Ethnography

“Internet: absolute communication, absolute isolation” (Paul Carvel). 
            The quote above represents a dichotomy that has emerged in the internet over the course of the last decade. Over the course of this project I have attempted to find how World of Warcraft users could build relationships in a medium that did not exist in our physical realm. The gamers on World of Warcraft have almost absolute communication with one another. They are able to talk with one another from across the globe and build guilds based on common interests. When in these guilds, gamers express their frustrations about the World of Warcraft game and about their personal lives as well. They interact with one another on a different level to the point where one witnesses avatar parties and even avatar weddings. In the same token, it becomes increasingly apparent that the gamers are isolated. The gamers might be interacting with other gamers via guilds, but physically they are alone. World of Warcraft is an experience. “This focused experience provides a refuge — an “escape,” as players say — from modernity. It is one of the ways in which the game creates its own reality apart from contemporary life, moving the player away from the ordinary into the alternative reality of a fantasy space.” (Nardi) It is apparent that there is connection in World of Warcraft, but is it superficial. In order to answer some of the questions that I proposed in my introduction and project proposal, I read internet blogs, I watched videos, and I also created my own avatar.

Blogs
In order to gain a sense of people’s feeling towards World of Warcraft I read blogs. While reading the blogs certain strong emotions continued to emerge about the game and its effect on people. I read blogs that denounced World of Warcraft and I read blogs that were firm supporters of World of Warcraft. The blogs seemed to be primarily used to share game strategies and experience that gamers have accumulated in the game. One gamer wrote:

“The World of Warcraft universe is a happy, thriving community. There is a strong social aspect to it and players can become friends with each other. The game’s world of Azeroth follows the real world’s calendar and so they mark holidays and seasonal events in the game. On New Year’s Eve in 2005 there were parties and celebrations in Azeroth that all players could attend. It is features like this that make its world much more vivid, colorful and convincing.” (Crowell)

This quote goes along with what I have found in World of Warcraft that World of Warcraft is indeed a community. There is a shared experience on World of Warcraft that is not experienced any place else. World of Warcraft in many ways does not exist in counter to reality, but is in coexistence with reality. 
The same gamer than wrote:

“Although World of Warcraft has the visual style of a cartoon, it is a game that people of any age can enjoy. All age groups play it, from children to seniors. This leads to an interesting online environment, as younger players interact with older gamers. It is a real mix of people, as children and teenagers share the game’s world with twenty year olds and more mature, middle-aged players and older. It is a friendly, lively environment and tends to be good-natured and welcoming.” (Crowell)

World of Warcraft is indeed a mix between different types of people. They interact with one another using avatars, but are these relationships real? Proponents of world of Warcraft would like to think so. People meet people that would not have met in the actual world. On World of Warcraft a 15 year old could be best friends with a 50 year old. Which draws the question is virtual reality an extension of actual reality?

            On the flip side of the World of Warcraft coin, there are those who long to quit. One blogger wrote:

“For months I’ve been getting burnt of the game (booooooooring~), a couple of weeks ago I took a slight break of the game to see if it helped, but I can’t say I was missing it. So, effective today, my account has been cancelled. I would have probably cancelled earlier, but I was waiting to finish the Brewfest event since it was the only one that I had missing for the Violet Proto-Drake.”

The gamer above become fed up with Word of Warcraft universe, but he did not leave silently. He documented his leaving on a blog and even posted the letter that World of Warcraft sent him after he deactivated his account. Since last year the gamer wrote on how he didn’t miss world of Warcraft and how he wasn’t addicted to it. He continued to share his thoughts with the World of Warcraft community even though he wasn’t actually in the game.

Galazure a fellow Blood elf Priest wrote: 
“When World of Warcraft first came out, in a 365 day calendar year I logged in a 120 days of play time. I played 8 hours a day on average. After a couple of years I decided I didn’t have the time to play the game anymore. But I did make some of my friends through World of Warcraft, I had no choice.”

The gamer above played a substantial amount of World of Warcraft, and although he left the World of Warcraft community due to lack of time, he held no regrets. Instead he expressed nostalgia for friends that he/she made on World of Warcraft.

Videos 
The information that I found through the videos about World of Warcraft on youtube, furthers the sense of addiction to World of Warcraft. As I watched the videos as story unfolded. It was a story of people that embraced the World of Warcraft almost completely. They spent exuberant amounts of time on the server. The question that arose out of the videos was why would people spend so much time on World of Warcraft if it wasn’t similar to our world? The “addicts” in the video continued to comment on how the interactions seemed so real. Aren’t they? They would like to think so.

My own experience

World of Warcraft gives a gamer the opportunity to recreate themselves. “The notion that one’s “character” can be shaped and refined through deliberate activity is a powerful motivational field in which cultures, or subcultures, may organize themselves.”(Nardi) This quote is a fairly accurate summary of my own world of Warcraft experience. I recreated myself as Tobias the blood-elf. It was a new experience being dropped off in a new world, where the possibilities seem endless. It was like being reborn. I had to learn how to walk and interact with my surroundings. I started off in Eversung woods, which were dark and ominous. In order to level up I had to go on quests for the game. Over the course of my initial game play I interacted with many members of the World of Warcraft community. It was a apparent that I was new to this game and many avatars did not interact with me. I spent the first few sessions learning about my character and it became apparent early on that Tobias was slowly taking on some of my characteristics. At level 1 a player has to walk everywhere, which takes more time than I would like it to. Generally the people that I met on World of Warcraft were very friendly and nice people. It was interesting to think that I had the chance to interact with any one of 15 million people, while in Baltimore I can only interact with one million people. I quickly saw why World of Warcraft was so appealing to gamers. 
            Thankfully I knew a guild master before I started my journey and he was able to invite me to his guild. As a visitor I felt like an outsider. There were many inside jokes told and there seemed to be a large level of trust in the guild. Tonric, the guild master, told me “trust is a huge thing in a guild. We have to trust other members of the guild to get the jobs done and treat everyone with respect.” I watched as the members of this guild told a story and interacted with that story and each other. Since I was a hoard member, based on my class as a blood elf, I had to be personally invited by Tonric because he was a human. There is a schism between creatures in World of Warcraft based on a story line that was written by Blizzard Entertainment. I was considered a dark creature and Tonric was a light creature. 
            Spending a hour on World of Warcraft observing this guild was different from spending a hour in the real world. In the World of Warcraft world I was always achieving something. There were tangible awards for hanging with a guild, I got ten gold might I add. It was apparent that the same feelings that existed in our physical realm existed in world of Warcraft. I was still interacting with people just through a different medium. 
            
The wealth of information that I have collected show that World of Warcraft is a sub culture, but it is also a extension of our culture in many ways. The same feelings that exist in the physical world also exist in World of Warcraft.