ABSTRACT
This book is not only limited to what happens within the game world, it also looks at what is happening at the game’s periphery. A MMORPG like World of Warcraft is embedded in a network of a thousand satellite websites, web forums and other web applications. Game researchers Kurt Squire and Constance Steinkuehler have noticed that while there is a growing body of research on virtual worlds, there appears to be ‘a paucity of research on [MMORPGs] as bona fide cultures […] – sites constituted through language and practice both within the game (e.g., virtual social interaction and joint activity) and beyond (e.g., discussion of game-related issues on player-driven web sites)’ (2006: 178–179). Research – most notably from the social science, STS and Human-Computer Interaction studies perspectives – has since produced several enriching works on MMORPG and/or virtual worlds in general (see Taylor 2006c; Malaby 2009; Pearce & Artemesia 2009; Bainbridge 2010; Nardi 2010; Chen 2011). In terms of culture, this book approaches World of Warcraft primarily from a participatory culture perspective, which has media and fan culture studies at its roots. From this perspective, the view is that consumers do not simply consume but participate as (co-)producers too. In participatory cultures, fans of cultural objects (like Harry Potter or Star Trek) not only engage in creative productions, they do so in an environment where creating and sharing these creative productions is seen as defining social connections (Jenkins 1992, 2006; Gray, Sandvoss & Harrington 2007). World of Warcraft is not just a game, it constitutes a culture in which meaning is developed and negotiated between players as well as between players and the developers.
