Week 4 Discussion- Part 2

The Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft reader was very helpful to someone like me who knows NOTHING about World of Warcraft (WoW). Espen Aarseth's chapter A Hollow World: World of Warcraft as Spatial Practice was a great opening for me. It set the stage and gave me an idea of what I can expect in the game. It also helped me understand the background to which the culture of WoW is set.

In World Creation and Lore: World of Warcraft as Rich Text, I began to get a better understanding of WoW as well as the background and, I guess you could call, historical context of the game. This chapter enabled a knowledge base that will aid in playing the game as well as understanding the game from a more academic standpoint.

The next chapter, Klastrup's What Makes World of Warcraft a World? A note on Death and Dying, I was able to get a better understanding of the WoW culture. This was furthered by the suggested websites that allow for another aspect of understanding. Ordinarily, I would not have thought about culture in a game, but it is becoming more evident to me that it is truly the case.

Finally, Quests in World of Warcraft: Deferral and Repetition- The actual examples of game play quests were helpful. By describing what players actually do, I am beginning to get a better understanding of WoW.

These all combine to give me a broad understanding of the game from the internal workings to what the player does to play the game, to how culture and the idea of place affect the gamer, all leading to the basis of a holistic view of the game both from the academic world as well as the player/gamer side.