TL Taylor \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Contemporary Play: How MMOGs Can Inform Game Studies<\/p>\n
Everquest info recap, for the three people in the audience who were not familiar with EQ (the advantage of game conferences).<\/p>\n
The act of play includes play with indeterminate rules; malleable gameplay
\nEQ as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153boundary objects\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Bowker & Star, Sorting Things Out (1999) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0153objects that both inhabit several commuities of practice and satisfy the informational requirements of each of them\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 plastic enough to adapt to local needs and constraints of parties employing them, yet robust enough to remain a common identity across sites.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Example EQ communities of practice: designers, players, legal departments, marketing, customer services, etc<\/p>\n
One is not born an Everquest player, one becomes one (riff on De Beauvoir) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c unpack how people become players:
\nFormal rules of the game<\/p>\n
Layers that we learn play (what makes up how we play beyond the formal rules):
\nTechnological: interfaces & controllers, system requirements & use knowledge, avatars, communication structures, open\/closed architectures
\nWe configure systems, systems configure us back. Science-Technology studies.
\nValue notions implied in each of these (e.g., avatars as gendered value notions).<\/p>\n
Institutional: EULAs & TOS, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153essence of the game,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d game management & customer service, dispute handling\/protest, subscription & distribution models, IP law
\nWOW: Warrior Protest \u00e2\u20ac\u201c when the protest occurred, a system wide message from admins: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Attention: Gathering on a realm with intent to hinder gameplay is considered griefing and will not be tolerated.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Communities: play styles and strategies, reputation & social capital, group affiliations, distributed & collective intelligence, player identity, ? of legitimate out-game \u00e2\u20ac\u0153intrusions\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nTrain \u00e2\u20ac\u201c pulling a ton of monsters; no mention in the manual but player community create rules or norms [JR: or ethics?]; make sense of trains only through community; as points of humor, memory, and community feeling
\nGuilds and social organization: social labor; reference EQ + Sopranos paper (trust, responsibility, and reputation)
\nArgue that it is crucial to the play of the game
\nThe Collective Intelligence (Jenkins?) of EQ (3rd party websites, etc.) Alakazam website.
\nTL argues that the game is unplayable without 3rd party sites. High-end play heavily relies on these kinds of sites. Change of game rules proper in response: e.g., maps now present in EQ.<\/p>\n
Heterogeneity of play:
\nPowergamers v. casual, family and friends, play histories and competencies, technical resources and skills.<\/p>\n
Fundamentally different ways to play even among \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcpower\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 players.<\/p>\n
Socio-technical artifact \u00e2\u20ac\u201c encoding not only forms of play, but player subjectivity itself
\nBoundary object \u00e2\u20ac\u201c game is constructed and enacted among multiple actors<\/p>\n