект-субъектного взаимодействия родителей и детей, необходимых для формирования полноценной личности. Изучено отношение родителей к психологическим тренингам как условию субъект-субъектного взаимодействия и способу профилактики асоциального поведения подростков. В первую очередь, были определены и практически подтверждены условия субъект-субъектного взаимодействия, такие как комплекс познавательных, динамичных и экспериментально-ролевых игр. Режим субъектного взаимодействия должен быть построен на гуманистических идеях, ориентирован на развитие субъектности ребенка в совместной деятельности с родителями. Через субъект-субъектное взаимодействие в системе профилактики асоциального поведения подростков определена ведущая роль родителей. Проанализированы сущность и содержание профилактики асоциального поведения подростков с позиции субъект-субъектного взаимодействия с родителями, предложена концепция профилактики асоциального поведения подростков путем субъект-субъектного взаимодействия родителей и детей. Анализ результатов эмпирического исследования позволил констатировать динамику ценностно-доверительного взаимодействия в семье, а реализация комплекса тренинговых упражнений в процессе субъект-субъектного взаимодействия – осуществить профилактику асоциального поведения подростков более эффективно.The relevance of the study is due to the fact that early identification of the child’s psychological characteristics and unfavorable situations of upbringing in the family could contribute to the correction of his asocial behavior, primarily by creating conditions for subject-subject interaction between parents and children, necessary for the formation of a full-fledged personality. The purpose of our study is to study the attitude of parents to psychological training as a condition of subjectsubject interaction, and a way to prevent asocial behavior of adolescents. In the study, first of all, the conditions of subject-subject interaction, such as a set of cognitive, active and experimental role-playing games, were determined and practically confirmed. The conditions should be based on humanistic ideas and aimed at developing the child’s own activity with the help of parents, in the mode of subject interaction. Also, in the system of prevention of asocial behavior of adolescents, the leading role of parents through subject-subject interaction is determined. The article analyzes the essence and content of prevention of asocial behavior of adolescents from the position of subject-subject interaction with parents. The concept of prevention of asocial behavior of adolescents by subject-subject interaction of parents and children was proposed. The analysis of the results of the empirical work allowed us to state the dynamics of value-trust interaction in the family, and the implementation of a set of training exercises, through subjectsubject interaction, ensured the effectiveness of prevention of asocial behavior of adolescents. The results of the study can be used by social educators, psychologists, and subject teachers, teachers of pedagogical universities in order to improve the process of subject-subject interaction between parents and children in the prevention of asocial behavior of adolescents.

scholarly journals Game Balance: Designed structure and consumer agency in an online game

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elizabeth Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Physical World ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Consumer Identity ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The North ◽  
Game World ◽  
Consumer Movements

<p>Massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) attract millions of people every year and are now a major industry. Using the internet, these games connect players and give them goals to pursue within virtual worlds. This thesis examines the early life of one such game, the North American version of TERA, based on participant observation on a player vs. player server. TERA’s players met and interacted within a virtual game world controlled by the company which developed the game, and although players constructed their own social groups and factions within this world they were constrained by software that they could not change. Everything from the combat rules to the physics of the environment was designed, and players could only take actions that were accounted for and allowed by that design.  However, TERA launched as one of many available MMORPGs which were competing for the attention of the same audience. Its players tended to be experienced and well-informed about the genre, and used their knowledge to evaluate and critique TERA both privately and in public forums. Aware that game companies’ chief concern was for profit, players exercised agency by embracing a consumer identity and pressuring developers in their own commercial terms. To retain players’ loyalty and continue receiving their fees, companies were obliged to appease their customers. This allowed players to see the game world develop and change in accordance with their desires despite the fact that they lacked the access or the expertise to change it themselves. I link this approach to agency to the rise of consumer movements in capitalist societies, and show how the virtual world of TERA can serve as an example for other situations in the physical world where contemporary technologies are used to both enable and constrain agency.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document