Nmc Summer2007

Pleasure, Play, Participation and Promise Socio-emotional dimensions of digital culture which are transforming the shape of new media literacies.

Virtual ethnographic research since 1995

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Machinima

The significance of affect in providing transformative moments in people’s online lives.

Pleasure and Play

Work vs. Play dichotomy: uneasy tensions

The opposite of play is not work, it is depression

(Brian Sutton-Smith)

Play: An Alternative Framing

Play motivates people to learn

Play can provide a context which allows for the cognitive and creative freedoms associated with open-ended experimentation.

A space in which experimentation is safe and possible

A space which allows possibilities of creative thinking , innovative problem solving , and

shifts in perspective

Snapshot of what teens are doing online just to play

‘ i try to be as verbose as possible. i try to use figures of speech , metaphors and alliterations . i try to make my language c o l o r f u l , detailed , full of unexpected turns and twists . just in general, a good read . ’ (Kitten)

Play allows opportunities to view situations or problems from various angles allowing one to pivot one’s mind to view the issue from myriad directions ( Galarneau)

Manga

For the eye,

I was attempting to

indicate her thinking

about Jether

and didn't want to draw

his whole face. -_-

There's a level of emotional content in manga that normal comics don't have in the eyes and the hands. It makes use of subtle imagery, sometimes, to tease the emotions. Such as the randomly popping up flower petals in romantic scenes, an effect I mean to make use of myself... and have a character glare and say "cut that out", but that's not the point. I used this by sticking the feathers in. Anime has an intensity to it that I like. Plus manga comics usually have decent plots.

Fusing identities: exploring aspects of self through fictional characters

‘… I’ve found that since I’ve been using her as one of my main characters, I have been…well… rubbing off on myself, in a way.

I’m more outgoing than I used to be, and Jandalf’s creation and use does figure in that..’.

(Jandalf)

When I am in a poor mood, Zhou Wei gets angry … he tends to lose a tad of control over his magic and is often just short and annoying (Percirion) You can tell when people are feeling depressed. Suddenly they’ll have accidents in the role-playing so that they get all the attention on them. (Hobbitness)

“ As a spectator I am entertained by my own performance”

“ Becoming a character in a story is the ultimate narrative experience” (Marie-Laure Ryan)

My close friend and colleague thinks that since starting this course and spending time as Denver (my avatar), I have “blossomed” offline .

My entire identity has changed – my perceptions about who I am, the way I think and interact, and the way I see the world now - has changed as a consequence of the journey Angela has encouraged us to take

Identity Play

aspects of the body: gender, age, race, ethnicity

disclose and reveal emotions

affiliation and relationships

an intertextual self

storylines and discourses

Identity Transformations: the authentic expert (Gee) the mantle of the expert (Heathcote) roleplaying the “Other” (Lacan)

Thinking like a historian becomes that transformative factor: this is a participatory practice, even if only in the play environment.

And once the learner has the sense of being a participant in history and and the investigation of history, the door is opened to learning and thinking critically about it.

I roleplay at being famous

Character name: Lady Elianna (aka Lady Eloessa or Turelie)

Description: She is one of the few dark-headed among the elves. Her hair is one of her main features; as well as her eyes, which are usually brown but sparkle green when she is angry or startled. She looks rather young, but, being an elf, has that luck. *sticks tongue out at all mortals * She is only about 6'0 and is considered a little short for an elf.

Homeland: The Realm that she calls home is Mirkwood, but she does a lot of traveling, and can often be found in the Realms of Rivendell and Lothlorien. Her home before she came to Middle Earth was the Isle of Elenna (Numenor).

Weapons and Skills: She loves to fight and is skilled (as all elves are) in the bow and arrow, and also in using the sword. She will almost never back down from a fight, and is willing to lay down her life for those she loves. She holds the powers of being able to easily disguise herself as someone/something else, mind reading, and she can speak with those closest to her without words. She also bears the gift, at times, of foresight, but she cannot predict her own future.

my favorite part... is bringing my character to life

Lalaith Elerinna is my favorite character.

Lalaith: NO!!!! You touch him, you'll die before you ever see your life. You can trust your mind to it! Back up now or I shall throw my sword into your neck!

thats her warrior side. :-) hehe

now here’s her romance

Lalaith: My heart weeps at the si ght of your tears, tell me Tregallien, wha t makes you cry so?

I have already become quite articulate through using Zhou Wei's intelligent speech(tm). To do this, I read a lot and see how people of my character's 'stature' and 'personality' talk, and I simply pick and copy pieces into Zhou Wei’s speech

Subversive performances of gender, fantasy and desire

Fantasies of Femininity

I’ve never had a boyfriend, as I said, and there's really nothing else to my romantic life. Jandalf is way ahead of me romantically, simply because she’s older. I do imagine I’ll get married and all that someday …

and so I paired Jandalf up with my favourite Star Wars male character. Heck, Obi-Wan always was my favourite character period, even before I saw the prequels. I really liked him as an old guy, and when TPM came out…well. Good-looking, too. That’s always a bonus. Heehee.

Play and Risk Taking: The Cost of Failure is Low

I think it is important that I tell you that I am thoroughly loving being every different ‘me’ that I can find, and that I don’t mind taking risks in cyberspace. If I stuff up, there’s always the .q. I don’t take new risks like that in real life; I need to retain my reputation you know! Reputations don't stick as well; if you make a true jerk outta yourself, you can make a new name, start from scratch.

However, irl, you're stuck. ;)

Play as Participation

Interaction as key to engagement and learning underscores the importance of framing the appeal of interactive media within a larger conversation that considers the movement away from passive, spectator-oriented understandings of both education and media .

Participatory Culture: Informal Mentorship

Sometimes Zhou Wei is taken along with lord Xian Jing to diplomacy... sometimes he is invited to a party... Sometimes people come up and talk to him... Sometimes he shimmies over. Some of the game masters are given historical characters... those who really play them according to history I love to play with, because it just makes you glow. My first interaction with historical characters was Yuan Shu, the brother of Yuan Shao. Yuan Shu conducted a fire attack on a city and killed 20,000 innocents. I still love to role-play with them, because it can get so interesting. Sure, I can get angry with the characters (Die, Shu, die) but we smooth it over. Vendettas can be so much fun ^_^

43 reviews ! Contributions matter

I have had some experiences that have made me laugh a lot and others that have moved me to tears. One of these things was the real life death of Luo. In Heroes of Chaos , last game we received an announcement that famed member and role-player Luo had died in a fatal car accident- the other person was drink-driving. He was legendary- I shed my own tears then a whole 4 sims together mourned his loss.

But the real shock came later when Luo appears, and announces his brother had panicked and told them he had died, when he had only broken his arm/ribs. I was crying, but I was also laughing in relief . Even one of the coldest, so called meanest Admins on there hugged me in tears before we discovered he was still alive. Luo was probably one of the most emotional experiences of my life .

The Joy of Participation

Emotional Investment = Engagement

Mutual engagement around a joint enterprise = ‘a privileged locus for the creation of knowledge’ Wenger (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity

Play as Innovation

Play allows experimentation outside of limitations of physical practicality or other opportunity barriers

Innovation in art, writing, research, film-making, game design

Nathan (11 years old)

3D Animations: Frontier Technologies

Relations of power are indeed made and re-made within texts of enjoyment and rituals of relaxation and abandonment.

Pleasure and Power

Fun = Empowerment

The Promise of Participation

Having fun

Making connections – social, professional, business

Learning, developing, self as identity project

Developing relationships

Being understood

Belonging

Being noticed

Feeling special

Winifred Warburton, 99, said that recording the song was the best day of her life

Transforming New Media Literacies

Leadership – communication, conflict resolution, handling group dynamics, praise, support, scaffolding newbie learning, new forms of negotiation, maintaining community longevity

Communication – from linguistics to multimodal semiotics

Multimodal literacies – understanding how meaning is made at the intersection of semiotic modes

Identity – risk taking, play, reputation management, consciousness of lexical resources, the personal as political

Storytelling and narrative

Code-cracking, hacking, innovation, ‘cool hunting’

Spaces which allow subversive play, resistance, disruption, crossing boundaries, the insertion of self, parody, satire, dialogue, critique, fantasy and performance of desire

Transforming Pedagogies