Rationalization and Instrumentality in Play - Characters that don't feel "real"

The topic of rationalization and instrumentality in play is a particularly interesting topic to me, but only because I shy away from achievement systems myself. I am also not sure I understand the motivations of other players when they head straight into the “XLMMO”, the concept Mikael Jacobsson applies as a gateway to understanding what in the world is going on here in “The Achievement Machine”.

My WoW achievement sheet. Click to evaluate!

I remember a WoW player who once explained that she found the decision to change her main to her alt a very hard one to carry out. Not because it had ramifications for her spot in the raid or similar, but because the alt, the secondary character, didn’t feel as “real” until they have achievement points, pets, and mounts. She had been playing WoW before the achievement system was implemented, and now she was hooked and could barely explain why.

A dev version of Modelviewer being buggy.

I am nothing like this. When they announced they were going to add achievements to WoW, the most effort I put into my reaction was perhaps raising an eyebrow. Did these achievement-points act as a currency? Could you purchase nice stuff with these points? If not - meh!

Nope, you just accumulated them and they were, of course, on display (A small portion of them, however, did earn you stuff - titles, pets and mounts being the most notable, but these are few). 

Was this something I needed to work on too? How much of significance would this strange system have? 

Later I earned achievements, but never on purpose, I just randomly earned them out and about, except for the times I was unfortunate enough to be grouped with a guild member(s) who were very fond of them, and I would have to endure strange and elaborate tactics to fulfill an achievement that to me sounded like a bad joke. Of course to the achievement-player, these are not just extra challenges, they are more than that!

But I’ve seen the light, I understand better now, in a rational way (ironically), but not in an experiental way, I don’t know how it feels to be compelled to do them. But Jacobsson found a way to analyze achievements through the MMO terminology: 

“When we look at achievements as parts of the XLMMO, we see that they are more than just rewards.[…] The gamerscore can be compared to experience points, games become quest lines, and the gamertag is the character name.”

I now understand the WoW player with the mysterious and, to herself even, inexplicable sense of an unfinished and unreal alt that was to become her main. 

In the XLMMO, a character, regardless of whether its actual level is 85, has not really leveled that much. It needs more leveling, more experience in this meta system, before it can gain the appropriate status of a “real” main. And this player's meta system even included collections - both pets and mounts. I am telling all the non-WoW players, that completing such collections inevitably will be both very expensive in gold, time and patience.

Jacobsson explains (amongst other things - also my attitude): 

“The different strategies and ways of conceptualizing the system shows how players have appropriated the technology and socially reconstructed it to fit their gaming pleasures, while at the same time, many players remain deeply conflicted over these gaming habits and feel trapped in a deterministic system dictating to them what to do.” 

Besides Jacobsson and I at first having our confusion and curiosity in common, I think me and the achievement-WoW-player also have a lot more in common than we think: one of us has signed out the other signed in, but both can sometimes feel trapped by a system whose ability to be forceful traps us both.

As a final note, I find the expression that the character doesn’t feel “real” to be very interesting. Why the word “real”? It's a big word. What does this mean?

Well, it’s not like the feeling of “realness” doesn’t apply to me, I find the word “connection” to encompass more of the relationship I have with my characters/avatars. I tend to connect with my characters very quickly, and sometimes my sense of competence through the character is what makes it real. I can get a very tangible sense of a character at the level of 5 to be very real and with huge potential, despite the fact this character, in both the MMO and the XLMMO is far far from “experienced”. 

Could there perhaps be a relation between embodiment and achievements, at least for some?

Co-creative Culture and labour - "I Play Farmville, and You Should Too!!!!"

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around what Dyer-Witherford and de Peuter says in “Immaterial Labor”:

“Immaterial labor is less about the production of things and more about the production of subjectivity, or better, about the way the production of subjectivity and things are in contemporary capitalism deeply intertwined”.

Perhaps one of the ways of unwrapping that is the line “If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold.”. 

I started playing Farmville again. I started as part of the Digital Game Theory course back in spring. I then grew tired of the repetitiveness and I had at the same time reached the long term goal I had made – reach max level in my bakery (I produce very nice high level strawberry cakes!).  However, some people in the Game Culture class had me hooked again. I guess I do want to play Farmville with someone other than Linda D and Fredo, who by the way had broken up with me when I returned… He was never a good neighbour anyways. 

Farmville is also very good at putting me to work in ways I barely notice. First of all, it really wants access to everything me, preferably to be allowed to post on Facebook as me and it even succeeded once. It constantly tries to bribe me with extra goodies – “triple parts” - if I would just invite more of my Facebook friends to join. I have been clever though, I have created a separate list for Farmville friends, so that my Farmville shares do not become ever present and spammy messages to everyone I know on Facebook. 

I’ve tried not becoming the ultimate spokesperson and advertisement pillar for Farmville. It’s a constant temptation to give in. I am promised great treasures and upgrades if I recruit more friends.

I have not paid Farmville (Zynga) a dime though, but that’s not the logic of it, as long as the game is ever expanding – someone eventually will. And I have been secretly and silently employed to hire new people into this scheme and make sure to remind the ones already playing of all the nice things they can have. 

Farmville is also a highly commercialized game space. Planting "Dreyer's Fruit Bars crops" in this case. How can we understand this within the intersection of games and labour? Promotional play? (Magic Circle went *poof*)

Here’s the thing though, I am aware of it, and I pay attention to it so I can intersect. I’d argue that Farmville in terms of player labour is not as covert as it could be and the number of fake Facebook accounts specifically made to play Facebook games, I believe, is an attempt to divide the two, the game-network and the general network and avoid becoming this rambling street corner advertisement astroturf Farmville maniac. 

With the many examples of how games that put you to work, I also believe it can go the other way. Games can also teach and train us to become better workers. 

Think about how MMOG raiding produces accountable, competitive and highly achieving individuals. You need to be flexible and available, broad but specialized, always up to date and well educated on the class and spec you play and what encounter you’re about to face. Raid groups are further often hierarchical with raid and guild leaders, divided work tasks (tank, dps, and healer). If you signed to up to work on boss fights for the night and you are not able to make it, you are expected to inform raid leaders. You need to be able to work with others and take criticism – and of course constantly improve. You need good communication skills, a team-oriented attitude and the spirit of a fighter – you never give up until the job is done! And indeed the work ethic expected of you in for example WoW can become very demanding when you raid and prepare for raids at the equivalent to a part time job – in your spare time! I used to do this, three times a week for four hours each time when I raided the most.

 

It certainly fits within the Immaterial Labour definition as in labour that creates “immaterial products”:

“Knowledge, information, communication, a relationship or an emotional response”.

It was very regimented and your performance was constantly under surveillance and evaluation. Perhaps this is also why these laborious games has a tendency to "burn people out". This expression is at least something I've heard several times within WoW circles, especially amongst guild leaders who beyond the listing above, have extra duties on top and perhaps carry one of the biggest work loads, also in terms of organizational work and servicing guild members in their requests that is not directly play, but rather preparation for play.

Race and Sexuality ... Mostly Sexuality - Beeping Emo Beepbeepers

I watched some of Blizzcon 2011 from home, although I didn't watch the closing concerts, including the introduction to guest singer Corpsegrinder who was going to perform with the Blizzard employee band Level 90 Tauren Chieftain.

This short clip shown at Blizzcon and therefore understood as Blizzard condoned material, has created an uproar amongst WoW fans.

Here's a video of the event in question.




Transcript of what the above video shows, including what was beeped out.

I'm not fucking playing, World of Warcraft is fucking life for me. And I don't play no fucking homo Alliance either, I don't play no fucking night elves or gnomes - fucking orcs and undead. Fuck the Alliance, fucking die you fucking emo cocksuckers

(cut)

You know what, go back to your fucking Alliance fucking character and level to 70, stop fucking going to the Elemental Plateau ganking people, I'm trying to farm motes of air

(cut)

I'm pathetic. When it comes to World of Warcraft I'm a pathetic nerd. But I'm not Alliance, I can tell you that much.

The video was not produced specifically for this show, judging from Corpsegrinder's notion of farming motes of air, the clip is probably from 2007-8.

I've posted the longer version underneath, "unfortunately" still edited.




I think this case exemplifies several aspects, bringing up not only issues of homosexuality and hate speech but also performing masculinity.

If we think of Stuart Hall for a moment with the distinction of overt and inferential racism, the same concept can be applied to homophobia. Corpsegrinder is clearly identifying as a Horde player and is engaging in the play-fight between the two factions. This is the upper layer, but the words he chooses and how he expresses himself reveals another layer. One of the reasons Alliance is so uncool to him is that they're not masculine enough and in Corpsegrinders universe, that is equal to being gay.
In the extended version, you can hear him rant about "homo" gnomes and especially night elves, while dwarves are ok. He then goes on to complain about blood elves saying "I can't believe they gave us fucking blood elves, they're not evil". This description of Horde as the evil and brutal faction versus the Alliance as the good civilized guys is rolled out here as a matter of homosexual and weak vs "real man".

So while some players would argue this clip is funny, that doesn't negate it from being offensive or subject to criticism.

Corpsegrinder is using these anti-gay words as swearwords, as derogatories. For this to work, he has to equate being homosexual to something bad - so bad, it's meant to offend us (or well, Alliance players), so there's also a wider expectation for others to also find it derogatory to be called gay/fag/homo.

It was interesting to hear several others in class saying they didn't really connect fx "fag" with gay-bashing. Language is a dynamic size in constant motion and "fag" has already traveled a long way, having a history from before it was about homosexuality. Quoting the Wikipedia article on "Faggot":

The origins of the word as an offensive epithet for homosexuals are, however, rather obscure, although the word has been used in English since the late 16th century as an abusive term for women, particularly old women,^[5] and reference to homosexuality may derive from this,^[4][6] female terms being often used with reference to homosexual or effeminate men (cf. nancy, sissy, queen).

Is "fag", despite its current homohobic meaning, becoming a general swearword? How much of a word's history is evoked when using it? And what does it say about our culture when homophobic slurs can go under the radar this easily?

As a final note, I'll quote the WoW Harassment Policy

Highly Inappropriate

Language which falls under the following categories is deemed to be highly inappropriate. Clarification on what constitutes each category can be found by clicking on the links below.

• Racial/Ethnic
• Extreme Sexuality/Violence
• Real-Life Information and Threats
• National
• Sexual Orientation

Though we have varying tolerance for repeated abuse of each category, any language that violates one of these categories will most likely result in:

• Being given a warning
• Being temporarily suspended from the game
• Possibly being given a Final Warning, any further ToU violations resulting in account suspenion

An explanation of Account Penalties Policy can be found here: Account Penalties

Am I right in sensing a little doublestandard here, when players posting violent, crude or vulgar language on the forum or in the game are risking penalty, while Corpsegrinder openly screaming so many beeps on that video displayed at Blizzard's own convention, is hilarious and totally ok?

Well, it wasn't okay for long.
Here's the final apology from Michael Morhaime (it took a few tries to get it right):

Dear members of the Blizzard community,

I have read your feedback and comments about this year’s BlizzCon, and I have also read the feedback to the apology from Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain. I’d like to respond to some of your feedback here.

As president of Blizzard, I take full responsibility for everything that occurs at BlizzCon. 

It was shortsighted and insensitive to use the video at all, even in censored form. The language used in the original version, including the slurs and use of sexual orientation as an insult, is not acceptable, period. We realize now that having even an edited version at the show was counter to the standards we try to maintain in our forums and in our games. Doing so was an error in judgment, and we regret it.

The bottom line is we deeply apologize for our mistakes and for hurting or offending anyone. We want you to have fun at our events, and we want everyone to feel welcome. We’re proud to be part of a huge and diverse community, and I am proud that so many aspects of the community are represented within Blizzard itself.

As a leader of Blizzard, and a member of the band, I truly hope you will accept my humblest apology.

– Mike Morhaime
   President, Blizzard Entertainment

                               

Gender and Gaming II - Initial Social Access Points Coming to a Place Near You!

The session on Gender and gaming this week dealt with three texts in particular:

•    Yee, “Maps of Digital Desire”

•    Lin, “Body, Space, and Gendered Gaming Experiences”

•    Jenkins, “Complete Freedom of Movement”

In game deterrents and barriers

We wanted to play this video in class, but ran out of time. It's a machinima produced by WoW players and can thus be seen as a humorous response to how female players are sometimes treated in WoW (confer both Yee and Lin).

The video brings forward the double edged sword that female players are sometimes confronted with. I find the video funny, but I also consider it a criticism. It wouldn't be funny if it wasn't referring to a pattern and then reversed to expose the ridiculousness of female players acting this way. I'm seeing a message in this video that, besides the giggles, the viewer is meant to take away from this.

On one hand, female players/avatars are sometimes met with a differentiated treatment, where they are regarded helpless and in need of protection (i.e. from a male player). Other times female players are treated more generously, help is easier attained and players can be more forgiving if a female player makes a mistake.

There is another side to this coin, where forgiveness is replaced by distrust in the female player’s skills and abilities to play well. It can be disheartening to be treated as an inferior player, suspected of not being able to fully perform to the standards of male players. 

For more on this, consider reading Esther MacCallum-Stewart's article Real Boys Carry Girly Epics: Normalising Gender Bending in Online Games (2008).

I think the video displays many of these points, both the positive of getting the offer of free materials for a new item, but also the negative. For example when Jesse leaves, one of the women says she wouldn't have liked to carry him through the dungeon and outperforming him anyways.

I also see this video as an example of a deterrent that is operating within the game. So the female player may have made it as far as to actually play, but can find the tag "female" occasionally creating problems.

I've had a few experiences with this myself, but most of the time, being female has not been an issue.

I'm wondering though, in relation to the video, does male players meet any barriers in game? In what way would these barriers intersect with fx age, sexuality, race etc? And how are these different from the barriers girls and women meet?
(Maybe I'm reaching too far into next session's theme..)


Out of game deterrents and barriers

In line with Lin's study on gendered gaming experiences and how they are physically structured around the home, cybercafés and dormitories, this is an example of a larger roadblock, still cultural, but also in the more serious category.

Quoting from Kotaku in Well, That’s One Way to Combat Misogyny in Gaming:

Enthusiasts of military-style first-person shooters are not well known for their progressive thoughts on the matter of gender. The organizers of a large LAN party in Texas, scheduled to celebrate the launch of Battlefield 3, have decided the best way to deal with any slurs hurled at female gamers is to simply forbid them from attending.

"Nothing ruins a good LAN party like uncomfortable guests or lots of tension, both of which can result from mixing immature, misogynistic male-gamers with female counterparts," the organizers originally wrote in an event FAQ. "Though we've done our best to avoid these situations in years past, we've certainly had our share of problems. As a result, we no longer allow women to attend this event.

This paragraph has since been removed, as the stink over the exclusion went viral, and replaced with: "This event is a 'gentlemen's retreat'; as such we do not allow women to attend."

This is an obvious barrier, they simply will not let you in. Comparing to Lin's example with cybercafés that culturally was considered dangerous and inappropriate for females, where also the interior layout of the cybercafés acted as a hindrance, here they have tried to solve this problem by segregating the genders and creating a pure male space (notice what they are wanting to evoke by the phrase "gentleman's retreat").

So far, using these two examples, I've painted a pretty grim picture, it sounds like female players are barely wanted in these games by the male majorities and if they get in, their role is clearly marked.

However!

Initial Social Access Points coming to a place near you!

This link was shared on Facebook a few days ago, it's from the Diablo 3 forum and titled How to prepare your girlfriend/wife for diablo III. The problem is: These players are excited about Diablo 3, they know they will spend substantial time when this game comes out and they are already thinking about how to deal with some potential future conflicts now:

"What I mean by prepare is that... You prepare her mentally for all the hours you WONT spend with her and all those hours you will spend with Diablo 3. "

The author ends his post by saying "leave some tips!"

I've seen this dilemma presented on other game boards as well, and this thread looks like a standard "how to deal with girlfriend/wife & gaming" case. What I want to highlight here, is that one of the bits of advice usually given, is expressed as the best case scenario:

"4) Try to convert them to games (best option). Maybe you will even play together?"

And later by another commenter:

"I feel sorry for you guys. You should try to find a grl that loves games :)"

Having/finding a gamer girlfriend is again by a third commenter framed as optimal, this guy considers himself lucky!:

"Guys i gotta tell you,i must be one of the lucky guys :))

My girlfriend,age 22,hardened WoW player,W3 player,and other tons of games,liked D2,and D3 got her quite excited,she`s always asking about that beta key :-<"
                               

We're clearly watching the "initial social access points" in the making as Yee talked about. Notice how forthcoming the guys are in this process, the male players are actively seeking to involve their female aquaintances, here romantic partners, or at least this is the advice given.

When I read this thread, I couldn't help but to also find it endearing. While looking at the negatives on this topic, the previous examples given, this does not give the impression of male gamers aggressively defending their turf, setting up a "do not enter if has boobs" sign as with the Battlefield 3 LAN.

I'm curious about the access points for female players in Battlefield 3, is this not a game that inspires the male players to invite their girlfriends/wives?
Would Battlefield 3 also be able to cultivate a "girlfriend-effect" or why does this game seem to move in the opposite direction?
Is the "girlfriend-effect" an MMO phenomenon only?
And how about expanding the "girlfriend-effect" to also include female players recruiting their female friends? Personally I'd love to have a bigger female player network at my disposal! 

And last but not least, bikini plate!

Here's an example of bikini plate from WoW. Should I add, the gear is the same, it just looks different depending on the avatar body.

.

Note: I accidentally misrepresented the avatar sizes, the female avatar is (of course) shorter than the male.