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Players and Avatars: Against Identification Mia Consalvo MIT
okay maybe not against  all  identification
but game fiction plays an important role in nudging players towards or away from different kinds of identification, with and without avatars
 
Story 1: Women in  World of Warcraft  (and  Age of Conan)
How do women reflect on their avatars and gear?
Methodologically speaking… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Women MMO players ,[object Object],[object Object]
Women MMO players ,[object Object]
Women MMO players ,[object Object]
Male characters? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
 
Desire for greater customization options in WoW ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
But players not willing to switch games just for greater avatar choices
the issue of gear (or its lack)
Audri “it’s a high fantasy game, and if you look at high-fantasy art and you know anything about it, the women are always skimpily dressed. That’s just how it is. It’s never bothered me.”
Raven “I sort of feel like it should bother me.  But it doesn’t.”
[object Object]
[object Object]
 
 
Women and Avatars ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Story 2 The Caretakers of  Faunasphere
A “Casual” MMO Game ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
 
 
Data ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Who Played ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Prior Experience ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Not so casual ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Against typical player types? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Gaming Fiction/ Categories of Analysis ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
 
 
 
Caretakers, not avatars ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Player Reactions ,[object Object],[object Object]
Player Reactions ,[object Object]
 
From avatar to caretaker ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
 
 
Story 3: Social games: Or, how invested am I in my Facebook avatar while I’m busy using my friends?
The project: what’s social about social games?
The researchers
The Challenge ,[object Object]
80+ games/50 FB for Charts
What do I mean by “social”? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Types of Interactions Found ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Surrounded by your friends ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Surrounded by your friends ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Surrounded by your friends ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
 
Gifting
Gifts ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Gifts as Potlatch ,[object Object],[object Object]
Gifts as Potlatch ,[object Object]
Gifts as Potlatch ,[object Object]
Gifts as Potlatch ,[object Object]
Gifts as Potlatch ,[object Object]
Gifts as Potlatch ,[object Object]
Gifts as Potlatch ,[object Object]
Gifts as reciprocation/barter ,[object Object],[object Object]
Gifts as reciprocation/barter ,[object Object]
Gifts as reciprocation/barter ,[object Object]
Gifts as attacks? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Peripheral Gifting ,[object Object]
City of Wonder
Coffee Bar
Critical Gifting ,[object Object]
Critical Gifting ,[object Object],[object Object]
Is friendship only about trading stuff? ,[object Object]
Is friendship only about trading stuff? ,[object Object]
Visiting ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Won’t you be my neighbor? ,[object Object]
Ravenwood Fair
Chocolatier: Sweet Society
Personalized Spaces
Taking actions is variable ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Act on existing world ,[object Object]
Act on existing world ,[object Object]
But usually leave no trace
Change the existing world ,[object Object]
Change the existing world ,[object Object]
Cityville franchises
Fish World
Improve on the existing world ,[object Object]
Improve on existing world
Improve on the existing world ,[object Object]
Interactions with friends’ avatars ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Challenges & Competitions ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
NBA Legend
Texas HoldEm Poker
Real Time 2 player challenges ,[object Object]
Asynchronous challenges ,[object Object]
Fashion & Popularity Contests
Competition & Glory ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Communication ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Synchronous Communication ,[object Object],[object Object]
Synchronous Communication ,[object Object]
Synchronous Communication ,[object Object]
How social are social games? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
The illusion of sociality? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Sociality ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
How do avatars fit in?
 
 
 
 
Social (Network) Games ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Story 4:  Players & ethical limitations
Ethical choices, players,  and avatar identification ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Ethical choices, players,  and avatar identification ,[object Object],[object Object]
How do players play? ,[object Object],[object Object]
Evil or just selfish? ,[object Object],[object Object]
Breaking a contract
Player intent can trump fiction
Can even MMOGs posit player identification with avatars?
Conclusions ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
thanks! ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

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Players and Avatars: Against Identification

Editor's Notes

  1. My past work on players- some has dealt with avatars and identification specifically, other work has not. I’m re-examining it here for this talk, to see what can be learned from a meta-analysis of sorts. My ideas about identification- Althusser and interpellation- hailed as a subject, always/already; as well as Butler’s notion of performativity and the subject- bodies that come to matter over time- we call ourselves into being through our actions.
  2. And the structures of the games are important as well– they shape what we can do; although we still have freedom (to an extent) within those bounds. Sim to Foucault- thanks Felan!- and technologies of the self. We can play within the boundaries, find what works for ourselves.
  3. My earliest work focused on women gamers- 10 years ago a somewhat rare species. Talk today looks at two different sets of female players, separated by only several years, but seemingly light years apart in terms of how the market perceives them. Some commonalities between them as well as some differences.
  4. Anecdotal evidence as well as other research that women prefer female avatars; Virtual census study- female playable characters in top selling games is less than 20%; MMOGs- used to be a high point of female players; now not so much; but we wanted to get a baseline of how female – adult- players felt about their avatars and gear. Gear is functional in MMOGs, although it is also aesthetic; how did women react to gear- not just chain mail bikinis but all kinds of gear.
  5. Main is the central avatar; the one a woman plays the most; alts were more varied; experimenting with different race/class combinations; starting stories; mule accounts; in WoW race/class are fixed (note that FFXI does NOT have fixed job system for avatars- leads to greater persistence of avatar use; also a sep charge for each avatar used- again a system constraint) Women tend to have more avatars than male players; hardest of the hardcore; most loyal to the game (least likely to report planning to quit)
  6. Living ‘through’- for some women, such avatars tended to ‘take on a life of their own’ and developed personalities that they had not planned, or felt that they were not entirely responsible for. It could be a race thing, or a class thing, or some undefined essence; but several women mentioned their avatars having distinct personalities- even if they weren’t explicit role players.
  7. Even though women didn’t see a problem playing a fantasy race, or imaginary class- such as mage- they still had a drive to create characters that reflected their gender.
  8. Identity not the issue- rather it is design that is the problem.
  9. Sexual dimorphism was mentioned by a couple of women; and has gained attention in games media. Interestingly, male blood elves were changed from original design to be more bulky/masculine- had been read as too ‘gay’ initially.
  10. LOTRO had clothing that can be put “over” gear and is decorative, allowing players to “wear” something visually more pleasing to them while still maintaining the stats boost of particular pieces of (ugly) gear.
  11. Raiders in particular saw gear as “work clothes” that, even if ugly, were appropriate to wear in particular situations. “off duty’ time- they could wear what they wanted.
  12. Took pride in having/earning particular gear; as well as being able to craft certain items.
  13. SL- even less gender switching than in MMOGs- our study found only 8% of women used a male avatar;
  14. And SL avatars are hypersexualized, by both men and women, even though you can be ‘anything you want’ in the VW- even non humanoid.
  15. BFG folks saw my paper, contacted me; we talked about me doing some research for them; this study was borne; work on with Jason Begy- another caveat– another perspective can help you see things you’d overlook.
  16. Caveats: I dislike playing this game! Painfully boring :p
  17. FS Refugees
  18. From FFXI to Faunasphere to Farmville/Frontierville?
  19. How much are friends worth? 25 diamonds!
  20. Farmville before I got going, but note the relative simplicity: plant crops; decorate farm; acquire animals and trees
  21. FameTown: when friends visit, they increase the rating of any movie currently in production Cityville franchises allow for friends’ personalization efforts to persist across their friends’ spaces
  22. It Girl, Big City Life allow challenges that test players based on stats, items, cliques, and so on BCL allowed voting on hottest outfits, across friends and strangers
  23. Ethical decision making games (mass effect, dragon age, fable, infamous, kotor, etc) How to players choose a path? How can ethical theories help us understand the choices we make as players?
  24. Avatar as extension of their own ethical selfhood– closely linked in terms of gameplay choices; can’t really separate- this is a different person/character who can try this or that– maybe on SECOND playthrough- similar to cheating behaviors after having finished game ‘once through on my own first’
  25. How are we seeing what we want to see/