Ask in game

I usually try to keep this blog kinda academic, bringing in my experience as a game researcher into the topics I see discussed in the general blogosphere. When it comes to feminism in WoW, I find it hard to stay detached and distanced. As a WoW player and feminist, it just gets a bit personal.

So, I will share a few WoW moments which for me have defined the idea of what it means to be a female gamer.

-         There is another girl in the guild. She is skilled enough, but not really my kind of person. She takes things too personal, and she makes giggly noises on Ventrilo (where I am shouting at people to “STEP OUT OF THE F*** FIRE!”). Other players makes fun of her behind her back about how bad she is, more then she really deserves. I feel sympathy for her, knowing that one of the reasons for her getting so much crap is because she stands out as a female player. If it was a guy I wouldn’t try to defend him, but as it is a girl I feel I should. Feminine solidarity isn’t easy…

-         I lead raids and work hard as an officer. In my opinion I have proven my worth as a player and as a policymaker for the guild. Still, I can see that I have to work twice as hard (or atleast harder…) for people to respect my opinions about the game, strategies, gearing and specs. I don’t know if it has anything with me being a girl, or if it is simply something about my demeanour that they don’t find authoritative enough. The trouble with gender is that it’s always there, but it’s hard to know when it’s a decisive factor.

-         I have just joined a small guild on one of my alts. I don’t tell anyone about me being a girl, as I feel it is completely irrelevant in that setting. After a discussion where I was making a decent amount of sexist jokes, I was told off for being a misogynist. I explain that the jokes were told with a certain amount of ironic distance, and that I am in fact a girl with quite feminist ideals that should be allowed to have a laugh too. As soon as I have “outed” myself as a girl, the GM approaches me in whisper. He asks about my RL name and what I do (which I gladly share, as my work demands a certain amount of openness). He then proceeds to tell me about his depressions and suicidal thoughts. Until that point we have had no personal contact, but as soon as I tell I’m a girl I get showered with unpleasant personal details. It’s not the first time it has happened, and after giving him advice about where to seek help I leave the guild and tell myself that I really should just keep secret about being a girl. But then again, why should I have to keep that quiet? Shouldn’t I be free to tell about myself too?

-         I meet up with a girl at a party, she is really funny and smart – and we have lots to talk about. Then I find out that she plays WoW, does hard mode raiding, and is accepted by her guild based on her ability to perform well. I am over the moon. So rarely do I meet girls who are not only into WoW, but also care about being good at the game (which is kinda given based on how many girls play WoW and how many people are into hardmode raiding). I feel really happy that I have found another girl that I can relate to in this sense, but at the same time sad that I have played the game for more then 5 years and it’s only happened a handful of times.

Recently returned from the Games+Learning+Society conferance I find myself quite motivated to think about games in a different way. Not in terms of theory or definition, but in terms of how they can be used.

Taking one step further from arguing how games can teach us something, it was great to see how games were actually used as a context for learning.  Why just argue that virtual spaces are filled with learning, when you can show it?

At risk teens: Learning with the Lich King

A project that inspired me greatly was afterschool programs for teenages where online games such as World of Warcraft to get them engaged in different types of problem solving and advancing literacies. By building upon the existing game design in which being knowledgable is supported and rewarded, these virtual game spaces become sites where kids can learn in a different way.

In many ways, these game spaces have qualities that the classroom is trying hard to construct. Such as difficulty changing based on individual performance, ensuring that tasks are “just right” in terms of challenge. The game gives distinct feedback if you are doing it right, and you can keep on trying to get it right.

By using these game spaces, instead of a classroom, the idea of learning gets reframed. The students enjoy themselves and are allowed to see learning as something enjoyable. The teens will voluntarely read up on guides and sites in order to get better at the game, and will engage themselves in how to manage resources and fellow players.

What I want to do about it?

I wish to try this out myself. Not quite sure where to start yet, but as far as I know there is nothing like this happening in Norway. So the next step would be to find some partners for this. Do you know someone?

Read more: Abstract from a session, paper based on after school program by Constance Steinkuehler. Well worth reading!

In the last weeks Norwegian media have been filled with discussions regarding gender in a nature vs nurture debate. The setting for this has been a TV show entitled “Brainwash” (no: Hjernevask, if you understand Norwegian you can see it here) that took a critical approach to social sciences, and how fields such as Gender Studies were too quick to dismiss biological explanations for the differences between men and women. After all, our fight for equal rights and opportunities which is based on ideas of gender as socially developed and changeable have been going on for half a decade now – yet women are still underrepresented in certain occupations such as engineering, while dominating others such as nursing. Are we barking up the wrong tree?

In this context a comment emerged, reminding us that gender differences are also present when it comes to games. Boys prefer games with action and violence, while girls prefer puzzles and social games. While MMORPGs as well as new consoles are breaking up this stereotype with more games with equal representations from both genders, this statistical trend across most western countries cannot be denied. With the “Brainwash” debate in mind, a question that floats to the surface is if this difference in use, preference and interest is based in our genes?

Now, biology is a factor. After all, we experience our life and ourselves through our bodies. Our bodies are central to how we form our identity and how we access events in our life. Gaming would not be what it is without the release of adrenaline during action sequences, or our synapses working hard during a puzzle. However, the discussion is not about how our body is a part of how we live our life, but the body as a potential manuscript of who we can be and who we are.

Evolutionary psychology is based on the idea that superior (or atleast adventageous) traits are passed down as they have enabled survival and reproduction. Evolutionary psychology (broadly speaking) then attribute current traits, abilities and interest as a part of that selection. When finding traits that are recognized across a large sample, that is seen as an indication of psychological adaptations. This include fear of spiders, our gift for language to the ability to cooperate with others. Following this, the idea about gender based interests (such as girls being interested in people and boys preferring things) is a result of traits that helped our species survive, and show themselves today through f.ex. choices of games.

It’s tempting to explain such differences between genders by pointing to the genes. It would not only indicate it as a “natural state” of things (meaning we don’t need to get too worked up about it), but it would also give a tangible explanation of why girls and boys are different. After all, most of us experience ourselves as being “who we are” as men or women, not “positioning ourselves for/against masculine identities” or “performing gender” as Gender Studies have proposed as reasons for such gender differences to happen. It almost feels natural to think about it in terms of “being born that way”, as it confirms what we see every day when watching girls and boys behave and develop differently from a young age.

So, if it seems like a natural explenation that we are simply “born that way” – why am I all huffed up about it?

Because when studying society – in particular such pervasive and ever present topics such as gender-  Occam’s razor does not hold. A simple answer is not the best one. Reducing the many possible answers into one easily acceptable “fact” doesn’t make it more right, it is in fact removing it further from reality.

When looking at Gender and Computergames, several appraoches is possible. In this post I have outlined what the evolutionary answer is, but in my upcoming posts I will do my “regular” social scientist approach and look to what factors in our history, society and technology that could have produced such a marked difference in use between boys and girls.

First up will be the history of games and how computer games growth is still part of it’s masculine identity.

EDIT: This kinda got away from me, and my mind isn’t really on this anymore. However, it does blossom from time to time – so I’m likely to return to it. Apologies for promising more then I delivered.

For a while now I have been blogging specifically about WoW related topics, going into details, news and other current events in the WoW community – and by doing so also directing the blog towards a WoW playing audience. While I still enjoy ranting in writing about the things I see, experience and discuss with other WoW players – I recognize that I have strafed away from my intial goal for this blog; discussing academic approaches to computer gaming with a wider audience.

This insight have been dawning on me for a while, but got confirmed properly today when a old friend approached me on Facebook. During our catching up commented that she had been browsing my blog – but even with the aid of others, were not able to decipher it or understand what I was writing about. With that comment I realized that the failboat had been filled and had set sail for fail.

So, with that in mind I will return to more general discussion about digital games and gaming culture. This semester I have been lecturing about new ICTs (including games) and I’ll draw upon some of the points I have been making there to showcase research on computer games, and my take on it.

Of course, I can’t claim to be an expert in anything related to computer games, but after a few years dabbling with Game Studies related work – I wont be clueless. F.ex. I wont be have my own research on “computer game addiction”, but will have read enough about it to express an informed opinion.

With that in mind I’ll start off by tackling some of the big controversies surrounding games; are computer games culture? Does it cause violent behaviour? Are computer games addictive? And why don’t girls play computer games? Or do they? Based on a series of lectures I’m doing this semester I’ll present some bite sized perspectives into these rather big and intangible questions. Further more I’ll start presenting some initial data that I have been gathering as my own analysis slowly moves forward. This include some recent (and rather tasty) interview with raiders in casual, hardcore and proper progression guilds (including players from Ensidia). Are there traits that is recognizable across the board? What are the differences? What does it take to get a world first? What do people do to combine raiding with a busy everyday life?

In short: Stay tuned!

If your WoW account recently expired (or you never got one), you would have missed out on the GearScore phenomenon. GearScore (GS) is simply put an addon (user made software modification) that assess the quality of  other players gear at a glance, providing you with a score that indicate the level of items that player is wearing. The addon in itself isn’t that remarkable, players have always been concerned with gear and evaluating other players. What have grabbed me is the surrounding controversy -that seemingly any mention of GS is a possibility to spark a debate over it’s use.

The controversy is at it’s core very simple: Those pro GS say it’s an easy way to make sure that undergeared players don’t waste your time, while those against it say it can be falsely inflated (as it doesn’t actually check for intelligent choice of equipment, just it’s quality) and more importantly that it is not a gauge of player skill.

I understand reluctance towards being boxed up and reduced to a simple number (especially for those of us who have literally spent years in game honing our skills), as well as the growing culture of efficiency (previously only held by powergamers) which have become quite normative. In such, I see a tool as GS as a expected kind of development. For a long time we have had guilds use application templates or require you to answer questions to join. It has not been uncommon for PuGs to have standards for how much health, spellpower or damage is needed to join the group. Players who are unable to communicate in English have been refused, or even players with really bad names. All in attempts to ensure that the players on your team are the best possible.

In such, is GearScore really that different?

In the light of this conflict, I wonder how we would perceive a gear score if it wasn’t an addon? What if it was simply a feature installed by Blizzard?

Limitations based on gear have been a way of locking of player areas for a long time. In Molten Core you needed equipment with suited stats (Fire Resist) and all along the game’s evolvement there have been encounters specifically designed as “gear checks”. Now, these “gear checks” are not as obvious as a gear score. They are made so that if you do less then X amount of damage, don’t do Y amount of healing or can’t take Z amount of hits the group will not succeed. While those checks were largely mitigated by the ability of the player, it’s not correct to say that the gear score have at any point been irrelevant.

Further more, there is already an internal kind of gear score system in place from Blizzard. It’s simply hidden. It’s used on several occasions, through rarely explicit. When entering certain vehicles (notably on the first boss in Ulduar) the vehicles healthpool will scale with your gear, and further more; if you recently dinged 80 you would have noticed how several heroic dungeons will be locked for you in the LFD (Looking For Dungeon, an automated group searching tool) until you acquire better gear.

In such, the problem with GearScore is that it doesn’t have the legitimacy that Blizzards features have. While it’s ironic that much of the hate against GearScore is how it is used when excluding players based on a simple number, which means that hate should be directed towards silly player practice rather then some code which is quite clearly labelled as a tool to estimate player potential, I do wonder how GearScore would have turned out if it was Blizzard who designed it.Or better yet – if it was a feature that existed from day one.

Would we call it unnecessary? Unfair? Or would we simply accept it as one of the many ways we evaluate players around us?

The latest report from Activision Blizzard could tell us that apparently only 30% of new WoW players make it past level 10. While we know little of how this compare to other MMOs, it does strike me at somewhat low. So, why don’t people keep playing? Isn’t WoW supposed to be this banale game even monkeys could play? Easier then ever? Levels and loot being handed out for free?

For someone playing the game for several years it will seem that way. It often does to me, and I have to stop myself for blurting out old fart comments about how things were when I was young and were lvling my first toon. Yet, I have also had a chance to speak to friends that started playing the game at later stages – and then another answer starts to dawn on me.

Its just too much to catch up on.

Im not really referring to levels here, or even loot. I am talking about game know-how. It’s easy to disregard new players as kiddies that needs to “l2p”, but not all new players are 12 and aiming for at 80DK with a mechanohog (though surprisingly many are…).  People who are both competent and bright in work and day to day life, faces a massive challenge when starting to play. After all, there is no secrets anymore in WoW. No places unexplored, no algorithms undiscovered, no features untried. Learning the game by trial and error is not rewarded, and is frowned upon by other players. But, how are one supposed to catch up on 5 years of intense debating on the finer points of play?

In the last month or so, after ditching raiding for random and casual leveling, I’ve come across a well of different types of players. Engaging myself in both PuGs and BGs, joining different guilds and hanging around in big cities at off hours, the players I have encountered is somewhat different to those I met when I was engorged in a raidingguild. Admittadly, my researcher-gamer role meant that I always tried to keep an eye out, trying to not get completely locked into my own little world of raiding and tried to get runs in both arenas, Wintergrasp, PuG heroics and even the odd PuG raid. But, all in all seems to me that I am playing with a group of players I previously mostly read about in blogs or forums.

The major difference?

They just don’t have a clue.

I mean that in the nicest possible way. While I appreciate playing with people who know what to do, it’s nothing wrong with playing WoW without any notion of what rotations maximize dps. As long as people are enjoying themselves, I’m of a live and let live inclination. Im just amazed at the conversations I am now observing, conversations I was mostly sheltered from when being in a guild with strong filtering mechanisms (strict application process) and strong social norms.

What shocks me is not that new players are asking questions, but how many times the advice they get is simply horrible.

Let me give some examples:

Q: I have trouble doing this quest! What do I do???

A: Get a boost

And there I had been wondering why new players walked around thinking shouting for a boost would get them anywhere….

Q: How much is this Aquamarine worth?

A: Nothing. Barely worth vendoring.

Me: Actually, it will fetch a few gold at the AH. Jewelcrafters always need them while levelling.

A: According to my Auctioneer its worth 5 copper, but I just transferred here….

And on your old server you had no jewelcrafters and people auctioning them off for less then what they sell to at vendor?

Q (from a little mage): I just dinged 10. What spec should I choose to level?

A: Arcane. It does kick ass damage. Arcane Barrage FTW!

That the spell he mentiones as the kick ass spell is not given until 50 levels later seems of no consequence.

I guess I should not be surprised that game illiteracy is reproduced by peers, but it’s still sad to see in action. Young hopeful players trying to understand the game (though many of them do so in a unpleasant and rude fashion), and is met with advice that will in no way help them conquer the game.

While making gold in the game is not rocket surgery, it requires atleast a minimum of knowledge when it comes to what items are regarded as valuable – and that the central investment in the game is time. In such, I find the statements regarding gold to be particularely damning.

Me: Mr. Priest – it would be great if you could dispel the hex from me. Hard to tank as a frog.

Priest: I didnt train it. Trying to save money. Its only an alt.

Apparently those 20 silver was too much for his budget….

My current GM: I grinded from 70 to 80 so that I could do all the quests later for money.

That the time it took him to grind could have been invested in a myriad of other ways to make way more money then the time it would take him quest, clearly had not entered his mind.

Moral of the story: If you want to get good a the game. Seek out good players. The scrub-nub guild that invites anyone at anytime, could be a gem – but it is also possible to hold tons and tons of really bad advice.

It dawns on you as the battle tethers to an end and you retreat battered and bruised to your corner. It’s a rather painful realization. Far from a proud moment, the insight strikes at full force:

That QQ was my fault.

Not only was it my fault, but it was way over the top. I simply overreacted, and it is no one to blame but myself. Shitty moment indeed. It’s always nice when the noobishness, the QQ, the drama or the fail stem from someone else; to be in the Island of Absolute Right and rule it supreme, simply poking fingers at those who stand in the fire, troll or winds up the emo. But it’s not always someone else.

I for one tend to overreact to criticism, desperately trying to prove that in no way was I wrong and if so: it was not my fault. Of course I like to be challenged, so just cause I hate people telling me where I’m failing doesn’t mean I stay away from those situations. In fact, I seek them out (as proved by choice of career and things such as volunteering to lead raids….).  This invariably leads to moments where I am the one flaming up the situation, the one that take things a bit too far. From not letting a discussion die out, to snapping at someone providing a suggestion at a really bad time. We all do at some point or another, but the real question is: what do you do afterwards?

Just say you are sorry

Sorry is a much used word (soz I pulld!), but a sincere apology is rarer to come across. In WoW where the stereotypical alpha male behaviour of “I’m right, fuck off!” (though often rephrased to take more space and in a more polite tone) is the start and end of many conflicts. It’s a tactic I have used to great success myself in PuGs and other fleeting player encounters. But, it doesn’t work when your supposed to meet them again tomorrow night, and the night after, and the night after etc… In such, I have found that a proper apology goes a long way.

Admittance to mistakes needs to be used sparingly (unless everyone is open about theirs), to not end up looking like one who makes errors all the time. But a whisper saying “Hey, sorry about being cross earlier” have for me invariably lead to nice conversations. After all, who don’t like being told that they were right?

Yeah, I’m sorry about the QQ

And if you were looking for some kind of miracle cure to remove the QQ or to get you out of trouble when your the QQ-master, I’m sorry to disappoint you. To offer such a simple solution as an apology, is perhaps redundant. But, have you ever seen an apology in AV? When did you last see one in trade? The emphasis on being professional gamers who have learned how to “l2p”, is leaving less room for trial and error. Less room for making mistakes, admitting to them and moving on. So, perhaps we should go granny on each others asses, and just say we’re sorry?

What grabbed me about the latest patch notes was how a point of great contention and discussion (loot), were now becoming part of a more elaborate system. Larger player structures such as guilds will not really notice the difference, but for those using random groups to complete 5 man content – or even just uses the group finder tool to get to the dungeon faster – will find that their choices have been limited.

If you haven’t read it yet, what the patch note said was:

The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon Finder and has been updated.[ul]

Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.

One one hand I am thrilled that these new functions will be added. After all, I know how annoying it is when someone needs an item they cannot use (aka ninja). By limiting who can need on items, it should at least avoid the most obvious of blunders. Further more, adding a disenchant option just make sense. I remember arriving on the server I am now and learning the hard way that on this server the default is “pass” if you dont need the item or you can disenchant it. So, this new function would definitely make that easier and it’s a function that makes sense.

Then on the other hand, it makes me wonder about how this shapes play. Some of the development of classes and play styles were clearly emergent, they came from the players themselves. Lets take the healing paladins, who for a long time didn’t seem to work well until some people decided to put them in caster gear. It caused a bit of huff and hurring in the start when these plate wearing holy warriors wanted to need on dresses, but they proved their worth soon enough. It’s not an issue anymore as plate items with healing stats have been added to the game in plenty, but would it have been possible for the class to develop in that way if the code didnt allow for them to need on cloth items to begin with?

In the history of WoW we have seen many times that flaws in the design have been overcome by player ingenuity, ingenuity that later on have been incorporated into the actual code and have granted new features for play. Still, this ingenuity have always been dependant on a possibility to choose, the freedom to use alternatives. Is streamlining the systems possibly hurting the evolving of the game in the long run?

The link between player practice and changes to the design is strong. The need/greed system in itself is a proof of that. If you are not a WoW player, let me quickly recap how the need / greed system came to be:

When the game was first released and you were in a group with other players, a window would appear on your screen giving you two options: need or pass. If you pressed pass you would decline on your option to get the item, if you pressed need you would be competing for the item with everyone else who pressed need. This competing is simply done by the computer choosing a random number between 1 and 100 and the one with the highest number wins. In this early stage of the game (often called Vanilla WoW) players quickly realized that this system was inferior. After all, while you might not need the item (by need I mean that you would equip it as an upgrade to existing items) there was clearly a need for a 3rd option as many items were not needed by anyone, but could still be sold to a NPC for gold. So, early on everyone passed on the items that dropped, then we asked in party chat if anyone needed and players declared “N” for Need and “G” for Greed. If anyone needed, they manually did a random 100 and let the winner have the item, if it was all greeds, then everyone did a random 100 with the highest as winner.

This was rather time consuming, but it worked to distribute loot in a better accordance with what was seen as fair. When later on in Vanilla a Greed button appeared, it worked well with existing concepts of how loot had been distributed. Simply press need if you need it, greed if you would like to make profit from it, and pass if you dont want it. As mentioned, this had it’s flaws as it didn’t really account for a situation when someone wished to disenchant the item, or in cases where un-needing persons chose the need option (by mistake or willful and malicious intent). The issue of disenchanting have so far been solved by a collective player practice where the those with the enchanting skill choose greed, and everyone else passes (unless someone needs of course). At the end of the run, everyone rolls manually and the shards generated by the enchanter during the run is distributed. The part about un-needing players needing have to some extent been solved by allowing players to trade items won in dungeons between other players present at the time. If someone did need by mistake, it’s now easy to correct by trading. If they did it to be spiteful, well… You can always try asking.

The point about this story is not that I am against incorporating player practices into the design, nor create design that adds functions to the game that will save players time and effort. What I am intrigued by is how this design is telling us what to do. It’s not just saving us time, its saying that there is a right way to distribute loot, and discourages us to think about alternatives.

Ideas of morality are always embedded into design, into code, into technology. However, their ability to limit our actions will vary. Some guidelines for correct use are simply stronger and more limiting then others. Your car wont start without you buckling the seat belt, the blender won’t start if you don’t put the lid on and Vista goes ballistic if you decide you don’t want to have the firewall up. In all these cases the idea about correct use is a rational one, and for the most part a clever one too, but it also takes away options from the you as the user. I’m not advocating that we stop using seat belts, but I can’t help but think that when guarding our creative freedom we should take a look at the artifacts in our daily lives as well.

With 3.3 drawing closer by the second I am torn in two directions. To play or not to play… Once more the gamer and the researcher in me are not agreeing.

One part tells me to use this patch to finalize the gathering of data, to finish off some interviews, get some footage from raids and wrap it up once and for all. Furthermore, the idea of a new instance with new challenges (hopefully in the same styling as the last raid encounters) is alluring. Not to mention being in a guild filled with raiders hungry for new content. Only problem is really me…

In my time of playing WoW (which have been since release) I have never stuck with one thing for too long. 6-8 months is usually my limit before I reroll, take a break, change server/guild or simply find something else altogether. My time in my current guild is nearing a year. A full year in the same guild, 10 of them as officer and the last 4-5 months as raid leader. It’s starting to wear me down, and once again the idea of an alt somewhere undisturbed sounds wonderful and freeing.

Of course, I have rerolled enough times to know that the grass is only greener on the other side of alting for about 20 hours, then the grind hits you like a fist in the face. But, the concept still haunts me.

As the collector of Fragments for the legendary mace, I felt more then obliged to join on any Ulduar run. That I with the best of my efforts only got 18 of them is something that saddens me when logging on and feels like a huge failure. Not only for me, but for the guild as well. It’s like I let them down.  I could have attended more raids (several fragments went to other players due to my absence), but I know that the truth is that even if I had attended them all: not enough dropped for us to get a mace, and the guild haven’t even done Yogg +1.  But, now with 3.3 we will stop raiding Ulduar, and the pressure to get fragments are gone.

I dont need any more epics.. Ill have a nap

Of course there are some who would like to keep me as raidleader, but I am sure that some are keen on hearing a different voice commanding them around on VT. I never really grew comfortable in the raidleader role, and at times it became just another place where more preperation, more work and more effort on my part would have been possible and saved us all from a whole lot of pain. But then, I know that appraisal of your raidleader, if it ever occurs (whining is the standard after all), is rarely something that happens face to face. Perhaps I should attempt to delude myself of absolute grandeur, that songs of my wits and skill are sung around Great Feasts from Booty Bay to Dalaran, and it’s only in my raids they shut up about it.

Still, there is my research. It has spurred me on so far, and I am hoping that the joy I get from interviewing and gathering bits and bobs, will get my drive for the game going again. That it will help spark that hunger for more. That I again will care if I gain an item thats 12 ilvls higher then the previous, and would rather spend gold on enchanting and gemming that then buying pets for my alts.  That I again will sacrifice good meals for frozen pizza so I can get that extra hour of grinding in, or some sle

ep for a discussion on DKP.