Else-If-Then

Category: Research

  • Protected: Part 2: Parallels Between Fans and Scholars

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    Kim
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    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

  • Protected: Part 1: SF and Fantasy film; Fans vs Critics vs Scholars

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    Kim
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    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

  • Celebrity Identities

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    Kim
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    Lately I’ve been thinking about how celebrities try to create their own identitities and the push-pull created between celebs and fans, celebs and the media, and a number of other actors and groups.  And as I start thinking, I realize that vocabulary will be an issue because I am thinking about actors and actresses, but…

  • Trying to Keep up Momentum

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    Kim
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    Have read and commented on one book, I’ve tried to keep going in spite of discovering that parenting full time really is a full time job.  I’m reading Synthetic Worlds by Castronova.  So far quite interesting, and again I find reading work by another gamer really influences my reception in interesting ways.  More on that…

  • What keeps people engaged?

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    Kim
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    If you study MMOs at all, you may have seen Tom Chatfield’s TED Talk in which he talks about what game designers have learned about what keeps people engaged in a game. He identifies the following: problem solving –> ambition + delight progress bars multiple long and short-term aims reward effort, don’t punish failure much…

  • Writing in Character

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    Kim
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    For awhile I was writing here, and on my abstract, and I was not writing so much as my character.  Eventually I started to feel a kind of pressure as that blog fell further behind my in character life.  I started to feel that I wanted to write about what was happening to me in…

  • Research Update… If only I could get paid to play. 😉

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    Kim
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    So I’ve been collecting responses to questions about Clan Lord and trying to weave them together.  The process is interesting because I represent myself with two voices. So far, the players participating have been speaking as mainly players, not characters, but because most prefer to use only their character names, and because CL players pepper…

  • Blurred Boundaries

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    Kim
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    As I continue playing and thinking about Clan Lord, and thinking about a new way of researching that integrates observer and participant, theory and practice, I find that boundaries are blurring in other ways as well.  A while back I began a blog for my character, and somewhat to my surprise, I felt compelled to…

  • Attempting a New Approach to Fan and Game Studies

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    Kim
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    So… as I posted last time, I will be speaking about how one might take an approach to studying an MMO fan community that achieves not just a balance between the critical stance of a scholar and the enthusiasm of a player, but some kind of integration of the two positions.  Further, how might the…

  • Inhabiting Characters

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    Kim
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    One of the most striking aspects of this particular game is the extent to which players are devoted to their characters. The explanations for this devotion include some that fairly straightforward and common to many games: simple time investment; in some cases as long as 12 years effort; time and energy may have been spent…