Gaming-World of Warcraft
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 by victoria
Tuesday 28th July
In the lecture yesterday, Luke talked about the study by DiGiuseppe & Nardi on World of Warcraft. I didn't admit in class then, but I guess I'll admit it here that I used to play World of Warcraft. The only reason why I began playing the game was because my boy friend used to be CRAZY about it. He played to an extent where if he wasn't eating or sleeping or working, he'd be on the computer playing. He sometimes even got off work early just so he could join a "raid". So after he had asked me multiple times to join him, I decided to give it a try just to see what the fuss was all about.
After I began playing the game, I found that many female WOW players joined the game for the same reasons as I had. That their partners were very involved with the game and semi-pressured them into playing along as well. Some female WOW players have told me that, they joined the game so that they could "live in the same world" as their partners.
As I began my World of Warcraft journey, the first thing my boy friend did was to teach me "WOW 101", the very basics I needed to know about the different characters, what they were called and what powers they had etc. In DiGiuseppe and Nardi's study, they found that "females were less likely to play the melee classes of rogue and warrior". This was quite the opposite in my case, I wanted to play the rogue and warrior, and liked the idea of directly attacking the monster up close, but I remember when I told my boy friend I wanted to try the rogue or warrior, he said that "those classes were far too complicated for female players to master". So with that being said, he directed me to choose healing characters, as I would be able to assist him in raids and keep him alive......So in my case, I didn't choose the healing class because I wanted to, but chose it to be convenient.
Personally, I didn't really care much about the game or what characters I chose. I managed to force myself to play the game for just under a year, despite being bored by the game throughout most of the time. I just never got into WOW, and didn't see the "fun" in it. My boy friend finally gave up on the game too, after an exhausting three years of playing. But still, every now and then he would go on youtube and search for WOW videos and say he still kind of misses the game.
So that's my experience of playing WOW. Even though WOW is an "action game", it does however, contain a high level of social interaction with other players, and Hartmann and Klimmt's study showed that, lack of social interaction in action games may be one of the main factors that deter females from certain games, however for me personally, even with the high level of social interaction with other players, I still could not find myself enjoying the game. So in my case, I guess I feel that new media, as far as gaming goes, are definitely gendered. Certain games are most definitely designed for female and enjoyed by female players only, and vice-versa.
So what do other people in the class think? Any similar gaming experiences??
--- Victoria
In the lecture yesterday, Luke talked about the study by DiGiuseppe & Nardi on World of Warcraft. I didn't admit in class then, but I guess I'll admit it here that I used to play World of Warcraft. The only reason why I began playing the game was because my boy friend used to be CRAZY about it. He played to an extent where if he wasn't eating or sleeping or working, he'd be on the computer playing. He sometimes even got off work early just so he could join a "raid". So after he had asked me multiple times to join him, I decided to give it a try just to see what the fuss was all about.
After I began playing the game, I found that many female WOW players joined the game for the same reasons as I had. That their partners were very involved with the game and semi-pressured them into playing along as well. Some female WOW players have told me that, they joined the game so that they could "live in the same world" as their partners.
As I began my World of Warcraft journey, the first thing my boy friend did was to teach me "WOW 101", the very basics I needed to know about the different characters, what they were called and what powers they had etc. In DiGiuseppe and Nardi's study, they found that "females were less likely to play the melee classes of rogue and warrior". This was quite the opposite in my case, I wanted to play the rogue and warrior, and liked the idea of directly attacking the monster up close, but I remember when I told my boy friend I wanted to try the rogue or warrior, he said that "those classes were far too complicated for female players to master". So with that being said, he directed me to choose healing characters, as I would be able to assist him in raids and keep him alive......So in my case, I didn't choose the healing class because I wanted to, but chose it to be convenient.
Personally, I didn't really care much about the game or what characters I chose. I managed to force myself to play the game for just under a year, despite being bored by the game throughout most of the time. I just never got into WOW, and didn't see the "fun" in it. My boy friend finally gave up on the game too, after an exhausting three years of playing. But still, every now and then he would go on youtube and search for WOW videos and say he still kind of misses the game.
So that's my experience of playing WOW. Even though WOW is an "action game", it does however, contain a high level of social interaction with other players, and Hartmann and Klimmt's study showed that, lack of social interaction in action games may be one of the main factors that deter females from certain games, however for me personally, even with the high level of social interaction with other players, I still could not find myself enjoying the game. So in my case, I guess I feel that new media, as far as gaming goes, are definitely gendered. Certain games are most definitely designed for female and enjoyed by female players only, and vice-versa.
So what do other people in the class think? Any similar gaming experiences??
--- Victoria