Presentation given at the annual meeting of the American Educational Researchers Association (AERA) 2011, New Orleans, LA

1. Mark
Chen,
U
of
WA,
@mcdanger,
markchen@uw.edu
Moses
Wolfenstein,
UWisc,
@mosesoperandi,
wolfenstein@wisc.edu
Sean
Duncan,
Miami
U,
@scd,
sean.duncan@muohio.edu
Rebecca
Reynolds,
Rutgers,
rebecca.reynolds@gmail.com
Leah
Bricker,
U
of
WA,
lbricker@u.washington.edu
Philip
Bell,
discussant,
U
of
WA,
pbell@u.washington.edu
SOCIALLY
SITUATED
EXPERT
PRACTICE
IN
AND
AROUND
GAMING
Google Doc for AERA2011: http://j.mp/fy8Jw1

2. SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF EXPERT
PRACTICE IN ONLINE GAMING
Mark
Chen
University
of
Washington
@mcdanger
markchen@uw.edu
This work is funded by the National Science Foundation through the Science of Learning Center program under grant SBE-0354453.

3. World of Warcraft
§ MMOG
§ 6
million
subscribers
in
2006

4. World of Warcraft
§ MMOG
§ 6
million
subscribers
in
2006
§ Fantasy
with
races
/
classes

5. World of Warcraft
§ MMOG
§ 6
million
subscribers
in
2006
§ Fantasy
with
races
/
classes
§ Complete
quests,
kill
monsters
for
loot
and
XP

6. Raiding
§ Large
group
joint
acPvity
§ Highly
coordinated
§ Specialized
roles
§ OrganizaPon
and
leadership
§ Molten
Core

7. Leadership
tasks
required
for
raiding

8. Ethnographic methods (Steinkuehler, 2004)
§ Pool
of
60
regular
players,
40
per
session
§ Met
2-­‐3
Pmes
a
week
for
10
mos
(11/05-­‐8/06),
4-­‐5
hrs
each
Pme
§ Larger
ethnography
has
over
1000
hrs
of
chat
data
§ ~100
hrs
of
video
+
select
posts
on
web
forums
§ Disciplined
percepPon
(Stevens
&
Hall,
1998)
Remember, ss target will change at Domo, but
until then, your rezzer is to be ssed at all times.

9. Ethnographic methods (Steinkuehler, 2004)
§ Pool
of
60
regular
players,
40
per
session
§ Met
2-­‐3
Pmes
a
week
for
10
mos
(11/05-­‐8/06),
4-­‐5
hrs
each
Pme
§ Larger
ethnography
has
over
1000
hrs
of
chat
data
§ ~100
hrs
of
video
+
select
posts
on
web
forums
§ Disciplined
percepPon
(Stevens
&
Hall,
1998)
Remember, who you give soulstones to will change when we encounter
Majordomo Executus, but, until then, the priest or shaman who you ve
been assigned to should have your soulstone at all times.
Remember, ss target will change at Domo, but
until then, your rezzer is to be ssed at all times.

10. Ethnographic methods (Steinkuehler, 2004)
§ Pool
of
60
regular
players,
40
per
session
§ Met
2-­‐3
Pmes
a
week
for
10
mos
(11/05-­‐8/06),
4-­‐5
hrs
each
Pme
§ Larger
ethnography
has
over
1000
hrs
of
chat
data
§ ~100
hrs
of
video
+
select
posts
on
web
forums
§ Disciplined
percepPon
(Stevens
&
Hall,
1998)
a magic item that warlocks can give to others so priests and shaman can bring
that they can come back to life if they are killed others back to life (resurrect)
Remember, who you give soulstones to will change when we encounter
Majordomo Executus, but, until then, the priest or shaman who you ve
been assigned to should have your soulstone at all times.
Remember, ss target will change at Domo, but
until then, your rezzer is to be ssed at all times.
it s important to give rezzers the ability to come back
to life so they can rez the rest of the raid group

11. Theorizing the practice
• Push-­‐pull
relaPonship
of
objects
in
a
network
of
acPvity…
– Actor-­‐Network
Theory
(Latour,
2005)
– Distributed
CogniPon
(Hutchins,
1995)
– Mangle
(Pickering,
1993;
Steinkuehler
2006)
– Assemblage
(Deleuze
&
Guitarri,
1987;
Taylor,
2006)
– Arrangement
(Stevens,
Satwicz,
&
McCarthy,
2009)
– Object-­‐Oriented
Ontology
(Bogost,
2006,
2009)
– Roles
and
responsibiliPes
constantly
renegoPated,
redistributed,
and
reconfigured
to
adapt
to
local
seengs

12. Expertise in game mechanics?

14. various
bits
of
info
to
keep
track
of
minimap
temporary
bonuses
or
and
impairments
(buffs
addon
streaming combat text
and
debuffs)
bugons
name and health of enemy
tank
targets
the jumble in the
middle is the actual
more
ability
bugons
cooldown
Pmers
for
in-game fight
temporary
effects
my
health
and
status
threat
enemy
meter
enemy
health
debuffs
and
status
unit
frames
showing
health
and
status
of
raid
members
chat
window
ability
bugons

15. Expertise as sociomaterial practice
§ Emergent
through
push-­‐pull
of
constraints-­‐workarounds
§ Limited
by
access
to
the
right
social
networks

22. World of Warcraft wiki

23. Conclusions and Takeaway Issues
• CogniPve
frameworks
for
experPse
don t
account
for
emergent
situated
pracPce
that
depend
on
available
sociomaterial
resources.
• Becoming
expert
depended
on
access
to
expert
groups
and
expert
pracPce
(Collins
&
Evans,
2007)
• Not
all
players
could
gain
access

24. SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF EXPERT
PRACTICE IN ONLINE GAMING
Mark
Chen
University
of
Washington
@mcdanger
markchen@uw.edu
This work is funded by the National Science Foundation through the Science of Learning Center program under grant SBE-0354453.

25. Some
game
play

26. Fight
conPnued
§ Look
at
coordinaPon
and
use
of
addons

27. Mark
Chen,
U
of
WA,
@mcdanger,
markchen@uw.edu
Moses
Wolfenstein,
UWisc,
@mosesoperandi,
wolfenstein@wisc.edu
Sean
Duncan,
Miami
U,
@scd,
sean.duncan@muohio.edu
Rebecca
Reynolds,
Rutgers,
rebecca.reynolds@gmail.com
Leah
Bricker,
U
of
WA,
lbricker@u.washington.edu
Philip
Bell,
discussant,
U
of
WA,
pbell@u.washington.edu
SOCIALLY
SITUATED
EXPERT
PRACTICE
IN
AND
AROUND
GAMING
Google Doc for AERA2011: http://j.mp/fy8Jw1