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Exploring the Notion of ‘Grinding’ in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Gamer Discourse: The Case of Guild Wars by Nis Bojin M.A. (Communication & Culture), York University, 2005 B.A. (Psychology/Classical Studies Double Major), York University, 2000 Dissertation Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the School of Interactive Arts and Technology Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology © Nis Bojin 2013 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2013 Approval Name: Nis Bojin Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title of Thesis: Exploring the Notion of ‘Grinding’ in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Player Gamer Discourse Examining Committee: Chair: Halil Erhan Assistant Professor (SFU-SIAT) John Bowes Senior Supervisor Professor, Program Director (SFU- SIAT) Suzanne de Castell Co-Supervisor Professor (University of Ontario Institute of Technology) Jim Bizzocchi Supervisor Associate Professor (SFU-SIAT) Carman Neustaedter Internal Examiner Assistant Professor (SFU-SIAT) Sean Gouglas External Examiner Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology (University of Alberta) Date Defended/Approved: May 29, 2013 ii Partial Copyright License iii Ethics Statement The author, whose name appears on the title page of this work, has obtained, for the research described in this work, either: a. human research ethics approval from the Simon Fraser University Office of Research Ethics, or b. advance approval of the animal care protocol from the University Animal Care Committee of Simon Fraser University; or has conducted the research c. as a co-investigator, collaborator or research assistant in a research project approved in advance, or d. as a member of a course approved in advance for minimal risk human research, by the Office of Research Ethics. A copy of the approval letter has been filed at the Theses Office of the University Library at the time of submission of this thesis or project. The original application for approval and letter of approval are filed with the relevant offices. Inquiries may be directed to those authorities. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada update Spring 2010 Abstract The grind in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) has been described by game studies theorists as an inscrutable, paradoxical convergence of work and play (Dibbell, 2006; Yee, 2006), troubling previously held notions about the carefree nature of play as advanced by seminal theorists such as Johan Huizinga (1951). However, despite the recent academic fervor around MMOGs, examinations of the grind offer little insight into why players grind, and even less about what the grind means to its practitioners. Studying the collected forum and interview texts of a six-year old MMOG community, this dissertation adopts a Wittgensteinian approach to discourse analysis in an effort to learn more about the grind and what it means to the players who practice it. This ‘mapping out’ of the grind’s meaning in the Guild Wars community is intended to both start and/or contribute to a dialog in game studies that examines how play can be situated theoretically with respect to phenomena so often construed as undesirable by its players while also providing a functional instrument for others to adopt in their further analysis of this phenomenon. Keywords: game studies; MMOG; grinding; discourse; play iv Dedication To Data, Flix, Niki, Mor Mor, Tanya, my Gramps and my Gran, and of course, my young little Cillian. v Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to offer special thanks to each of the members of my committee for their time and patience during this long and admittedly arduous journey. To Suzanne de Castell for your rigor, patience and wisdom. To Jim Bizzocchi for your enthusiasm and probing dialog. John Bowes for shepherding this whole affair to what has hopefully been a graceful conclusion. To my friend Milena Droumeva, who dragged me kicking and screaming through the last leg of this journey. To my wife and the friends who supported me along the way: Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin, Megan Humphrey, Kathryn Clark, Jennifer Jenson, Morgan Jeske and Nick Taylor. To Ludwig Wittgenstein: for being an inspiration--perhaps the greatest in my academic career. To Bernard Suits: your intellectual gems provoked me to mine for more of them. To Chris Shaw: for getting me through the early stages of the process. And to my dog Witty: for just being there as my little companion through all those hours of the grind. vi Table of Contents Approval ............................................................................................................................. ii Partial Copyright License .................................................................................................. iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iv Dedication .......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. vii List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... x List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xi Glossary .......................................................................................................................... xiii 1. The Quandary of the Grind .................................................................................... 1 1.1. Introduction to MMOGs and Grinding ...................................................................... 1 1.2. Research Question and Objectives ......................................................................... 6 1.2.1. Why Guild Wars? ......................................................................................... 6 1.3. Scope and Rationale of Research ......................................................................... 10 1.4. The Structure of this Dissertation ........................................................................... 13 2. Play and Grinding in MMOGs: A Review of the Literature ............................... 15 2.1. Overview ................................................................................................................ 15 2.2. Theories of Play ..................................................................................................... 15 2.2.1. Play as Culture: Johan Huizinga ................................................................ 17 2.2.2. Play as a Structured Activity: Roger Caillois .............................................. 20 2.2.3. Play as the ‘Lusory Attitude’: Bernard Suits ............................................... 22 2.2.4. Play as Structuring the Subject: Gadamer and Hans ................................. 25 2.2.5. Play as Expression: Bateson and Sutton-Smith ......................................... 29 2.2.6. Play as Disposition: Malaby ....................................................................... 31 2.3. The Grind and the Grinder in MMOGs ................................................................... 33 2.3.1. The Power Gamer ...................................................................................... 34 2.3.2. Instrumentalism, Class and the Capitalist Ethos ........................................ 39 2.4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 45 3. Methodology: Wittgensteinian Discourse Analysis .......................................... 47 3.1. Methodology Overview .......................................................................................... 47 3.2. Data Collection and Coding ................................................................................... 49 3.2.1. Collection and Data Sources ...................................................................... 49 3.2.2. Study Population ........................................................................................ 49 3.2.3. In-Game Conversational Transcripts .......................................................... 51 3.2.4. Research Conversations ............................................................................ 51 3.2.5. Forum Thread Data .................................................................................... 52 3.2.6. Wiki Data .................................................................................................... 52 3.3. Coding .................................................................................................................... 53 3.4. A Methodology to ‘Look and See’... ....................................................................... 57 3.5. Language Games .................................................................................................. 58 3.5.1. The ‘Builder’s Language’ ............................................................................ 59 3.6. Why is it Useful? .................................................................................................... 61 vii 3.6.1. Family Resemblances, Bedrock Practices and Hinge Propositions ........... 62 Family Resemblances ...............................................................................
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