Amazing TED Talks.

and more at:

http://sugatam.blogspot.com/

Language and Representation: You have just discovered Searing Gorge! W00t!

Acronym: A word formed from the initial letters of other words. Hence as v. trans., to convert into an acronym (chiefly pass. and as pa. pple.). Also acro* nymic a.; acro* nymically adv.; acronyming vbl. n.; acronymize v. trans. (from OED Online)

Internet slang: Such terms typically originated with the purpose of saving keystrokes, and many people use the same abbreviations in text messages. They are also very commonly used in instant messaging. The terms often appear in lower case, with capitals reserved for emphasis; for example, the pronoun "I" often appears simply as "i". People also use "u" to mean "you," and "r" to mean "are." Much of the time people do not use apostrophes or punctuation at all.
Like most jargon, Internet slang / leet speak aggrandizes authors and readers, causing them to appear to have specialized knowledge of a complex medium. However, there are cases where using Internet slang is considered ridiculous, due to association with the stereotype of the internet n00b.
Some examples of internet slang are: "lol" meaning "laugh out loud", "rofl" meaning "rolling on the floor laughing" , "lmao" meaning "laughing my ass off" (or, as a combination of these two: "roflmao" meaning "rolling on floor laughing my ass off"), "omg" meaning "oh my god"
It also includes numbers with a similar pronunciation of a word or part of it (e.g.: 2, can be "too" or "to"; w8, means "wait"; etc)
Leet is a form of internet slang which uses numbers/characters instead of letters. (from Wikipedia)

Or, a clip (made using tools from The Movies) from my classmate Beth that really says it all about how subcultures appropriate images, language, technology, and politics to express new forms:

Terms that have been especially key for me in my WoW learning experience:

• FTW: "for the win," suggested as one of the most annoying Internet abbreviations around. I also just experienced "FTL" as I was playing an Alliance character on a PvP (player-versus-player) server and I saw this "screamed" at me in text, "Alli FTL, Horde FTW!!" as a level "???" (so much higher than me that I can't even see the exact number) player killed me and laughed. I made a : ( and "cried." [I have also learned these "emoticons" are passe. The new ones are read not sideways, but straight-on, e.g. a raised eyebrow is: o.0 ]


• all of the various abbreviations for the quests, evil bosses, zones, etc. in World of Warcraft (itself--wow): e.g. SFK, DM/VC (one of these links is informative, by the way--btw--, one of them is not-- this is typical of the instruction I would often find as I searched for support).


• lol: so absorbed into culture that when one types "lol" into the chat and commands to have the character "say" this outloud, it makes the character laugh. So far, other commonly known Internet slang abbreviations, e.g. wtf, brb, and ttyl, have not elicited swearing, a "hold-on" gesture, or a "goodbye wave," respectively. However, I say all of this because I am interested in how representative these systems are becoming. lol = laugh out loud = a command for the avatar to laugh in the environment. And all of these meanings exist at the same time. A side note, a few months ago I had to explain to a 50-something member of my family that "lol" did not mean "lots of luck." I think it is at these multiple, simultaneous levels of representation that the most significant generation gaps are taking place.


• W00t (those are zeros in the middle, by the way). Voted by users as the most popular word that should be introduced to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. And yes, it is frequently used in WoW chats. As is "ding" when one "levels," and after someone announces "ding," it is customary to say "grats" or more commonly used, "gratz," as alternate spelling is a hallmark of this language system.

Addiction: World of Warcrack

• In a short amount of time (about 3 - 4 weeks), I have gone from playing zero digital games (okay, I admit, I have a mild Solitaire habit) to playing World of Warcraft 2 - 3 hours a day. I have brought two characters up significant levels. Bentley, my gnome, is almost to level 30, and I easily took GenY up to level 17 (opting for the "expert" route, which I will discuss later).
• The game has certainly been acknowledged as addictive by experts, parents, and the general public, and it has become a part of a possible larger new problem of Internet/digital addiction.
• Some initial investigations:

Wayne, a classmate, notes that the maker of Runescape, has issued a series of tips on how to avoid addiction to its game: Jagex response to Runescape's role in addictive behavior

An editorial from Australian news on a teenager's WoW addiction (interestingly, in three of my guilds, I have encountered Australian and New Zealander players):

I should also say that my family has struggled with this very issue of a family member addicted to an MMORPG, so my father recommended a few books to me after I discussed this project with him, and I found a couple on my own. I have also had several high school students (in my role as an English teacher) who have been addicted to these games to the extent where it affected their performance in school. These were the most informative books, in my opinion:

• Plugged In: A Clinicians' and Families Guide to Online Video Game Addiction (T. R. Waite)
• Caught in the Net: How to Recognize the Signs of Internet Addiction--and a Winning Strategy for Recovery (K. S. Young)

I am really interested, especially with respect to how games' addictive properties might overlap with their motivating ones, in what exactly makes certain games so compelling.

• A study at Stanford's School of Medicine has recently proposed that certain games activate the reward regions of men's brains more than women's.
• Maressa Hecht Orzack has been specifically studying the addictive properties of World of Warcraft and is the founder and coordinator of the Computer Addiction Service. An article about her in the Harvard Gazette details the symptoms as she has identified them of generalized computer addiction.

Visual Table of Contents for Upcoming Posts

Topics in Learning in World of Warcraft: A Visual Table of Contents

Two goals here:

• I want to start narrowing my focus from World of Warcraft play in general to the specific learning activities involved. I would also like to begin matching my original intentions (as loose as they may have been) to my new discoveries and findings.


• There has been some specific feedback on the blog that the posts are just too darn long! This is probably true. I would like to keep the posts as brief as possible from now on and try to contain topics within more discrete blocks.

These are my areas of focus (there will definitely be overlap between these)

Gender: Are all boys warriors and Are all girls night elves?

Language and Representation: You have just discovered the Searing Gorge! W00t!

The Body: This is your body on WoW

Addiction: World of Warcrack

Strategic Systems: The economy, talent specing, and organizing information

Groups: Guilds, Parties, Raids, and Duels

Context, Schema, and Patterns: Why does every zone have a mine?

Okay, I'm Really Into It

I haven't posted for a while because I've been playing the game. A lot. A quick summary of what has happened since the last posting:

1. I started exploring, in general, a lot more. I created several different characters, of different classes and races, and genders, and I started them all on different servers. I have also started honing the specific learning outcomes that I see as fruitful as investigating as I play further.

2. Parallel with this exploring, I starting discovering more ways that the resources for WoW were not relevant only for my investigation into this project, but I started using them for actual improved performance in the game. This was a key transition.

I began travelling back and forth between observing the play and becoming a real player.

3. As I did this, I said to myself, "Was I doing this to understand the culture and to experience full immersion? or really was it because I liked playing?" A lot. Thoughts on what this feels like: Patty Hearst, Gonzo journalism, and the documentary Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale.

4. Although I have made about four or five characters (really, I can't count someone that's only at level three a full character), I have focused down to two: Bentley, a gnome rogue, currently at level 29, and Geny (I think of also as GenY), a night elf rogue, at level 17. Here are some images of my "toons":

5. The next series of posts will attempt to organize the thoughts and documents I have been amassing as I have been "leveling" and going further into the strange World of Warcraft. Much as Cervantes enters into his Part II of Don Quixote with a new consciousness of having participated in the text of Don Quixote after its publication, I am now both a participant and a researcher. Hopefully I will be able to deconstruct the chief focus-- learning.

Shared Involvement: I Become a Holy Dragon

On Friday night (yes, this is what I was doing), once I got to about level 7, I wasn't able to kill bad guys in the same way I had done in earlier levels. I had also left my starting point, Northshire, and traveled south to Goldshire and other places around the map. Also, the bad guys, or "mobs," as I learned they are called, could now attack me unprovoked, which frustrated me. A visitor to this site via a comment (another opportunity for communal game playing, I think) has directed me to thottbot.com, where I found some information on some of the beasts giving me a hard time (although not really specifics on why these beasts were suddenly so much more menacing than in the previous town); for example, the Rabid Dire Wolf. And building on my spacial skill discussion from a previous post, I also found an interesting mapping tool that uses the GoogleMaps API, called MapWoW.

But as when I first started, I found myself in a new area and getting killed and lost a lot. The Federation of American Scientists (2006) discuss the need for games to push players to the edge of their abilities, but they also discuss the variety of research on how challenges may relate to motivation.
(an image of my character lost and dead. again.)

So presented with frustration, and not quite ready to ask for help in fighting what I was fairly sure were one-on-one challenges (I planned on getting help by learning more on how to attack from posting boards and wikis), I started to explore the territory by running as fast as my character could on the marked paths. The landscape was interesting and vivid and created a narrative just in the changing surroundings. As the landscape became increasingly deserted and menacing (with names like Moonbrook, Duskwood, and the Dead Acre; one area reminded me of a scene in Julie Taymor's film rendition of Titus Andronicus), my feelings of alienation from this bizarre game community increased.

I eventually wound up in Stormwind City, a place where clearly high level players met to duel, trade, and participate in other activities that I have not yet uncovered. Because there were no bad guys, I was able to complete a minimal quest, but mostly I just wandered around in the place, which resembled Las Vegas or Orlando versions of Venice or Florence.

I was approached by a male character (maybe a warlock like Simona?) named "Mooners", who said "Hello" to me. Our conversation then proceeded in a very strange way. I asked if Mooners wanted something, and he said, "Okay." I asked if he was doing something in particular, and that elicited another cryptic response, like, "Yes." Eventually, after a botched attempt to trade, Mooners "mooned" me and I used the "emote" function in the chat to applaud. When doing this, Simona got a voice--I could hear her clapping hands and a certain kind of sarcastic laughing.

Another character approached, named Leetwarhead. He was a dwarf or a gnome, of a higher level than Mooners, and he was a hunter because he had a pet with him, a large tiger. He asked if we would like to join his guild; I explained that I was new, so I would have to learn some things, and he said that of course, the guild would be there to help.

He took over the conversation, saying, "Lets get to business." He directed Mooners and me to sit (this took me a while to do) and he gave us some advice. Mostly he gave Mooners advice about not going to websites to buy gold because Mooners seemed interested in how to get money (for his character, I imagine). In the middle of the conversation, another character, from a different guild, also with a companion creature, approached, and taunted Leetwarhead and Mooners. Mooners called this other person gay and made kissing noises at him. They continued taunting each other for a while, so I figured out how to make Simona feign sleep. Leetwarhead understood my attempt at a subtle social joke, did not get involved in Mooners' activity with this other character, and tried to bring the conversation back to order.

He indicated how to chat publicly (this is good etiquette to do, apparently), how to chat over the guild's channel (after we joined), and how to call for the guild's help in a quest. He contacted the guild leader and got a "tabard" for me to show proof of guild membership. He had a nice conversational style, addressing many of his points by beginning with my name (this also just made clear to whom he spoke as many people were "talking" in the chat).

When we were finished, after about 8 minutes, he said, "This concludes this guild recruitment and indoctrination session." It was very evangelical, or like what 1930s socialists might say after finding a new comrade. And somehow, after the chat, I had a new little buddy flying on my shoulder.

So I am now part of a guild! The guild is called The Holy Dragons (I think this is a fantastic name because of its paradoxical nature and because I have an interest in hagiography, and it reminds me of St. George lore). This is the guild's website: The Holy Dragons on Guild Portal.

During the "business meeting" with Leetwarhead (which my brother informs me should be spelled 1337; it refers to "leet speak") and Mooners (I imagine this refers to his interest in mooning?), I couldn't help but think of a passage from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics:

. . . the face you see in your mind is not the same as others see. When two people interact, they usually look directly at one another, seeing their partner's features in vivid detail. Each one also sustains a constant awareness of his or her own face, but this mind-picture is not nearly so vivid; just a sketchy arrangement . . . a sense of shape . . . a sense of general placement. Something as simple and basic -- as a cartoon. This, when you look at a photo or a realistic drawing of a face -- you see it as the face of another. But when you enter the world of the cartoon -- you see yourself. (35-36)

(It's much better in the book because of course it is told with pictures and text-- but I feel funny about pirating from such a fine book. Check it out in the library or bookstore though.)

In the conversation in Stormwind City, however, I viewed the two "men" that I was talking to as cartoons, but fully elaborated cartoons in the virtual space of the game (not simplified, abstracted cartoons in my mind as McCloud suggests I view my own self in normal interactions). And I definitely was conscious of my own "real" identity at my desk at home; instead of sensing my own self as "a sketchy arrangement," my real identity was highly vivid in my mind. It was almost the reverse of what McCloud describes as happening in a real world interaction-- the people I talked to were representations and the most real figure was myself. I think this is a highly significant difference in the social interaction, but I'm not yet sure of the impact.

The Dramatic Learning Curve

1. Since installing the game on Wednesday, creating a character, and figuring out how to move around, I have played for about 15 - 18 hours (collectively). This is way more than the "one hour per week" that my course requires. However, I'm not sure that I would be able to understand "involvement" (Calleja, 2007) without spending some time, at least initially, and really, this game is pretty complicated. I've really spent this amount of time, though, because I've wanted to. Kind of.

2. I have made another character, Simona (named after Simone De Beauvoir and Nina Simone--I know, I'm an Uberdork), a warlock, because I wanted to experiment with her hybrid characteristics.

3. I have gone on 6 or 7 quests, including chopping the head off of someone (!), killing wolves (this really disturbed me, mostly because I like dogs, and see no real problem with wolves), and winning one quest only after another player killed some "deviants" next to my corpse as I lurked (as a spirit) fraudulently and snuck in to steal the loot once the coast was clear. I have received training in a number of spells that I have passing knowledge of (going onto the player forums and information sites is on my task list) and I have not joined up with anyone except in extremely informal ways. (I am still incredibly awkward at communicating through the game's chatting and social mechanisms, so when I helped another player slay someone--an artificial bad guy, not a real player--I could only silently stare back when the player gracefully bowed in appreciation.) My next big "to do" on my game task list is to be social; coincidentally, a task that is always on my "to do" list in the real world.

4. I clearly have learned things. However, I think the biggest learning gain so far is how to play the game. And once I started learning this, the curve was rapid and rewarding. My successes built on each other and were certainly motivating and engaging. Again, though, really the additional engagement has just brought me more into the game. And several times I have come to understand why several writers in the video game literature have compared this type of extended play to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's "flow," but I am still not convinced. Something about playing WoW feels a little... for lack of a better word, dirty. I don't mean obscene, but just impure. It should seem obvious enough, but the virtual world is not the same as the real world. The type of flow experience in the real world has certain elements that are not reproduced in even the most vivid virtual world. David Rakoff writes of the possibilities of experiencing flow when doing something as comparably trivial as video games, making crafts, in his essay "Martha My Dear" (in his book of essays Don't Get Too Comfortable, which also includes an essay about another game-- a real world scavenger hunt. One may also hear the flow/crafts essay on the "Meet the Pros" episode, Act 3, of This American Life). And it is not the triviality or pointlessness of (many) video games (I'm not speaking here of video games that have nontrivial, valuable outcomes) that I object to in not meeting Csikszentmihalyi's definition, but that it lacks something of the real. I am willing to keep an open mind though. When I woke up this morning to take a picture of my new acquisition, an imp, for Simona, named Lazyap, I was definitely amused by the chicken running around randomly in the village, a dwarf character at level 70 awaiting a turn at a duel (maybe?), and a number of other elements all taking place in virtual rain, which was a nice surprise.

5. There are certain structures in the game that remind me to monitor the amount of time I spend in the world. As it becomes night (although curiously, three hours later than Eastern Standard Time), the virtual environment darkens, and there are rewards for eating, drinking (although virtually), and resting at "inns" and rest stops. At 1:30 a.m. last night these features acted not only as reminders but as cautions that I need to stop and reflect on what exactly I had been doing for so many hours.