Communication, Coordination, and Camaraderie in World of Warcraft Mark Chen markchen@u.washington.edu communication practices of a group of players coordination that occurs in particular in-game tasks camaraderie valued by group and how it sustained the group explain that shots are of game

Research Overview concept: game mechanics = player behavior? analysis: coordination in high-end raids; camaraderie and trust; group norms vs. individual expectations New: game mechanics not enough to understand player behavior and cooperation; game goals vs. player goals, raid/guild goals vs. player goals; trust is key; who gets to participate and have a voice? implications: mechanics too narrow to understand behavior; trust based on experience; replication of social marginalization

Game Mechanics & Communities Assumptions: helping people see how individual affects community and vice versa important responsibility of educators If games can be used as training grounds, how do we get people to value community? Previous research looked at game design and mechanics—change mechanic, change player behavior important for civic engagement, multicultural awareness, shared responsibility

Ethnography of MMORPGs personal experience didn’t match up with models players’ actual choices are complex and socially situated look at social practice (Taylor, Steinkuehler) but game mechanics don’t explain most of what I see therefore ethnography explain MMORPGs here

World of Warcraft ~9 million subscribers each server has 1000s fantasy world character classes kill monsters, complete quests to gain experience and loot DON’T NEED THIS SLIDE ANYMORE 9 million = $100 million a month choose race and class to play

Game Interface character character panel with equipped items abilities for different types of attacks

Attributes and Items character becomes more powerful as gains experience and loot all quantified better loot and experience = more powerful character

Raid Group 40 players - Molten Core each played different role labor was divided/roles emerged through social practice (Strauss, Stevens) through game defined roles (character class and ability) through merit (case-specific ability or prior knowledge) through existing structures (previous relationships) warriors do one thing, mages do another individuals called to do certain tasks specific to particular fight prior friendships in and out of game

Communication text chat channels voice chat standard (raid) specialized (madrogues) voice chat similar to IM or chatroom on the web multiple channels—some general and each role had a specialized channel voice

Coordination chat interwoven on and off task simultaneously coordinated contextually meaningful 18:11:20.421 : [4. soulburn] Lori: Remember, ss target will change at Domo, but until then, your rezzer is to be ssed at all times. jovial Lori is reminding others in the warlock chat channel to make sure a particular person is able to self-resurrect at all times (in case we all die), but that the person they are to keep track of will change once we get to the encounter with a monster named Domo. Still obscure... jovial and playful

Molten Core enormity and clusters of monsters which each required coordinated effort

An encounter with Molten Giants two players each assigned to giants to keep them occupied and spread them out, healers heal them, I did damage to them... two Main Tanks healers damage dealers kept track of aggro

Learning in Molten Core bodies from previous failures individual learning group learning through failure: “Now I hope no one's getting frustrated. This is how raids go. It's normal: You fight and fight and fight until your gear is broken, repair and do it again... It can take a while to master these encounters but we're doing good work!” balance failure seen as opportunity to learn—also old-timer move to frame situation for newcomers

Camaraderie (lack thereof) One night, raid suffered meltdown. doubt, bickering in specialized chat channels Shaun: .... Sven, you are fired. Sven: Hey, most people avoid you, Shaunie! It's the breath. I'm giving an alternative! Shaun: an option that is closer to the caves. you... you are trying to kill us all.... Sven: Well? It hasn't happened, now has it?? Stop being so paranoid! camaraderie, level of communication in shared channels low (8 min of silence) no communication = no trust (Iacono & Weisband) raid broke up bickering hidden low communication atypical communication necessary for trust

Recovery bottom-up reflection on meltdown reaffirmed goals “I love our raid... We are like brothers and sisters really. Stuff like this is going to happen. However I think we have all been playing long enough to know that we have a pretty great group of people going here and truly we care about and try to do what is best for one another.” reaffirmed goals trust built through valuing shared experience raid members (not leaders) making sense of situation through talk explicitly restating goals of hanging out and caring for each other rather than game-defined individual loot goals

Drama: group vs. individual goals Ways of talking / making arguments Norms vs. cultural diversity? - “Most of your argument was made up of class roles in a raid, and that’s a valid point. However, the other 75% of WoW isn’t a raid, and that needs to be taken into consideration too… So I’m passed up for a shield that could definitely benefit me… because that ¼ of the game has more precedence? Jeeze, don’t do me any favors.” When individual values and goals don’t match with community’s values and goals… what happens?

Instance requirements: Who gets to go? Casual vs. hardcore… OR those with cultural capital vs. those without?

Implications Must look at player social practice Learning happens socially, through lived experience and practice Coordination needed to succeed in group work Trust among team members crucial What builds trust? specialized roles willingness to fail communication relationships/shared experience goal ability to reflect on goal Sustainable = equitable? game mechanics not enough to predict player behavior learning is social and situational/made meaningful through actual experience coordination needed = trust needed this group teaches us that trust can be built through... valued specialized roles failure seen as opportunity for learning sufficient communication valuing friendship metacognition trophy shot of end boss