ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the notion of playing “alone together” is investigated by focusing on individualized group play. As game researchers Nicolas Ducheneaust, Eric Nickell, Robert Moore and Nick Yee point out, many players prefer to be surrounded by other players rather than actually playing with them (Ducheneaut et al. 2006: 4). Here, I want to extend the notion of playing alone together to include playing against other players in ways that are not universally accepted and can even be considered anti-social. In the battlefields of negotiation discussed here, power between players is at stake, as players use everything at their disposal – including some activities deemed deviant according to established social codes of practice. The question here is how these tactics influence playing World of Warcraft for the stakeholders involved.
