Second Language Socialization in Stronghold Kingdoms

SECOND LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION IN STRONGHOLD KINGDOMS

AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY

SEYED ABDOLLAH SHAHROKNI

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of Teaching and Learning

DECEMBER 2018

To the Faculty of Washington State University:

The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of SEYED

ABDOLLAH SHAHROKNI find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted.

Thomas L. Salsbury, Ph.D., Chair

Sarah N. Newcomer, Ph.D.

Pamela Jean Bettis, Ph.D.

Donald Douglas McMahon, III, Ph.D.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my dear chair, Dr. Tom Salsbury, and wonderful committee members, Dr. Pam Bettis, Dr. Sarah Newcomer, and Dr. Don McMahon. I appreciate your trust in me and this work, what you knew was close to my heart, and your generous support throughout this study.

I would also like to thank my online friends, faction members, and participants. There is no way for me to thank you all, so, as Bear always says, “I prefer to let my captains do the talking.”

You’re great folks—thanks for all the good times we have had together! Your presence in my life has been incredibly virtually real. Thank you!

My heartfelt thanks go to Dr. Joy Egbert, who brought me here, and is the reason for all the wonderful things that have happened to me. Not only did I learn a lot from her as her RA and student, but also I truly en“Joy”ed my time here. Words cannot express how grateful I am for this life-changing opportunity that you kindly gave me.

My special thanks go to my dear professors Dr. Barbara Ward, Dr. Joy Egbert, Dr. Jane Kelly,

Dr. Kelly Puzio, Dr. Pam Bettis, Dr. Chad Gotch, Dr. Kira Carbonneau, and Dr. Suzanne

Anderson, whom I was blessed to be their student and learn from them, not only the course materials but also how to be a caring teacher. Likewise, I offer my sincere gratitude to our department chair, Dr. Tariq Akmal, and staff, Patricia Iulo and Julie Killinger, for doing their best to make us feel safe. Also, my heartfelt thanks go to Kelly McGovern and Nick Sewell in the Office of Graduate Education for all the wonderful work they do to keep us well-managed.

I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to my mother, Fakhrosadat, and (late) father,

Mohammad Hassan, who have always been there for us throughout life hardships and difficult

iii times--your love and support for us have always warmed my heart and inspired me. I also thank my dear brothers, Hamid and Saeed, for their constant support. It has been over three years since we parted, and I have not seen you for over a year. I miss you so much and hope to see you soon.

I specially miss my nephew, Mohammad Taha!

Last but not least, I would like to thank all my dear friends and family in Pullman and the US, who made the years of my stay one of the most beautiful periods of my life journey. I feel so lucky that our paths crossed. I specially thank my dear friend and roommate, Mohamed Elhess, whose company I have enjoyed for more than two years. Thank you all so much!

Go Cougs!

iv SECOND LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION IN STRONGHOLD KINGDOMS

AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY

Abstract

by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, Ph.D. Washington State University December 2018

Chair: Thomas L. Salsbury

This ethnographic case study aims to examine second language socialization (SLS) in a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) called Stronghold Kingdoms (SK). To explore the affordances of this community for SLS, the social dynamics in a faction community during 4 life-time periods, namely, war, post-war peace and life in exile, end of the world, and immigration to a new world were investigated using three methods: observation, analysis of records (in-game forum exchanges), and interview. The results suggested that the norms of the faction community, that is, communication, ccollaboration, skills, support, rules, closeness, trust, status, and shared experiences provided a supportive environment for SLS. Moreover, the results of an interview conducted with one of the faction non-native English speakers (NNES) revealed that the affordances of SK were important in the development and improvement of second language skills. This study offers important implications for second language pedagogy and research.

v TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENT...... iii

ABSTRACT ...... v

LIST OF TABLES ...... viii

LIST OF FIGURES ...... ix

CHAPTER

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...... 1

Objectives and Research Questions ...... 6

Chapter Overview ...... 6

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 9

Second Language Socialization ...... 9

SLS and Sociocultural Theory ...... 11

MMOGS and SLS ...... 13

Past Scholarship: Two Orientations in Research ...... 16

SLS in Online Participatory Communities ...... 16

SLS in VWs and MMOGs ...... 18

Theoretical Framework ...... 21

The Contribution of This Dissertation to the Field ...... 25

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ...... 26

Methodology ...... 26

Setting/Field ...... 29

Participants ...... 33

vi Data Sources ...... 34

Data Analysis ...... 37

Credibility and Trustworthiness/ Potential Limitations ...... 37

Positionality ...... 38

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS ...... 41

Coding ...... 42

Sociocultural Norms ...... 44

Conversation Analysis ...... 77

The Big Picture ...... 84

Interview ...... 86

Final Thoughts ...... 88

Reflexivity...... 91

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION...... 96

Research Questions ...... 96

Contributions to the Field ...... 98

Implications for Practice and Research...... 101

REFERENCES ...... 104

APPENDIX

INTERVIEW PROTOCOL ...... 119

INTERVIEW TEXT ...... 120

DEBATE ...... 125

ABBREVIATION TABLE ...... 130

vii LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 3.1: Participants’ Ranks at the Time of My Entry into the Faction ...... 34

Table 4.1: Data Sources ...... 42

Table 4.2: Coding Sample...... 44

Table 4.3: Major Category and Codes of Collaboration ...... 49

Table 4.4: Major Category and Codes of Skill ...... 50

Table 4.5: Major Category and Codes of Support ...... 54

Table 4.6: Major Category and Codes of Rules ...... 56

Table 4.7: Major Category and Codes of Closeness ...... 58

Table 4.8: Major Category and Codes of Trust ...... 62

Table 4.9: Major Category and Codes of Communication ...... 64

Table 4.10: Major Category and Codes of Status ...... 64

Table 4.11: Major Category and Codes of Shared Experiences ...... 68

Table 5.1: Summary of Faction Norms...... 97

viii LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 1.1: Sword-Marked Villages Indicating Belligerent Terms Between Me and Other Players ...... 2

Figure 2.1: A Male Avatar (Me) Looking at Shelves in the Twinity Welcome Area ...... 14

Figure 2.2: Two Male Avatars (Vahid And Jose) Greeting in the Twinity Welcome Area ...... 14

Figure 3.1: A Fully-built Village ...... 30

Figure 3.2: Attacking an AI Castle ...... 31

Figure 3.3: Part of the UK World Map ...... 31

Figure 3.4: My Game Profile ...... 32

Figure 3.5: In-Game Mail from A Faction Leader to the Members Advising Them of Strategies

(Game IDs Have Been Covered for Privacy) ...... 33

Figure 4.1: Open Coding of the Data in Atlas ti (Original Names Crossed Out for Ethical Reasons) ...... 42

Figure 4.2: Territories Owned by House 2 ...... 45

Figure 4.3: Disease Points Shown by Green Skeletons on the Parish Capital ...... 48

Figure 4.4: A Typical Timed Attack (Three Breakers Hit the Castle Before the Captain Captures or Razes the Village) ...... 50

Figure 4.5: Monk Support ...... 55

Figure 4.6: A Castle (in Collapsed Mode) with A “Message” for Attackers! ...... 59

Figure 4.7: A Parish without A Church ...... 61

Figure 4.8: Fireworks at the End of the Game (Roles of Silk Flying in the Air) ...... 73

Figure 4.9: Model of SK CoP ...... 89

Dedication

To Brown Eagle and all H20 peace-loving members!

“Follow the traders’ way and you will never be led astray.”

~ Pyron D Mystic

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

It was 8:04 on a Wednesday morning in September 2013 when I started playing a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) called Stronghold Kingdoms (SK). After playing on and off for almost two years, I found myself part of a group, a neutral-turned-rogue faction called

Brown Eagle (pseudonym), and in an all-out war against the whole country, the United Kingdom

(UK). I could see red swords on every village (see Figure 1) all around me on the map, meaning that we were on belligerent terms—we were enemies! It was a scary sight, especially for a

“newbie” like me. I did not know how we had become enemies; I only knew that I had accepted an invitation to join a faction, which I had not even known existed, and, all of a sudden, the map changed. Now I could see a few villages marked with flower wreaths, meaning that they were villages owned by allies, and hundreds of other villages marked with swords. Shocked at what I had done, and thinking of leaving the so-called faction, I received a welcome message from the faction general (FG), Morning Destroyer. “Welcome to what? I was ‘farming’ for myself in

Cornwall and was happy,” I thought. Then, I began to receive in-game mails about the war efforts and strategies. These group conversations coordinated the activities of faction members, with players actively contributing to the shared goal of the faction—surviving the relentless onslaught of House 16—Lionheart—and their allies who ruled over the UK. I was now part of this community with its norms and dynamics. I saw myself helping the cause, sending supplies, troops, and monks to the first line of defense, and at the same time, attacking and capturing enemy villages!

Figure 1. Sword-Marked Villages Indicating Belligerent Terms Between Me and Other Players

The next three years for me have been full of such gaming interactions, an exciting journey which has spanned the inception and end of an English-speaking game world as well as immigration to a new English-speaking world. I joined SK following the understanding that my students in a language school were enthusiastically playing it, making me surprised how important it was in their lives and curious how it could shape their language learning. To my astonishment, my low-achieving students were constantly using English to communicate outside the game, assuming high-office roles and leading battles against competing factions and houses.

This level of interaction contrasted with what I knew of my students from their class activities.

They were integral members of a virtual community collaborating to dominate the world! It seemed that the environment of this MMOG brought out the best of language learning qualities that were visibly missing from their experiences in my class!

From an educational standpoint, MMOGs represent a shift from information delivery paradigms to constructivist theories that emphasize social dynamics, collaboration, and designed

experiences (Squire, 2008). This development, which is sometimes referred to as the dichotomy of learning and playing (Cornillie, Clarebout, & Desmet, 2012), helps make learning a less arduous and mechanical activity which can lead to demotivation, and instead has the potential to protect the “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), leading to active and critical learning (Gee, 2003) and functioning as a “gateway through which students can explore a much broader range of knowledge” (Squire & Jenkins, 2003, p. 29).

MMOGs, however, may not always be as welcomed by parents and teachers as they are by many children and students. The concerns that MMOGs can lead to psychosocial tensions, addiction, aggressive feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, waste of time, etc. are certainly valid

(Anderson et al., 2010; Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Bushman, & Huesmann, 2012; Dill, 2009;

Gentile, Bender, & Anderson, 2017; Prensky, 2006). Children being exposed to graphic images, violent scenes, inappropriate language, and hate-mongering scenarios is indeed something to worry about. However, like any technology, MMOGs are only tools which are created and used to serve the purpose of the developers and an intended audience; hence, the technology itself is not to blame when it can be used for useful purposes, including educational ones. Through years of gameplay, I have encountered players who have shared with me how playing the game influenced their lives. For instance, I played with a 13-year-old teenage boy from England who, being a social officer, a player who recruits new players, told me that his role in the game had led to a significant change in his writing skills in a way that led to praise for his writing ability in school. On the other hand, I played with a teenage boy from the US whose parents had

“grounded him” because of his developing a swearing habit through playing with a group of players who “excessively” swore, and the only way for him to position himself as a group member was to act in a similar way. Therefore, it is safe to say that MMOGs in and of

themselves do not pose any dangers for the participants—they are simply tools which need to be properly adopted and used. Furthermore, as Kolo & Baur (2004) stated, MMOGs form a dynamic culture which is no less real than what we know as the culture in real-life; hence, being a member of a virtual group (e.g., a guild) can be very similar to being a member of a club in a school, although one could argue that the two contexts are essentially different, with the former lacking an embodied social interaction component.

SK, the game my students played, is a strategic medieval MMOG (or sometimes referred to as an MMORTS, a massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game) released on

February 27, 2012. In this game, players form alliances and strategize their skills to rule over a medieval-themed world. These alliances, which are known as “Houses,” maintain a social order reflective of the norms of the middle ages. Each House is led by an elected Marshal and comprised of individual factions, each having its own elected leader (see chapter 3). The game is not merely a platform for individual play and gaming prowess but it also requires continued collective efforts and social interactions to overcome the challenges, characteristics which make

MMOGs potential media for education. In addition, SK, like many MMOGs, has other features supporting language learning. Drawing on Gee’s (2003) thirty-six learning principles associated with MMOGs, Palmer (2010) highlights eight principles being directly relevant to language learning. Accordingly, like learning a language, playing an MMOG requires participants to master a semiotic domain through membership in an affinity group. Part of this process is the component of committed learning which is harbored through the participants’ sustained participation, apprenticeship, learning, and action to encounter the challenges of the new environment. Gradually, players develop the identity of a competent member of the community through an ongoing learning process across various modalities and psychosocial moratoriums.

Finally, MMOGs allow participants to form diverse (both in terms of race, gender, sexuality, etc. and geographical location) cultural models through interaction with each other as part of the affinity group.

However, despite the apparent affordances of MMOGs for language education, which have been the focus of much recent research in the field (e.g., Halverson, 2005; Shen &

Williams, 2010; Squire, 2007; Young, 2009; Zhang, Song, Liu, Tang, & Chen, 2017), most of the studies have applied the traditional cognitivist approach to these social environments (Ellis,

2008; Chappelle, 2009; Palmer, 2010; Watson-Gegeo, 2004), failing to capture the sociocultural nature of MMOGs. This practice, which has resulted from the temporal presence and precedence of teaching approaches in the field (Canfield, 2016; Garrett, 2009; Zheng & Newgarden, 2012), a linear transition from behavioral to cognitivist and sociocultural theories, necessitates the application of sociocultural theories such as Schieffelin & Ochs’ (1986) second language socialization (SLS), Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice (CoP), and Lave and Wenger’s

(1991) legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) to appropriately assess the affordances of

MMOGs for language learning. Therefore, this ethnographic case study aims to explore the norms, dynamics, and affordances of an MMOG, SK, from a SLS perspective (Schieffelin &

Ochs, 1986), exploring how non-native English speakers (NNES) in this community acquire linguistic and sociocultural norms (Duff & Talmy, 2011) through interaction with other participants. In other words, this study attempts to explore how NNES socialize into the game community and form the identity of competent members of this social group and the role that language plays in this process.

Objectives and Research Questions

The main goal of this dissertation was to explore how NNES in an MMOG, SK, socialized into the cultural and linguistic norms of the community. To achieve this goal, I attempted to provide an ethnographic account of the three-year journey of a faction, a group of players banded under the same banner, composed of 8 native English speakers (NES) and 2

NNES. This journey spanned four important sequential events in the life of the faction: war against the world, post-war peace and life in exile, the end of the world, and immigration to a new world.

To explore the process of SLS in SK, the following research questions were developed:

1. What are the linguistic and cultural norms and practices of the faction community

in which NNES participated?

2. How does the faction community shape and support the NNES’ development of

linguistic skills?

Chapter Overview

To summarize, in this chapter I briefly introduced the focal ideas, theories, and practices explored in this study. I opened the chapter by drawing upon my own experience as a language educator who noticed his students’ interest in an MMOG, which seemed to engage them more than the class activities did, and the most surprising part of this activity was that they were interacting with NES on a regular basis. Bewildered and curious, I joined the game in search of an answer to why it was so, leading to a three-year journey of gameplay along with many players from around the world. Next, I presented some insights on the possible advantages of MMOGs

in education, and argued that those affordances have not been properly investigated in light of sociocultural theories. Finally, I introduced the theoretical framework of the study, second language socialization (SLS), a second language acquisition (SLA) theory aiming to understand how language learners become competent members of social groups, as a suitable framework to explore the NNES’ experiences in MMOGs and understand how MMOGs can potentially help the process of language learning.

Chapter 2 presents a review of the related literature on SLS in virtual worlds (VWs) in general, and MMOGs in particular. First the SLS, as an approach to SLA, and how MMOGs can be conduits of SLS, will be discussed. Next, the past scholarship relevant to the study of SLS in

VW and MMOG settings will be presented. Then, the theoretical frameworks of the study will be explored. Finally, the contribution of this study to the field of second language teaching and learning will be presented.

Chapter 3 focuses on the methodology of the study, elaborating on the details of setting, participants, procedure, data sources, analysis, credibility, potential limitations, and researcher positionality.

Chapter 4 presents the results of the study. First, the coding process aimed at discovering the sociocultural norms of the faction will be described. Next, the results of a conversation analysis on the exchanges preceding war, aimed at finding the faction linguistic norms, will be presented. Finally, the results of an in-depth interview with a non-native English speaker of the faction will be presented.

Chapter 5 concludes this dissertation by discussing the findings, connecting them to the current literature, revisiting the research questions, and providing implications and suggestions for research and practice.

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents a review of past scholarship in the area of second language socialization (SLS). First, I briefly explore the foundations of SLS. Next, I explore VWs and massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) and the affordances they provide for SLS.

Finally, I survey the literature relevant to the present study.

Second Language Socialization

Language socialization (LS) is a process by which children gain membership, legitimacy, and communicative competence in their sociocultural settings, forming the identity of competent members of their societies (Duff, 2007; Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986). By the same token, second language socialization (SLS) attempts to explore how second language (L2) learners, like children, become competent members of the target community, acquiring the group’s language, values, norms, and practices through language (Brown, 2011; Duff, 2007; Garrett & Baquedano-

Lopez, 2002; Schecter & Bayley, 1997; Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986). As such, the two theories tend to converge on similar principles although SLS takes the complexity of a typical L2 learners’ linguistic, cultural, and discursive repertoire, as a result of acquiring a first language, into account as well (Duff, 2008b; Zuengler & Cole 2005). As its main tenets, SLS highlights the

1) social interaction between the language learner and other community members, 2) the social dynamics of the community in providing novices with support on the community’s shared values and cultural practices, 3) a repertoire of shared resources, 4) a lifelong learning endeavor as one enters different communities throughout his/her life journey, and 5) a nonlinear process with variable socialization outcomes (Duff, 2007). Through foregrounding the linguistic, social, and cultural knowledge that the newcomers in a community gain through interactions with other

community members across various contexts and life stages (Duff, 2007; Duff & Hornberger,

2008; Watson-Gegeo, 2004), SLS, in fact, extends the focus from what Malinowski (1935) terms

“context of situation,” that is, the knowledge of environment where utterances occur, to the participants’ employing the contextual knowledge in relation to the “context of culture”

(Malinowski, 1935, p. 73), that is, the overall genre (Norton & Christie, 1999).

With three decades of research in applied linguistics, SLS is a fairly new area (Duff,

2007; Zuengler & Cole, 2005) in the field, gaining momentum when the sociocultural aspects of second language acquisition (SLA), influenced by the intellectual works of Vygotsky (1978), suddenly became the center of attention in the 1990s’ de facto Chomskyan cognitive atmosphere of the field, which had as its focus the understanding and explanation of learners’ internalization of linguistic structures (Chomsky, 1959). Central to this paradigm shift, as its followers (e.g.,

Watson-Gegeo, 2004) called it, was an “anthropological conviction” (Ochs & Schieffelin, 2012, p. 1) that language was a fundamental part of children’s (and newcomers’) integration into their community, a social component which was missing from the SLA research agenda of the time.

Consequently, the foundation of cognitivist approaches to SLA came under attack by many socially-oriented scholars (e.g., Firth & Wagner, 1997; Frawley & Lantolf, 1984; Lantolf &

Frawley, 1988; Tarone, 1983; van Lier, 1994; Young, 1998) who called, to varying degrees, for the end of cognitivist hegemony. Firth and Wagner’s (1997) controversial call for a social approach to SLA, among others’, received a host of responses in support of (e.g., Hall, 1997;

Liddicoat, 1997; Rampton, 1997), opposition to (e.g., Gass, 1998; Long, 1997), or partial agreement with (e.g., Kasper, 1997; Poulisse, 1997) this “no-quarter assault” (Larsen-Freeman,

2007a, p. 776), leading to the formation of two camps believing in either acquisition or participation (e.g., Sfard, 1998) as the nature of L2 learning.

Certainly, it is safe to say that today, or at least in this dissertation, we are past that historical dispute. I concur with Lantolf (1996) that conflicting views in the field are a healthy sign, and with Larsen-Freeman (1997, 2002, 2003, 2007a, 2007b) that both approaches tend to address valid aspects of this chaotic/complex system, language learning, which is neither psychological nor social in nature but both, that is, “a structured network of dynamic language- using patterns, stored in memory with specific information about instances of use retained in the representation” (2007a, p. 783-784). This dissertation, hence, takes a social approach to SLA, assuming that “acquiring a language is part of a much larger process of becoming a person in society” (Ochs, 2002; p. 106), a process which sees language learners as accommodating, apprenticing to, and resisting the sociocultural norms (Duff & Talmy, 2011) of the community as they form the identity of a legitimate member.

SLS and Sociocultural Theory

Almost all socially-oriented approaches to SLA are influenced, to varying degrees, by the

1930’s works of the Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, and his followers. According to

Lantolf and Thorne (2007), sociocultural theory (SCT) is mainly concerned with the development of human beings over millennia, encompassing not only their individual and communal lives but also their mental functioning. For Vygotsky, mental functioning is a result of one’s interaction with his/her social context (hence a sociocultural cognitive process) which provided the participants with ample situations (through different semiotic systems such as a language and other cultural artefacts) to appropriate and internalize (through scaffolding and mediation) the knowledge shared by the community (hence dialogical and dialectical). Although

SCT has taken different forms over the years (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006), in its core

conceptualization of human development, it is liberating for SLA research, as it reconciles the gap between cognitively- and socially- oriented approaches, as, according to Wertsch (1985),

“the goal of sociocultural research is to understand the relationship between human mental functioning, on the one hand, and cultural, historical, and institutional setting, on the other” (p.

56).

Likewise, SLS is broadly an SCT-inspired approach to SLA. Where SCT, for instance, emphasizes a supportive environment where experiences within a child’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) are provided to encourage children’s individual learning (Berk & Winsler,

1995), SLS mirrors by highlighting the significance of children’s (or newcomers’) social and cognitive development through participation in communities and “structured cooperative interactions” with more socialized members (Ochs 1986, p. 6).

Moreover, SCT is not the only source of influence on SLS; it borrows tenets from other current theories and practices that are also sociocultural in nature. One of the major influences on

SLS comes from Lave and Wenger’s (1991) model of situated learning through legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) in communities of practice (CoP). According to this model, learning occurs through a period of participation in a social setting (that is, a community of practice) where newcomers, accessing the shared resources of the group, interact with more experienced members of the community, developing from less-demanding (peripheral) tasks and skill sets to more complicated ones associated with those of an old-timer. In fact, this theory has formed the nucleus of SLS research over the past years, with researchers exploring how L2 learners gain the target community’s membership and legitimacy through participation in joint enterprises where newcomers and old-timers interact (Duff, 2007).

MMOGS and SLS

MMOGs are one of the most normalized1 (Shen & Williams, 2010; Squire, 2007;

Young, 2009) types of VWs, simulated environments supporting high-fidelity three-dimensional

(3D) representations of real-world textures, sounds, and settings (Delwiche, 2006; Guichon &

McLornan, 2008; Grasser, Pearson, Lu, & Jeon, 2005; Kim, Lee, & Thomas, 2012; Robbins,

2007; van der Land, Schouten, van Deusen-Scholl, Feri & Dixon, 2005; van Hoof, & Feldberg,

2011). These worlds are online communities where users can interact and manipulate or create objects in simulated environments (Bishop, 2009), with virtual characters (avatars), exploring social spaces, such as a restaurant, and engaging in social activities through a variety of multi- modal a/synchronous communication tools such as 3D chats. The richness of environment makes one feel s/he is “there” (Kim et al., 2012), navigating an avatar-habitant virtual space (see

Figure 1) similar to a real-world environment and interacting with other avatar-participants towards a goal (Dalgarno & Lee, 2010).

1 Normalization is a concept proposed by Bax (2003), referring to a stage at which technology becomes an invisible part of our everyday life.

Figure 1. A Male Avatar (me) Looking at Shelves in the Twinity Welcome Area

Regardless of world type, whether goal-oriented commercial 3D games (e.g., World of

Warcraft), social virtualities (e.g., Second Life), or educational tasks (e.g., Quest Atlantis), in these worlds, there is always a sociocultural thread linking the virtual dwellers (Karlsen, 2004), gathering them in guilds, setting them off on quests, or simply having them hang out in a virtual coffee shop. In all these situations, social relationships develop alongside the demands of the

VW, with avatars using a/synchronous means of communication to interact (or survive).

Figure 2. Two Male Avatars (Vahid And Jose) Greeting in the Twinity Welcome Area

MMOGs, by extension, are highly immersive 3D VWs through which geographically distant players from around the world connect and collectively perform tasks (quests) in a dominant socially-driven gameplay genre, such as general fantasy lore (e.g., World of Warcraft), medieval castle life (e.g., SK), civil life (e.g., The Sims Online), first-person action shooters (e.g.,

Counter Strike), etc. Although MMOGs have as their focus the completion of quests, the content is not limited to entertainment per se, as the game represents a dynamic culture in its entire social integrity, not being less real than the so-called real life (Kolo & Baur, 2004). Therefore, as playing in an MMOG requires collaborative and meaningful interactions among the members in an affinity group, MMOGs offer special opportunities for SLS (Rama, Black, Es, & Warschauer,

2012). Like in real world communities, MMOG players form groups out of necessity, mature from shared experiences, and collaborate towards the accomplishment of mutual goals (Palmer,

2010; Squire, 2005). In these communities, novices, upon joining the group, are supported by more experienced members, and, once they acquire enough skills, they will be tasked with community responsibilities, serving as, for instance, marshals, generals, officers, representatives, diplomats, and mentors. Of course, through this process, the members both receive support from high-ranking members of the community and provide it to other low-ranking members. The social relations formed in the community are often so strong that the participants not only cannot quit the game but also they pursue them as real-world friendships in a way that playing the game becomes a permanent life-time activity for many gamers (Kendall, 2002; Schroeder, 1999).

Interestingly, Yee (2006), in his survey of 30,000 online gamers, found that about 25% of the participants reported that they had had their most satisfying experience during the previous week in a gaming rather than a real-life situation, and 18% expressed the same for the occurrences during the previous month. It is very interesting to see how gaming could impact gamer’s lives.

Past Scholarship: Two Orientations in Research

Before I start reviewing past scholarship, it is worth mentioning that research in SLS has generally followed two tracks (Duff, 2007; Ochs, 1992, 2009): indexicality and communities of practice (CoP). The first orientation has taken a linguistic-semiotic-anthropological approach to analyzing the language produced by participants new to a community, identifying the discourse markers showing that a language learner indexes him/herself as a member of a sociolinguistic context. For instance, Lam (2004) found that the participants in her study, two Chinese immigrant students in Canada, used Cantonese particles ar (indicating softening of tone) and la

(indicating requests) at the end of their English utterances in a bilingual chatroom environment to mark their Chinese background and affiliate with the group. The indexicality track, then, has relied on micro-analysis of sociocultural knowledge and practices in interactions to identify socialization patterns. The latter orientation, CoP, however, has focused on a macro-social analysis of the process through which a newcomer in a community of practice (Lave & Wenger,

1991) gains membership and legitimacy in that sociocultural setting. For instance, Black (2006) investigated how a Chinese immigrant student in the US was able to designate herself as a legitimate member of a fanfiction community by actively participating in the group activities and using the shared resources while receiving support from other members in the process. With this brief introduction, I will now attempt to review past scholarship relevant to the purpose of this dissertation.

SLS in Online Participatory Communities

The first group of studies in this review explore the potential of online communities in supporting SLS. Ethnographies of these environments and discourse analyses of the exchanged

messages show that the participants developed the identities of legitimate and respected members of the community (Black, 2005, 2006; Lam, 2004), with this status further leading to the participants’ increased confidence and handling the linguistic and pragmatic problems they had in their face-to-face (F2F) classes (Nguyen & Kellogg, 2005). For instance, Black (2006), as mentioned earlier, explored how a teenage Chinese girl in the US, Tanako Nanako, having a poor

English proficiency to integrate into her school community, and, hence, struggling in school subjects and making friends, resorted to a fanfiction online community where she actively read and wrote anime stories in English. Her sustained participation in the community and receiving support and scaffolding from fellow writers ultimately enabled her to establish herself as a successful bilingual Asian writer. For instance, in one of the comments she received on her character, Meiling, from a more experienced community member, she was humorously, and with reference to the plot of the story (I’ll strangle you), encouraged to continue her writing:

Meiling is so evil! Ha! Don’t stop if you do I’ll strangle you! Haha! (p. 180) Lam (2004), in a seminal study, explored how group dynamics and affiliation could lead to a member’s socialization in a bilingual chatroom. In her study, two immigrant Chinese girls,

Yu Qing and Tsu Ying, feeling isolated in the new community, joined a bilingual (Chinese-

English) chatroom where they interacted with other bilingual interlocutors. The researcher found that the participants were initially inclined to use the Internet for playing games and downloading music, but, as they participated in the chat community and interacted with others, they gradually overcame their fear and started practicing their English and making friends. The results of this eight-month study showed that Yu and Tsu developed the identities of legitimate members of the

community, code-switching between Cantonese and English whenever necessary, which designated them as bilingual-immigrants. For instance, the participants employed Cantonese particles ar and la, indicating respectively the softening of the tone and requests, in their writing to affiliate with the bilingual community in which they were participating:

A. can’t send mail to u ar (the Cantonese particle indicates softening the tone of utterance) B. next time give my (sic: me) your add la (the Cantonese particle indicates request) (p. 55) Furthermore, the results of the interview suggest that the participant's’ virtual identity transferred to real-world situations where they could confidently handle the communicative problems they once encountered in their F2F interactions. Yu, for instance, said that her participation in the chatroom made her realize that “making mistakes” and producing “a lot of wrong words” was “no big deal” (p. 51). Finally, calling for more globalized research into language socialization, the researcher stated that local contexts tend to marginalize people while new technologies and participatory discourses such as chats could be liberating.

SLS in VWs and MMOGs

The second group of studies reviewed here examined the potential of VWs and MMOGs for SLS. VWs have been found effective in encouraging the process of SLS and, by extension, developing language skills. For instance, Zheng et al. (2009) found that the interactions between

NNES and NES in Quest Atlantic (QA), an educational problem-solving VW for teenagers, resulted in language development, enhancing the appropriateness of the language the participants produced both at utterance and discourse levels. For instance, in the interview, a participant said,

“QA helped me with my learning English, especially in language use and communication. My spoken English has improved, so has my ability to act according to circumstances” (p. 504), which indicates that participation in the CoP while solving game-based quests has the potential

to improve the language learners’ linguistic and pragmatic skills. The researchers coined the term

“negotiations for action” (p. 489), a reference to Long’s (1985, 1996) negotiation for meaning

(NfM), to capture the essence of group participation and coordination towards the accomplishment of communal goals in a CoP.

Likewise, Palmer (2010), for her dissertation research, conducted a study on L2 pragmatic socialization in an MMOG called World of Warcraft (WoW). Through ethnography and discourse analysis, she investigated the use of general speech acts (e.g., greetings, leave- takings, request for help, and suggestions), pragmatic moves (e.g., negotiation for loot allocation, and pragmatic situations (e.g., refusals and gendered interactions) that the participants encountered while playing the game. There were two main participants in the study: the researcher herself and a Spanish-speaking faction member, Hector. The researcher, a skilled

WoW gamer and NES, decided to learn Spanish by playing in a Spanish game world, which she found a rich supportive environment for language development. As she was a skilled gamer in

English worlds, she soon designated herself as a competent player, someone to whom other community members turned for support. This condition brought her new obligations and required her to be responsive to fellow gamers who spoke Spanish. Initially, her responses were low-risk, but, as time passed, she was able to make more complex sentences in a variety of contexts:

By appropriating the pragmatic moves… we not only helped create our player identities in Spanish, but also gave ourselves the power to exercise our agency and initiate group activities and the linguistic finesse to adhere to cultural norms during loot allocation. (p. 238)

This study showed that active participation in the game CoP could lead to a player’s identity development, just as the researcher in the study was able to gain membership and legitimacy among Spanish-speaking players, being able to appropriate a host of speech acts and pragmatic moves required of a competent player.

In yet another study, Shahrokni, Salsbury, Bettis, Newcomer, & McMahon (in review) explored the process of SLS in SK. Using a case study methodology and three data collection measures, records of gamer’s conversational forum exchanges and interview, the researchers found that success in the game was mainly dependent on communication and coordination

(32.95%), gaming skills (22.88%), dedication (14.66%), conduct (16.59%), and real-life conversations (12.89%). Besides, the results showed that group participation and assumption of social responsibilities in the game allowed the main participant, Emil, a Serbian skilled gamer in an English-speaking game world, develop linguistic skills required to play the game legitimately and be known as a competent member of the community. For instance, answering a question on why he kept playing the game for 5 years, he, showing his zeal in being part of a multicultural community, said (incorrect spellings and grammatical forms are intentionally left intact):

Emil: I think the most interesting part was a feeling that I comunicaet and play with people that are all over the wourld but in game at the same time with me! I also start to participate in TS [TeamSpeak] activities, I was comunication with people from USA, G Britain, China, Holand, France...I was talking to theese people, geting to know them, see how they react and think about situations in game and problems in game...one player told me on TS that when we talk about some things from past, how we make war back in past that he feels like ``war veteran``...well, probably is the close filing must say (Interview, 2017)

The results further suggest that the participants’ focus on accomplishing the group’s shared goals prioritized actions over linguistic skills, allowing Emil to appropriate his language

in a supportive environment where he shared his gaming skills and apprenticed to the linguistic norms of the group in the process. For example, when Jack, one of Emil’s NES members of the faction, was asked about Emil’s leadership skills, he provided the following about his lack of a native-like English proficiency:

Jack: Playing online games means interaction with people of other languages. And i figured out that just asking for the meaning if you don’t unterstand the meaning is the best way to communicate. You always find a way to speak together. (Focus group, 2017) Therefore, in line with Long (1996), interaction among faction members facilitates the process of SLA through modifications in discursive exchanges, providing the L2 learners with sufficient comprehensible input to develop their linguistic repertoire.

The studies reviewed in this chapter generally provided positive evidence on the affordances of online communities and VWs (including MMOGs) for SLS. Based on the literature, it appears that being a member of a virtual community and interacting with the members towards the accomplishment of the shared goals while accessing the community’s shared resources tends to provide the participants with a host of opportunities for learning, identity development, and socialization, transforming language learning into a more authentic, engaging, and meaningful experience.

Theoretical Framework

In this section, I present the theoretical framework of the study, second language socialization (SLS) and its two constituent sub-theories, communities of practice (CoP) and legitimate peripheral participation (LPP).

Second Language Socialization (SLS). This dissertation is framed in a tradition of research on SLS (e.g., Duff, 2007; Duff & Talmy, 2011; Ochs, 2002; Ochs & Schieffelin, 2001;

Ochs & Schieffelin, 2012; Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986). Essentially, SLS is a first language (L1) acquisition theory that explores how children, as newcomers in their societies, socialize into the norms of their cultures (Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986). In SLA research, likewise, language socialization (LS) research explores the process through which an L2 learner socializes into the norms of the L2 community, gaining membership, legitimacy, and linguistic competence (Duff

& Talmy, 2011). This nonlinear process may have unpredictable outcomes, with some learners accommodating the social norms more easily and some resisting them, especially with L2 learners who affiliate with the cultural norms and practices of their first (or other) language cultures.

Similarly, MMOGs have a dynamic culture, with many geographically-scattered players coming together as teammates (faction players). These multi-cultural communities have their own norms with which the players should affiliate so that they are considered competent members. There are social responsibilities to be assumed by community members so that the coordinated play of the team leads to shared goals. For instance, in SK, when a new player joins a faction, s/he needs to abide by the norms and regulations of the community. Some of these norms are considered general knowledge and veteran players know them. For instance, a veteran player knows that “scouting” another player’s village is a hostile act which can lead to conflict.

However, some of the norms are specific to factions. For example, our faction has a rule that each member needs to login to the game at least three times a week, repair possible damages caused by computerized enemies, vote, and station 400 troops (250 archers and 150 pikemen) in the castle so that it cannot be scouted or captured in a surprise attack when they are offline. In

order to socialize into the norms of this community, it is imperative to communicate with the faction members, learn the rules, and serve the communal goals. Therefore, SLS can provide a useful theoretical framework for SLA research (Ellis, 2008; Kasper & Rose, 2002; Watson-

Gegeo, 2004; Watson-Gegeo & Nielson, 2003) in MMOGs, examining how language skills can shape and, simultaneously, be shaped by one’s socialization into the community.

Communities of Practice (CoP). Wenger’s (1998) CoP theory meshes well with the tenets of SLS. According to Gee, 2003, MMOGs are affinity groups where players from different backgrounds (races, languages, genders, skills, beliefs, socio-economic statuses, etc.) come together, form groups, and collaborate towards the accomplishment of shared goals. This requires the players’ active participation in a community that has shared goals and threats, uniting them in the face of challenges. Therefore, MMOGs can be considered CoP where participants have “shared experience over time, and a commitment to shared understanding”

(Eckert, 2006, p. 1). For example, the following message, which was posted to the faction bulletin board as part of “House Business,” shows that the community is in a constant interactive dialogue and, hence, learning policies and procedures:

We have a confirmed addition to House Procedures concerning members of house gov't having alternates to cover their spot, should they have to attend to their real-life. It is as follows: -Alternates: The senior most Faction General will be the Vice-Executive of the House Government, and shall act in this office when the House Marshal is absent or unavailable for a period of more than seven days. Furthermore, Council Members are to choose alternates from house membership to take their place, should they be absent for a period of time that exceeds seven days. These Alternates take the place of the officer until the absentee can return, and assume their normal duties. The Council Member Alternate shall be nominated by the relative officer, approved by the Ruling Council through simple- majority, confirmed by the House Marshal, and then ratified by House Membership. All members have one-week to object to this before it is ratified. Thank you all

(Records, 2017) Therefore, the theory of CoP serves as a constituent part of the SLS framework in this study. As was stated earlier, this orientation has traditionally taken a macro-level analysis of the

SLS process by focusing on how community members collaborate towards the accomplishment of communal goals.

Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP). Finally, Lave & Wenger’s (1991) legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) theory also informs the theoretical framework of this dissertation. According to this framework, learning occurs through social interaction between novices (less proficient) and legitimate (more proficient) members of the community. Through this interaction, accordingly, novices will apprentice to the norms of the community, and

“gradually assemble a general idea of what constitutes the practice of the community” (p. 95), and pass on this knowledge to other novices. In other words, a new member (a novice), due to his/her low competence, is initially peripheral in a community; however, they will gradually evolve to fill a central position in that community. Researchers (e.g., Delwiche, 2006; Palmer,

2010) argue that MMOGs provide many opportunities for situated learning and LLP. For instance, when a player joins SK, they are spawned in the game as a “village idiot” who is in control of a small unpopulated village. Gradually, however, the player learns the strategies to develop the village, defend it, acquire more villages, join factions, assume group responsibilities, and be a team player.

Therefore, LLP constitutes a useful theory to inform the theoretical framework of this dissertation. Through this framework, I can explore how a NNES’s linguistic knowledge develops in a way that s/he can interact effectively with other community members. Besides the acquisition of gaming skills, this theory can productively help investigate how a NNES’s

language skills evolve to a point that s/he moves from a peripheral position to a central one in the community.

The Contribution of This Dissertation to the Field

MMOGs have a great potential to be used in educational settings in general, and language learning in particular. According to Prensky (2001), learning through games is a unique experience because they are fun (providing enjoyment), playful (providing involvement), rule- governed (providing structure), goal-oriented (providing motivation), interactive (providing social groups and collaboration), outcomes-based and feedback-laden (providing learning), adaptive (providing flow), competitive (providing ego satisfaction), challenging (providing excitement), and fictional (providing emotions). However, as with every new technology,

MMOGs have not been sufficiently researched. Each issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds

Research reveals fascinating insights about these potential educational tools, with some calling games “the medium of the twenty-first century” (Pearce, Boellstorff, & Nardi, 2011, p. 66) or

“the future of learning” (Shaffer, Squire, Halverson, & Gee, 2005, p. 10).

Hence, this study, answering Lam’s (2004) call for more globalized research on SLS in virtual social spaces, Palmer’s (2010) call for more studies on SLS in MMOGs, Chappelle’s

(2009) call for diversifying the theoretical base of SLA research through sociocultural approaches, and Reinhardt & Sykes (2012) and Peterson’s (2016) for further sociocultural studies on the affordances of MMOGs, attempts to explore the affordances of an MMOG, SK, for

SLS. It is worth mentioning that the selection of this MMOG results from my own positionality and the game itself is not the focus of this research (but the dynamic community created through it).

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY This chapter describes the methodological aspects of this dissertation, including methodology, setting, participants, data collection methods, researcher positionality, and credibility.

Methodology

Research into SLS has traditionally been conducted through ethnographies (Duff &

Talmy, 2011) to “incorporate the relevant macro- and micro-dimensions of context” (Watson-

Gegeo, 2004, p. 341). With its origin in anthropology, ethnography is one of the oldest qualitative methodologies which provides detailed, emic, and holistic descriptions of cultural behaviors (Dörnyei, 2007). In its most basic form, according to Hammersley and Atkinson

(1995), ethnography:

“... involves the ethnographer participating, overtly or covertly, in people's daily lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking questions - in fact, collecting whatever data are available to throw light on the issues that are the focus of the research." (p.1) Ethnographic research, hence, primarily involves “intensive, detailed observations of a setting over a long period of time” (Watson-Gegeo, 1988, p. 583) as well as in-depth interviews with participants to develop an insider perspective and a thick description of the patterns within that particular cultural setting (Geertz, 1973; Glesne, 2016).

There are mixed views regarding the use of ethnographic methods in VW research.

Although ethnographic research is potentially not specific to real-world contexts, as virtual spaces espouse their own unique culture (Boellstorff, 2008), the fact that a virtual space cannot physically be attended, with researchers observing the setting and communicating with real

people, is a bone of contention (Hine, 2000, 2008). Some (e.g., Bloomfield, 2009; Castronova,

2006) even go as far as claiming that ethnographic research is irrelevant, anecdotal, and doomed to extinction, with the data obtained ethnographically being sidelined until quantitative data support them (Boellstorff, Nardi, Pearce, & Taylor, 2012). On the other hand, some researchers

(e.g., Boellstorff, 2008; Boellstorff et al., 2012; Guimarães, 2005; Hine, 2008; Kolo & Baur,

2004) believe that ethnographic work can suitably be transformed to VW settings, as VWs are

“legitimate sites of culture” (Boellstorff, 2008, p. 61) and represent a dynamic cultural setting as real as real life (Kolo & Baur, 2004). Likewise, Boellstorff et al. (2012, p. 6) state that

“ethnography is a flexible, responsive, methodology, sensitive to emergent phenomena [virtual cultures] and emergent research questions. There can be no argument for privileging certain locales or modes of study.” In this study, likewise, I will consider a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) a legitimate site of culture and employ ethnographic methods to research it. In other words, drawing upon Reingold’s (1993) and Hine’s (2000) terms, this study is a virtual ethnography.

The role of researcher in a virtual ethnography is also unique in its own right. Similar to real-life fields, a VW field needs to be attended but not in a conventional manner—virtual ethnographers do not travel to (distant) places and embark upon observing the other (Hine,

2000); rather, it is necessary to have a virtual identity, an avatar, and live in that community

(Pearce, 2009). In an imaginative 3D terrain, somewhere on the hard disk of a server, avatars live among other unreal personae, embodied as humans (or other creatures), dressed in special attires, and possibly carrying special gear. It is both unreal and, at the same time, very real. The avatars do not reveal any clues about a player's real-life characteristics (e.g., whereabouts, occupation, contact details), but the ethnographer may not need these pieces of information to be able to

write field notes and conduct interviews with the them; rather, the goal is to be part of that community and see the interaction patterns in their unreality (Palmer, 2010), hoping, throughout the game, somehow one is granted access to hidden layers of the culture. For instance, when I first joined a faction in SK, I only knew players by their avatars. The avatar revealed information on the players’ ranks, gender, assets, achievements, quests, indicating their gaming prowess.

However, when our faction came under attack by House 16, and coordinated actions became vital to our survival, my faction members shared more than game-related issues, as they considered the group a safe zone. I became one of them and, in the words of Geertz (2005) when raided by the police while watching the Balinese cockfight, the “village was a completely different world for us” (p. 58). For instance, I learned that some of the faction players had many alternative accounts (alts) which helped them reinforce each other. Interestingly, I gathered that a female player whom I, per her request, had supplied with weapons in the past, had been a male player with a female alt!

Therefore, I chose ethnography as the methodology for this study because it meshed well with both a tradition of SLS research and the exploration of emergent cultures of VW communities. Ethnographic methods (please see below) would enable me to be immersed as a participant-observer in a dynamic culture, be part of the life events of a community, develop a profound understanding of what it was like to be in different communal terms with both faction members and other competing factions and houses (e.g., war, peace, or neutral), follow my participants, and develop insights into their feelings and socialization experience.

Setting/Field

This dissertation was conducted in the context of SK, a strategic MMOG featuring a 3D simulation of a hierarchical society of medieval times. The game, which has a population of five million active players based on the most recent estimates (Kingdoms Mobile Gameplay | Firefly

Studios, 2016), one roughly similar to that of a real-world country such as Norway with a population of 5,258,317 (Population - SSB, 2017), was awarded the Best Strategy Download

MMO--MMO of the Year (Best online games of 2012, n.d.) in 2012. The players join the game by creating a free account on the game website2, download the client (for PC, Mac, Android, or iOS), and choose a server/world. Currently, there are 77 worlds from which players can choose

(15 worlds in English, 11 worlds in German, 11 worlds in Russian, 7 worlds in French, 8 worlds in Polish, 8 worlds in Spanish, 6 worlds in Italian, 7 worlds in Turkish, and 4 worlds in

Portuguese). I played an English world for five years until it ended in August 2017. The game gathered players speaking English as a native language or using it as a means of communication.

When first entering the game, participants are spawned in as a village idiot, the lowest rank, and provided with a small unpopulated village to run. This idle village requires immediate action, both economic and military. Economically, the village industries to produce resources

(wood, stone, iron, and tar), food (apple, cheese, meat, fish, bread, and ale), weapons (pike, sword, shield, bow, and catapult), and banqueting goods (venison, salt, wine, clothes, furniture) need to be constructed. Along with these, town (housing, entertainment, religious, and decorative) buildings should be constructed to help attract people to come and live in the castle.

2 http://www.strongholdkingdoms.com

When there is enough food, shelter, and jobs, and people are happy (see Figure 1), the player still needs to conduct research in the areas industry, farming, education, and military to enhance the quality of life for the people of the village. Through strategic completion of research tasks, the players gain skills and experience in the game, and they will get access to the aforementioned buildings, leading to popularity and honor boosts.

Figure 1. A Fully-built Village After overcoming the economic challenges, the military development begins—the player now is to deal with the many enemy artificial intelligence (AI) targets on the map (see Figure 2), which destabilize the parish by sporadically attacking, ransacking, and pillaging the village. In addition to this important task, the player also needs to perform several graded quests to harness his/her gaming prowess, achieve medals, and rise through the ranks, from a Village Idiot (1) to

Crown Prince (23), which will enable the player to purchase/capture more villages and have vassals.

Figure 2. Attacking an AI Castle This description, however, merely reflects the individual aspect of SK; the world is home to thousands of players owning multiple villages and being in communal relations (e.g., trading) with each other (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Part of the UK World Map Clicking/tapping on each village on the map displays the profile (see Figure 4) of the player owning that village. The profile reveals the player’s avatar, coat of arms, achievements, quests, number and location of villages, and faction and house affiliation (if any). Moreover,

there is a send a message icon at the bottom of the interface which can be used to contact the player textually.

Figure 4. My Game Profile The community life of a player, however, starts with a player joining a faction, a group of

40 players, participating in (parish, county, and country) elections, serving as liege lords or vassals, and affiliating to one of the 20 competing Houses which strive to rule the world. As dominating the world is a challenging shared goal, the factions banded under a House, are required to participate actively among themselves and with other factions, following faction and

House regulations—a government. For this purpose, a network of communication channels (e.g., the in-game textual mail interface and/or external third-party text/audio applications such as

Discord and TeamSpeak) and roles (e.g., marshals, generals, officers, diplomats, and representatives) are required to ascertain that there is coordination among all the parties in an alliance (see Figure 5). Through this coordinated play, the colors of the map change, indicating

the dominance of the (color-coded) Houses. Finally, the game ends with one House emerging victorious through five ages (rounds) of gameplay, each with new challenges and rules.

Figure 5. In-Game Mail from A Faction Leader to the Members Advising Them of Strategies (Game IDs Have Been Covered for Privacy)

Participants

The participants in this research were a community of 8 native English speakers (NES) and 2 non-native English speakers (NNES). The former group were from English-speaking countries, two male participants from England, and 5 male and 1 female participants from the

US. In the latter group, there was a female participant from Sweden and a male participant from

Egypt. All participants were considered experienced, as they had played more than two years together, although joining the faction at varying degrees of competence (see Table 1). These players had a common story spanning four stages of gameplay. First, over a political issue, they were dragged into an all-out war with the dominant House—the ruler—of the world. Next, having lost their territory, they had to separate for a period of time before the age changed. Then, they reunited and formed a neutral House which gathered all the non-warring players. Finally, the world ended, and they decided to immigrate to a new world, where they are currently playing. I, likewise, have been part of this community for more than three years, and this dissertation will focus on this three-year journey.

Table 1. Participants’ Ranks at the Time of My Entry into the Faction

No. Name From Rank

1 Morning Destroyer England Crown Prince (23)

2 Mire England Prince (22)

3 Middo Egypt Marquis (20)

4 Tikeno Sweden Countess (19)

5 Jennifer US Dame (16)

6 Treld US Knight (16)

7 Bear US Knight (16)

8 Justin US Duke (21)

9 King US Prince (22)

10 Golden US Viscount (18)

11 Vahid (researcher) Iran Earl (19)

Data Sources This project was informed by three data sources: observation, records/artefacts, and interview.

Observation. As a research method, observation refers to the “systematic recording of observable phenomena or behavior in a natural setting” (Gorman, & Clayton, 2005, p. 40). This method is employed by various methodologies from quantitative research, as a way to make sense of natural phenomena, to qualitative research, as a way to describe social and cultural

norms and dynamics. Ethnographic research, specifically, relies heavily on observation which enables researchers to devote attention to the setting, use their senses, take field notes, and write thick descriptions of the culture into which they enter. Therefore, in this study, I conducted observations of the field, looking for exploratory data on the community cultural norms, and participant behaviors in various stages of the game.

Being a participant-observer, and having been with the faction for three years, I was well included in the community and in rapport with all members, that is, I was a full-time resident of this community (Schensul, Schensul, & LeCompte, 1999). This was both advantageous and disadvantageous. It was advantageous because I had access to naturalistic data—nobody acted differently in my presence—I was one of them. They also knew that I was conducting my PhD research on the side and were/have been responsive to my occasional questions. On the other hand, there was a risk that I was so immersed in the culture that I might be blind to the data that an outsider might perceive as valuable. To take heed of my bias, then, as Bernard (1994) suggests, I needed to remove myself from the field to be able to write about it. Furthermore, as I included other data sources in the study, I was able to diversify the knowledge base of the study through data triangulation.

As to the procedure of data collection, I relied on what Angrosino and DePerez (2000) consider a “selective observation” in which the ethnographer focuses on select activities in the community (p. 677). Framed in SLS, my observation attended to the sociocultural norms of the community which allowed a NNES to develop his/her linguistic skills.

Records/artefacts. In MMOGs, players interact over forums and chat servers to coordinate their actions. As these social venues store valuable data on community participation, I

analyzed the discourse in community threads through the Atlas ti qualitative data analysis software. The rationale for this phase of research was to develop a formal survey of the field, looking for patterns related to SLS. The combination of observation and analysis of records helped the design process of the interview protocol as well.

Because the world ended in August 2017, I was required to collect the records of our faction/house messages before the game ended. Due to the sheer size of the task and the growing number of messages exchanged momentarily, I created multiple video clips (103.13 minutes) of all the messages using a free screen-capturing software3 while loading them when the game had frozen. Later, I converted the video clips to frames (216,576 images) through a free converter4.

Finally, I extracted the text from the images using a free online optical character recognition

(OCR) tool5. This procedure allowed me to create a text-based repertoire of the data which could be fed into and analyzed by Atlas ti (see Chapter 4).

Interview. Having identified possible SLS themes based on the results of the two previous data sources, observations and analysis of records, I created a semi-structured interview protocol to tap the identified themes and inquire for more information about the SLS process, with specific reference to the participants’ (game) life journey. To cover all areas, the protocol included items corresponding to six groups of questions: structural, experiential, comparison, hypothetical, behavioral, and phenomenological items (Glesne, 2015, see Appendix A).

3 Ezvid (https://www.ezvid.com) 4 Free Video to JPG Converter (https://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-Video-to-JPG-Converter.htm) 5 Free Online OCR (http://www.newocr.com)

Data Analysis

In order to analyze the observational field notes and interview transcripts, I relied upon the Atlas ti software to organize the data for coding. At the beginning stages of the research, I came up with codes based on the title of chat threads (e.g., activity thread), but, as the research progressed, especially through analyzing the records (see below), I refined my codes and came up with more representing codes and categories for the data. In other words, through grouping and renaming in Atlas ti, the codes evolved as each phase of data collection was completed.

In order to analyze the records, I conducted two levels of coding—open and axial

(Saldaña, 2015). First, I conducted the open coding of the in-game faction messages. Through this phase of analysis, the transcripts of data served as primary documents in the Atlas ti software, and I developed codes (see Chapter 4, Figure 1.). After this stage, I tried to find relationships between the generated codes and transform them into categories and concepts (see

Chapter 4, Table 1.). The purpose of this stage of data analysis was to discover the sociocultural norms of the community, aiming at answering the first research question, and later using this information as part of the interview to answer the second research question.

Credibility and Trustworthiness/ Potential Limitations

The first credibility measure aimed at collecting the most accurate data was my five-year gaming experience. I have been playing the game for a long time and know the setting very well.

Furthermore, over these years, I have risen through the ranks and positioned myself as a high- ranking player who can enter closed circles and be trusted. Therefore, it was easy for me to be both a “fly on the wall” (Howe & Eisenhart, 1990) and a participant-researcher. However, despite the benefits of this stance, there was a limitation to assuming both roles—being biased in

interpretation. To address this limitation, I tried to minimize the risks of this possible limitation through member checks and peer debriefing (Lincoln & Guba, 1994) throughout the study. I had about 10% of my data inter-coded by a colleague. I also presented my participants with my data analysis to make certain that our accounts did not differ. The second credibility measure was to triangulate three data sources. The sequence of data collection progressively developed into a more representative picture of SLS in SK. In addition, throughout different phases, I relied upon inter-coder checks to ascertain about the accuracy of the data I was coding. Finally, in writing the report, I drew from experiences (positionality and reflexivity) in understanding what was taking place and strove for clarity in my thick description while relating the findings of each data source, allowing the readers to judge for themselves the credibility of the findings.

Positionality

Having studied English Literature as an undergraduate, and touched by the fascination and beauty one can find in literary works, I felt the need for something of the same satisfying degree but with more dynamicity. With that in mind, I entered the teaching profession. I have always been familiar with the world of teaching as I have been brought up by two elementary school teachers—my parents. I have witnessed how lives can change with caring words and sincere acts of teachers. I was ready to live up to that example. As such, I settled on teaching

English as a foreign language (TEFL) and found a special interest in computer-assisted language learning (CALL).

Throughout my BA studies, I found a growing interest in computer technology, especially creating websites. With this interest, and my part-time job as a secretary at the university language teaching center (LTC), I created a website for English students as well as

language learners. My purpose was to collect and computerize a variety of learning and teaching resources such as language skills development materials and literary criticism pages. As I witnessed the amount of positive feedback on the website guestbook as well as the rising page visit counts, I became interested in discovering other advanced forms of online instruction.

During my MA program, I took the opportunity to delve into SLA theories. Surprisingly,

I learned that the application of computer technology in language teaching was a full-fledged research agenda. I started researching the potentials of CALL in 2008 when I carried out my

Master’s study on the effect of online textual, pictorial, and textual-pictorial glosses on incidental vocabulary learning of Iranian Elementary EFL Learners. I created a website for that purpose, computerized some reading texts, and coded the page so that when the mouse pointer hovered over the target words in the study, a small window exposing definitions in textual, pictorial, or textual-pictorial modes appeared on the screen. As my first serious research experience, this provided me with a tangible understanding of online learning. Seeing the participants enthusiastically engaged in reading computerized texts gave me the feeling of being able to make a change.

Through my years of teaching, I always came across situations where some students, mostly teenagers and adults, showed weak and intermittent participation in class activities. As the teacher of the class, I could tell when they were not following class activities. For instance, I could see that their attention shifted from class activities to their cell phones, or repeatedly left the class. It was not just my class, as, when talking to other teachers between classes, they sometimes complained about the younger generation’s preoccupation with their new technologies in a way that it disrupted their full attention in the class. Although the materials we

used came with supplementary compact disks, most of my students did not seem to be interested in those either. Therefore, I thought to myself that there must have been something in the environment which was missing. Reviewing the SLA literature, I also learned that lack of engagement across language classrooms was a problem (e.g., Egbert, 2004), with studies suggesting that students with higher group participation performed more satisfactorily (e.g., Lin,

2012). I could connect to this, as my students usually did poorly in the class activities. However, those students, as I found later, did very well in one of their main outside-the-class activities— playing games. I could hear them talking to their friends in the hallway about “cool” mobile applications and games they played. When talking to them later, I also found that the reason they frequently needed to leave the class was to concentrate on the game they were playing, fearing to lose assets during a “war” outbreak. Surprisingly, my low-achieving students were constantly using English to communicate in the game, assuming high-office roles and leading battles against monsters and demons. Being surprised by my students’ excitement and anecdotes, I also joined the game, SK, they were playing.

I joined the game to see for myself what MMOG environments offered that language classes did not. I have been playing the game for five years now, and I have seen how communities develop from geographically distant players who gather together and support each other in accomplishing shared goals. I have been through peace/war times and seen how sleepy or active players get during these times. Finally, I have seen how NNESs practice, acquire, and appropriate linguistic skills in such communities. In the words of my fellow faction players when the situation gets so emotional that they cannot express their feelings, I think it is fair to say, “I just can’t even!”

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS

This chapter presents the data analysis part of this project. First, I describe the coding process aimed at discovering the sociocultural norms of the faction. The findings will be organized under four sections: 1) War against the world, 2) Post-war peace and life in exile, 3)

End of the world, and 4) Immigration to a new world. Next, I present the results of a conversation analysis on the exchanges preceding the war between our faction, Brown Eagle, and House 16, aiming at finding the faction linguistic norms. Finally, I present the results of an in-depth interview with a non-native English speaker of the faction, Middo. In summary, the analysis in this section is based on the following data sources:

Table 1. Data Sources

Type Quantity Time/method

Records (forum exchanges) 38 threads ~ 3 years 5,062 messages Aug. 2015-Sept. 2018 63,866 words SK in-game messaging Faction Discord channel

Field notes 43 N/A MS Word

Interview 1 Aug. 13, 2018-Sept. 3, 2018 Discord

Coding

As was mentioned in Chapter 3, I used the statistical package Atlas ti (ver. 8.2) to organize all of the data—records, field notes, and interview transcripts--that I had collected. The amount of data, especially the records, was so large that using a statistical package was inevitable. I started with open coding in the software, that is, I read the transcripts and created codes as I moved through the texts. Figure 4.1 presents a screenshot of my work on one of the documents (The War Starts) that I had compiled of forum messages exchanged before the war started.

Figure 1. Open Coding of the Data in Atlas ti (Original Names Crossed Out for Ethical Reasons) Because the coding was being conducted while the study was in progress (the faction had immigrated to a new world), I had the time to revisit my older codes, merging, collapsing, or just fine-tuning them in view of newer interactions that occurred in the faction. For instance, my code

for “status” was collapsed, as I learned about multiple ways that players signaled their positions, with the term status finally becoming a category including composite codes. For instance, there were times when players used commands, showed expertise, explicitly boasted, or signed their messages with a title depicting high rank. The following command issued by Morning Destroyer, the faction leader, when an opponent tried to discover his faction’s activity level, depicts multiple ways of status differentiation:

Nobody else reply to this, its just a ploy to stir up sh*t and see who is active and when. The mistakes behind being made here is they think we are fools and woefully underestimate what 3 years experience teaches someone. (Records, 2015) The direct command, drawing on the duration of his gameplay, explaining the “poly” behind the message, complex structure of the message without grammatical errors (such as punctuation), and using the word “sh*t” to downgrade the act all tended to signal his high status

(see the conversation analysis section). These codes were, then, grouped under the category of status. Finally, the categories were thematized in line with the tenets of the theoretical framework. In this case, status was placed under structure,” that is, a quality that balances formal and informal relationships in the CoP. As another example, consider the following excerpt from the same document:

Black Dog: Im sure there are a number of pleyers in the brown eagle faction that do not want to be attacked and they is why you are neutral in the first place. We wouldvtherefore like to offer you the oppertunity to drop faction and be neutral or even join our alliance. Anyone that drops faction will be left alone and will be able to keep all their land. Those that want to fight stay but know that anyone that sends an attack against us will have personal swords placed on them and will never be given peace. (Records, 2015) In this message, a high-ranking player, Black Dog, from the warring faction House 16 tries to create havoc in Brown Eagle and encourage them, through threats and offers of reward,

to leave their faction and join his. In this excerpt, I had 13 codes (argument, inclusion (2), exclusion (3), offer, reward, faction rules, direct thread, indirect threat, aggressive act, and consequences), which were categorized under communication, which itself was further placed under the themes of Community and Practice. Table 4. 1 shows this analysis.

Table 2. Coding Sample Phrase/sentence Code Category Theme

Im sure there are a number of pleyers in Exclusion Communication Community the brown eagle faction that do not want to Inclusion Aggressive act Practice be attacked Consequences Direct threat Exclusion Implicit threat you are neutral in the first place Exclusion Inclusion Offer we would therefore like to offer you the Offer Rules opportunity to drop faction and be neutral Exclusion Faction rules or even join our alliance. Inclusion anyone that drops faction will be left alone Reward and will be able to keep all their land. Implicit threat Rules Those that want to fight stay but know that Direct threat anyone that sends an attack against us will Consequences have personal swords placed on them and Conflict will never be given peace. Aggressive act Faction rules

Sociocultural Norms

How the war started. Before I delve into the results of data analysis, I need to provide some context for what happened. House 16, Lionheart, a coalition of several factions, defeated

House 2, the High Castle. House 2 members were known for corruption, alting (see Appendix D for a list of abbreviations) votes and elections, and making the game a “dead” world--a place

where nobody could progress or develop through hard work. Therefore, people of the world, including us, were happy that the tyranny of House 2 had ended, little did we know that another autocracy had begun.

Figure 2. Territories Owned by House 2 The new leaders of the world called for unity, but, by that, they meant for players to abandon their voices, and abide by the rules set by the “alliance.” It actually worked for some time, but, in time, some key players, feeling betrayed, left the alliance and became neutral. When one is neutral, as in real life, they neither support nor oppose causes championed by the active political parties in the game. One of these players was Morning Destroyer. Before he broke his allegiance to Texan, the leader of revolution and now the king of the world, he led a faction of veteran players who were key in the alliance's victory. However, he was now considered an enemy of the state, ruling over a small county, Devon, in South West England, where my villages were located as well. It was obvious that the alliance could not tolerate that.

At the time, I was a farmer in Devon--I was not involved in any conflict--I was just developing my economic and military prowess to survive the game’s internal challenges, such as feeding my people and removing AIs from my parishes. However, it was short-lived and I was dragged into this conflict by accepting an invitation from Morning Destroyer. As was mentioned in Chapter 1, upon accepting that invitation, I found myself surrounded by enemies all around me. It was scary, but inclusion in the faction’s communication thread gave a reason to stay with them and get to know them, realizing that the game was more than individualistic play--it was alive with talks, jokes, friendships, fun and hard times.

One day, a faction member, Treld, decided to capture a village owned by another faction member, Chino, who was inactive. Inactive players, and by extension their villages, are potentially very dangerous to a faction, especially if the player is a steward who needs to constantly attend to the parish’s everyday affairs such as removing AIs and disease points from the parish. As the player had been inactive for a long time, his parish showed 300 disease points.

Therefore, Treld decided to capture his villages because they were a source of vulnerability—the disease points could signal to the enemy that the player was inactive and they could capture them and expand into our territory. There was a problem, though--one cannot capture an ally’s village; therefore, the faction leader (or officers) needed to drop him from the faction so that Treld could launch the attack. This operation was very risky because, if a player is not aligned with a faction, as the rules dictate, they are considered “loners” and, hence, they may be attacked, whereas an aligned player, someone who is part of a faction, has the backing of the faction and cannot be attacked. After a lot of speculations, we decided that it was safe to start the attack, as we had not recorded any activity from alliance villages around the targeted area. Due to the time- sensitiveness of this operation, we had also mobilized multiple players to attack at the same time.

The zero hour for the operation arrived, everyone was ready, and MorningDestoryer dropped

Chino. However, to our surprise, instead of Treld or anyone of us, a player from the alliance,

Black Dog, attacked the village on a fast-army strategy card and captured the village in less than a minute. This incident led to an all-out war, which ultimately led to our defeat and banishment.

Figure 3. Disease Points Shown by Green Skeletons on the Parish Capital

War against the world.

Collaboration. A category in this phase of data analysis is collaboration. The members were from the US, Britain, Egypt, Sweden, and Iran, and their being on different time zones did not allow them to login to the game server at the same time. Besides, some, including me, worked and had their own non-game responsibilities (although Treld and Morning Destroyer played from their work computers as well). Therefore, they created a system of login hours based on which they connected to the server and engaged in collaborative tasks. One of the most important tasks during the war was “timed attacks” where two or more players coordinated their attacks to inflict maximum destruction to the enemy's castles (see Figure 4). For instance, the

first player would act as a “breaker,” breaking the castle defenses, and the second player, who had a captain in his army (and was slower), would capture, or raze the “open” village a few seconds (3 to 5 seconds) after the first attack. At this point, if the operation had not been intercepted by the enemy, the player who had captured the village, supported by other group members, would use the newly owned village as a base to initiate other attacks and expand into the enemy’s territory. This would usually take more than two hours, and it would end in the players’ interdicting (ID, see Appendix D for a list of abbreviations) the newly captured villages against other attacks. There were a total of 162 timed attacks involving 2 players, and 43 timed attacks with more than 2 players involved. The following conversation shows a timed attack plan to topple the sheriff of Cornwall:

MorningDestoryer: Perhaps we should perform a strike, take out the sheriff with about 20 well timed, simultaneous attacks? Mire: hm.... wonder how well that will go over. :stuck_out_tongue Morning Destroyer: Very few people in H6 know how to run or handle time attacks (Records, 2015)

Figure 4. A Typical Timed Attack (Three Breakers Hit the Castle Before the Captain Captures or Razes the Village)

Besides collaboration (see Table 3), running timed attacks required skills, a category explored below.

Table 3. Major Category and Codes of Collaboration

Category Codes

Collaboration Military, Economy, Timed attacks, Monk wars, Trading, Scouting, Healing, Supplying goods, Briefing/debriefing, Troop arrangements, Techniques, External apps, Capturing, Raizing, Pillaging, Ransacking, Discord, Thread

Skill. Another category was skill. It was necessary for the members to know how to survive a conflict, especially one against the whole world. Therefore, a large amount of data highlighted skills, tactics, and strategies to survive. Brown Eagle was not used to fighting--only the leader was. Also, what exacerbated the situation was the unexpected pace at which an all-out

war had erupted. For instance, the following message, a report from Mire, shows how the map colors, representing territory ownership, changed due to power struggles:

Mire: Awwww… This morning Cornwall was orange as now, then neutral, then orange again- because “Prince Binomia” got in H6 for a moment - because of the Black Dog, then neutral again and now back to orange… Prairie is declared enemy by Killer and Mystic. Plano was rest by Typhoon last night in Devon and got shelter by Prairie in “The Lizard,” got a village of Earth1423, developed by Prairie before …. so Sphinx got Redruth back by monking and Prairie sent his monks… then Sphinx attacked as per advise of H6’s faction “Killer” but IDed himself first for 4 hours… Plano should be razed according to Mystic… but now all villages of Prairie and one of Plano’s are under ID for about 16 hours…. (Records, 2015) Therefore, a lot of information was on how players needed to supply arms or goods to other players, strengthen their castles, build up defenses, attack, and a host of other war-time related activities (see Table 4). For instance, in the following conversation, Morning Destroyer explains how to set up pitch monsters (see this YouTube video for more details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWg4NnHwyHs) in the castle to withstand attacks:

Morning Destroyer: Pitch monsters stand up very well against attacks, but you have to maintain them religiously. In other words, you cant log off for 2-3 days and come back. You have to repair everyday or your castles strength will falter. (Records, 2015) Table 4. Major Category and Codes of Skill

Category Codes

Skill Conflict, Defending, Attacking, Pillaging, Ransacking, Razing, Timed attacks, Castle arrangements, Supplying, Crafting arms, Setting up economic/military industries, Researching, Ranking up, Using strategy cards, Economic buildings, Leadership board position

Also, mastering timed attacks was a challenging skill to develop. Sometimes the players used Google Sheets to time their attacks, sometimes they used applications or websites (e.g., http://www.attacktimer.com/), and sometimes they used their watches and a “pen and paper”; nonetheless, it was a skill they had to try hard to develop at the beginning of the war:

Justin: Im not much of a military player... so I don't do timed attacks. Most of my timing is monking. Morning Destroyer knows how. He is a military player. (Records, 2015)

However, after a period of learning and practice, they appropriated the skill: Jennifer: Oak is off id in 2 hrs, i'm going to practice a timed attack on him soon as id drops if nobody minds? Mire: don't mind at all. just get his a**e kicked Bear: looks like folks throwing attacks at AngrySalmon too. Tikeno: yes, she is off ID way to often :smile: (Records, 2015) They also shared the reports of their attacks and discussed the weaknesses in their actions, harnessing their skills for future missions. In the following conversation, three players discussed and reviewed a timed attack which had failed due to the defender’s fast reaction in filling the castle with troops:

Bear: Nice Mire. Timed breaker b4 attack essential. altho cap army would have done it anyway. Mire. yeah it would but you never know. a week ago... we had 15 timed attacks 3 seconds before captain all bounced back, but captain failed. he managed to place 220 pikemen and about 100 archers in front of keep within those three seconds. I don't get it. Bear: He probably placed them b4 and memorised troops. then all u got to do is restore troops. 2 sec operation. Middo: The defender just need to click in the right moment. And 3 seconds are very long time for it. He waits in the castle view and using a countdown stopwatch or a friend counts him. Also the defender can prepare the castle rebuild and need to activate a instant build card in the last second. so 3 seconds are enough for it.

(Records, 2015) When I entered the faction, I did not know how to do timed attacks. After watching them perform and discuss it, I also decided to do it. I remember I felt somehow shy to ask about it, as,

at the time, it seemed that everybody else was capable of performing timed attacks, or at least were comfortable talking about or practicing it. One day, I opened a discussion on the procedure by asking a question about an application which could be used to help with timed attacks--an indirect way to start a conversation:

Vahid: Is there any application to use? I have seen people using different tools. Tyorn: I would say just stick to a basic timer, you can probably download a timer from the web or in the windows store, and use it with a notepad with the times it will take your parishes and send them out as the timer goes down. Middo: most of people write all the times for their villages and just go with the best attack times. King: When i do timed monkings to counties I generally renumber all of my villages. (Hence why there are numbers infront of my village names.) I guess you can also do that.... might help with keeping up with which village to send next. (Records, 2015)

Then, before I knew it, I found myself part of their team performing timed attacks. Such interactions were very exciting and accompanied by a lot of positive feedback. For instance, the following excerpt shows how I was entrusted with timed attacks, and how much support I received from faction members:

Morning Destroyer: IMPORTANT. Targets are P-Jazz and IsaacU. If any of you can open up castles just send the reports to Vahid and officers. For the time being: No attacks on any other player from H6. Tikeno: Roger roger Bear: I’ll be ready in a few hours to do some coordinated attacks. Golden: I have room for 200 archers- usually going to sleep by now – good job I can do flexi time Morning Destroyer: We will be on Discord and here. I can cap [capture] and raze. Treld: Vahid, when you’re ready get on Discord. I believe Morning Destroyer and I are also going to coordinate some attacks. Vahid: Will do. I will be 2 hours or so until I have time to plan attacks with you both. I’ll let you know. (Records, 2015)

Support. Another category developed through data analysis was “support.” As was also seen earlier, faction members supported each other throughout the war. This support ranged from an early welcome, supplying of goods, and advice on skills development to collaborations on faction defense and attack. In other words, in the faction community, shared activities were performed through supports provided by the community members in many forms (see Table 5).

One area in which faction members particularly supported each other was during what was referred to as a “monk war.6” Military campaigns required monk support as either a prerequisite or complement. For instance, before a timed attack, the players usually needed to excommunicate the targets so that they did not interdict themselves. Also, after the capture, the players needed monk supports to be protected against counterattacks. Likewise, when there was no active military campaign, the players needed to influence elections and have one of their members take control of parishes, counties, regions, or countries, which would provide them with the power to use bigger armies to “break” their opponents’ castles. Figure 5 shows “dance of the monks” on the map, changing the sheriff of Norwich through votes.

6 Monks, representing the religious institution in medieval society, have different powers in SK. A player can use the power of religion (Faith Point) to change votes (Influence), protect themselves or other players against attacks (Interdict), cure diseases (Restoration), increase (Blessing) or decrease (Inquisition) popularity, and remove (Excommunication) or restore (Absolution) the church power.

Figure 5. Monk Support

Table 5. Major Category and Codes of Support

Category Codes

Support Communication, Conflict, Economy, Messages, Sending liege lord requests, Timed attacks, Monk wars, Supplying goods, Interdicting, Absolving, Healing, Blessing, Defeating AI castles, Breaking, Capturing, Razing, Pillaging, Ransacking, Purchasing crowns, Advice, Threads, Influencing elections, Flipping parishes/counties, Capitals

Rules. The faction community valued rules very strictly during the war (see Table 6).

Key rules were explicitly announced every time a new faction thread was created. Generally, the domestic rules of the faction were negotiated in a panel composed of the FG and other officers,

and later shared with other members through regular proclamations. Of course, the organization and level of details included in regulations depend on the person and situation; however, they all lay out rules for members to follow. In the following proclamation, Pomptur, the sheriff of

Cornwall, stimulates the county’s rules for the citizens:

To the Citizens of Cornwall,

***County Elections*** Sheriff: Pomtur Vice Sheriff: Toktam

Sheriff Activities: ***AI Castles*** I will be using the army of Cornwall to clear away high-level AI castles within the county border. High-level AI castles include Pig Castles and Wolf Castles. They do not include Rat Castles or Snake castles. If you need my assistance with killing an AI castle, then please send me a private message. If you wish for me to avoid killing an AI castle in your parish, then please also send me a private message. If no one messages me, then by default I will simply kill the Pig and Wolf castles closest to the county seat and gradually work my way out to the furthest corners of the county.

***Gold Checks*** Just to remind everyone, the Sheriff does reserve the right to gold check anyone's parish within the Cornwall border. I do not plan on running regular or irregular gold checks on the county, but certain events or elements may require me to assess the threat level a parish(s) pose to the county.

What to Expect: -If a threat spawns in your parish, then I will perform a basic 1% gold check upon your parish to assess the potential danger of the situation. If the threat makes any attempt to flip your parish, then please note that the 1% gold check can and will become a 50% gold check. Based on the results of the gold check, I may decide it is necessary to perform additional 50% gold raids to avoid any unfortunate issues or losses. Once the danger of the situation has passed, I will message the parish steward (& FG/HM of the steward) informing them of the situation and gold counts discovered. If you suffered any damages due to the gold raid, then upon request I can send you resources to help with the repairs. The sheriff is not obligated to return any gold raided from a parish, however requests can be made. I do not expect to be gold raiding anyone, but it may happen so this is an advanced notice.

Expectations for Stewards: 1: Vote for the current Sheriff in the Sheriff Elections.

2. Vote for yourself in the Steward Elections. 3. Ensure that your parish is disease free. 4. Help your parish mates maintain their castles. -Meaning kill off high leveled AI in your parish (Pig & Wolf) 5. Be wise about how much gold you keep in your parish. -Anything over 50k gold is dangerous. Anything over 100k is asking for misfortune. *The sheriff will never return any gold amounts exceeding 50k.

Expectations for Citizens: 1: Vote for the current Steward in the Steward Elections. 2: Inform the Sheriff if your Steward(s) are inactive or neglecting their post. 3: Help out with donations, if possible. 4: Cure disease inside of your parish. 5. Maintain decently built and defended castles. 6. Help out where you can and how you can.

-Some Words of Wisdom for Stewards & Citizens: If you are impacted by something and you have the ability to solve or improve the situation it, then it is also your responsibility as well to deal with it or solve it. Don't wait for someone else to solve your problems if you can do it, yourself. You can save yourself a lot of time and damage by taking the initiative. ;)

Last Words: This message will be posted in the county forums. If you ever need to look back at this message, then you can locate it there if you misplaced it in mail. If anyone ever needs any help with anything, then please feel free to message me. I almost always reply within 24 hours. Also, if you do not speak English and require a translation... please private message me and I can work on a translation.

Regards, Pomtur Sheriff of Cornwall

Table 6. Major Category and Codes of Rules

Category Codes

Rules World rules, House rules, Faction rules, Liege Lords, County, Parish, Capital, Proclamation, Faction, Faction general, House marshal, Sheriff, Steward, Players, AI castles, Healing, Gold storage, Voting, Activeness, Scouting, Donations, Well-defended castles, Repairing, Communication, Gold raids

The rules are very important. In fact, the pretext for war was our alleged violation of the rules set by the alliance, that Treld had captured a neutral player’s village (see the section on how the war started above). Even during the war, we were constantly reminded that we were in violation of the rules. For instance, the following message shows how monk-waring a parish (the same parish that Treld tried to control by capturing Chino’s village), Waddesdon, was considered a hostile act:

P-Jazz: Any voting against the Alliance in Waddesdon will be considered a hostile act. Be warned! Vahid: You may forward this to my faction leader. P-Jazz: Your faction leader has already been warned about interfering with the Alliance. Vahid: You’re well aware that you’re taking the parish from a Brown Eagle member, that is an act of war. P-Jazz: I am taking the parish from a neutral. This is none of your business and you would do well to stay out of it. I have warned you and you can pass it on to the entire faction. Your interence [interference] will not be tolerated. This parish is now to be considered an Alliance parish and any interference will be considered an act of war. Your faction has been tolerated up to now but any more trouble from you and it will be war. This County belongs to the Alliance and they have enough forces to back their claim. Brown eagle is just an ant in comparison to the Alliance. I have no understandings of what Kharma is doing and am taking the parish from a neutral. I have no interest in any excuses about the parish, it was neutral and I am taking it.

(Records, 2015) However, in the face of an imposed war, we needed to unite and abide by our domestic rules (see Table 6). The rules particularly highlighted “activeness,” which was reflected in a player’s regular logins to the game and chat client, building well-defended castles, and supporting the war effort by actively engaging in coordinated activities such as monking and timed attacks. The following message by our FG tends to show how activeness during war could send a strong message to the enemy:

Morning Destroyer: Lets get working together and preferably on voice comms, thats where the fun really is, working as a team, combining armies and attacks. It sends out a strong message to enemies when they are getting attacks by several players at a time.

They hope pick off individuals so now is the time, more than ever, to not play as "individuals”, watch each others backs and if someone falls, lets make sure there is a dozen hands reaching out to hoist them to their feet again! (Records, 2015) Closeness. Another category emerging from the analysis of records was “closeness.” The members, albeit at war, knew each other very well, checked on each other, made jokes, and felt responsible towards their friends’ assets (see Table 7). The following message shows how humorously the faction members interacted with each other, although what happened to Justin, that is, his army being destroyed on an arranged capture, was a frustrating incident. Bear’s joke about the man with a greyhound is very amusing:

Mire: i asked you 4 times not to attack and you did it anyway Justin: You asked me to capture your village. I told you to open your village. You killed my army. You still wanted my help with your village. I am not going to waste another 35k gold on a failed capture. Do you want me to fix your village or not? Bear: I know a man that knows a pub where a man sits in it that owns a greyhound and drinks vodka and can get it fixed for a price for you :wink: Justin: HA HA two Greyhounds...my attacks are on route to your villa now...let that be a lesson boy :joy and Rum and whisky. Bear: you got the patience of a saint:innocent: (Records, 2015)

Table 7. Major Category and Codes of Closeness

Category Codes

Closeness Humor, Friendship, Daily life, Real-life, Joke, Irony, Sarcasm, Puns, Politics, Greeting, Game tricks, Religion, Disobedience, Advice

Even the wartime tricks could get funny. It was war, but they made it fun in victories and failures while the opponent kept leveling harsh threatening messages at them (see the

conversation analysis below). In the following message, Middo shares a funny trick with the other members:

Middo: CrazyAngle doesnt ID most of her villas you guys can card up and send fake captains (pillage) and some fake time attacks, force her to ID up :wink: burn her FP and she'll be dead in no time :smile: i've forced her to ID up 12 hours just now for 2 villages lol. i lost gold but i made her use her FP :wink: Tikeno: not a bad idea, just wish she was closer. -_- Justin: Middo is absolutely right, sent attack and CrazyAngle ID'd up LOL (Records, 2015)

Or, for instance, Tikeno, built her castles in a special way for attackers:

Figure 6. A Castle (in Collapsed Mode) with A “Message” for Attackers!

It appeared that members were familiar with each others’ lives, and were happy revisiting issues they had shared before. For instance, in the following exchange, Bear shares his busy life and fatherly responsibilities in a funny way while other members also jokingly follow:

Jennifer: How are things with you, Bear? Got the diaper-changing thing down? Bear: So, like, my colour perception is... well... kinda sh*t. My wife helped me find two paladin castles and got em levelled - anyone else able to help me spot more? She's looking after the boy at the minute so I can't ask her again for now. Justin: A family game it is becoming. Middo: When's the kid joining? Bear: Be a while yet. Last time he got near a mouse he tried to shove it in his mouth Jennifer: hmm. it's a start atleast! Justin: Progress at least. Bear: Kid has skills, just needs refinement. Last week he would know when I was timing attacks and he always took a crap when I was getting the big breakers in. Of course, hanging a cuddly toy on the back of my chair helped a bit with the distraction side of things. Jennifer: Whatever gets the job done! (Records, 2015)

Even religious issues could become the subject of humor in a gaming manner. For instance, the players, knowing that Middo was Muslim, sent him a cartload of pork in the

Muslims’ fasting month of Ramadan:

King: Regarding Middo- it was suggested that we, knowing he is a Muslim and was probably doing the whole fasting thing, send him appropriate goods. Solution: me and Golden sent him pork. I am so going to hell for that… Treld: King, you could have sent him beer with the pork… you would have improved your ranking in hell for that! You inspired me, off to make a pot of Yorkshire tea! (Records, 2015)

Or Justin, a Christian, complaining why people did not go to the church anymore, expressed awe at Golden’s not even building a church in his parish:

Golden: this parish hurts my fighting soul everytime i look at it. yes it might have archer, pikes, swords and peasant buildings but they all at level 0 lol.

Figure 7. A Parish without A Church

Justin: Again no church! What is with this world? :D (Records, 2015)

The faction conversations, in abundant numbers, showed that the members were very close, and valued this connection through a knowledge of their personal lives and humor. There was, however, another side to this closeness. Before joining Brown Eagle, I had made friends with a few players in Cornwall. When the war broke out, my friends, who later joined the alliance, noticed that my villages were marked with swords for them. They wrote me and expressed concern, asking me to drop the faction and not engage in this war. Although I did not listen, they refused to attack me throughout the war. The following message shows part of a long conversation in which my friend, Tate1099, tried to convince me to leave Brown Eagle:

Tate1099: Hi Vahid. Hope you good so far. I was wondering why you have swords now – that means enemy…. Can you do something against that???? Vahid: The whole fighting thing started with one of our faction members dropping faction to capture a village from another faction member. Then we had P-Jazz starting attacks to annex the Waddeston territory to H6 with the claim that he was taking it from a neutral. This has been considered an act of provocation and war by both parties. Tate1099: Vahid!!! I sugested long time ago to come to H16..... but..... Yes - if you think thas all good for you....Cornwall will change and stay orange and with H6, I hope... So let see… My suggetsion? Come to H16 your main parish is here and well maintained I guess. For further expansion Devon is good but all you guys play all time 2 or more sides..... I dont! Ijust try to make my way here to a certain point , then lets see… Tate1099: Oh lord..... H16 has morre spirit than all others together... H16 is just a bit large... and honestly - small factions are an easy target for anyone.....and they will be used and cheated on - I guess... Too much politics… But there was and is nothing wrong to leave such "ship" for a safe-heaven… and thats what Im asking you since ever -join us here - because we dont talk or write all day - we walk the talk.... -) Think about it.....Vahid-time to leave Brown Eagle. (Records, 2015)

Trust. Another category surfacing from the data analysis was “trust.” To be active, support, defend, fight back, and commit to a cause needed the members to trust each other.

Despite continuous psychological and physical warfare, the members stayed together and defended their territory until they were defeated. Although trust was the glue of all players’ activities within the boundaries of the faction at this specific time, there were times during the war when they specifically shared their dedication to the cause (see Table 8).

Table 8. Major Category and Codes of Trust

Category Codes

Trust Dedication, Support, Shared activities, Communication, Pledges, Loyalty, Not leaving the faction, Leaving villages to co-players for protection

For instance, the following exchange shows how the players expressed their support for the faction and its leadership when the alliance gave them an ultimatum to decide if they wanted to fight or surrender:

Justin: I’m all for war. I can also help with monking/excomm. Would be nice to get Morning Destroyer into buckingham. How many votes does Black Dog have? Middo: I’m in. Jennifer: It sounds like a total war. I’m just thinking of heavy defense :-?? Treld: Very much defense (probably I overmonk my villages :-D) Tikeno: I am staying in this faction no one are going to force me into something I decide for myself. Even if I will be razed I rather die with proud than leaving when its begin to be unpleasant. Golden: Well, I had invite earlier from H6 knights hospitaller, and now Lord Hellblaze from H12 asks how the faction is, if we are satisfied etc etc. I am with Tikeno on this. I will go down with the ship if I get to choose. Treld: I feel the same way. I’ll be speaking with undocumented “allies” on behalf of Morning Destroyer today if I can reach them. (Records, 2015)

Communication. Communication runs across all themes in an MMOG where players do not physically interact. For instance, the invitation that I received from Morning Destroyer to join their faction was a form of communication that was prevalent in the game--recruiting. The language that players used to advance a threat, devalue a person, make a request, position oneself as a competent player, etc. were all part of communication. Therefore, communication was also considered a superordinate category which enveloped all forms and means of communication

(see Table 9).

Table 9. Major Category and Codes of Communication

Category Codes

Communication Recruitment, Campaigns, (mass-) invitations, Threads, Discord, RaidCall, TeamSpeak, Threatening, Encouraging, Requesting, Arguing, Pledging, Counterarguing, Valuing, Devaluing, Offering, Rewarding, Inviting, Persuading, Expressing feelings, Positioning, Diplomacy.

Status. During the war, players specifically showed their status to opponents in different ways, such as referencing the history and names, showing confidence, signing their messages with their ranks and positions, boasting about or hinting at their skills, using commands or capital letters, or a mix of them (see the section on conversation analysis). For instance, in the following message, Black Dog, showing his skills at the game, orders Morning Destroyer in capital letters to look at the time on the attack and scout reports to understand who is to blame:

Black Dog: LOOK AT THE TIME THE ATTACK ON ISAACU HIT THEN LOOK AT THE TIMES WE SCOUTED AND ATTACKED YOUR GUY are you blind orjust ingoring the fact that your players braught this on. (Records, 2015) Table 10. Major Category and Codes of Status

Category Codes

Status Skills, History, Order, Confidence, Signature, Devaluation

I conclude this section by Morning Destroyer’s words on winning a war, briefing his faction members on what was expected of them during a military conflict:

Morning Destroyer: There is a lot more to war than "element of surprise." There is also "skill" -The ability to launch effective breaker armies, the ability to create an effective

captain army, the ability to launch timed attacked (to name a few skills). There is also cooperation and communication. If you lack either, then your war is going to go down hill. Plus activity but that’s obvious. (Records, 2015) Post-war peace and life in exile. After the war was lost, the players went into vacation mode (VM)7. The conflict became so tense, with both sides inflicting damages on each other.

However, as the alliance had more forces and players, this unbalanced battle would eventually have to end in favor of House 16. All the gold was spent, faith points (FP) used, and most of our villages were captured or razed. There was no point in continuing this war:

Morning Destroyer: Guys I want you to leave this faction and go to a neutral one. It looks like it is a lost battle. This is now a lose-lose battle, we can’t win against so many with so few. I’m gutted you guys are the only ones with balls, I expected more from the others. Treld: Sadly you are right Morning... Morning Destroyer: My respect goes out to you all in this thread… disappointing isn’t the word for the rest. Those of you that have lost villas I will open all mine at the front door take them, I will be leaving this world, there is nothing left but the alliance and a bunch of farmers. This world is dead. Good luck and take care all of you. (Records, 2015)

With Morning Destroyer gone, we decided to activate the VM to at least keep some assets that had been left while restoring our gold, honor, and FP sources. In other words, it was a

“tactical retreat.” Furthermore, Morning Destroyer’s unexpected abandonment of the faction in this manner left us somehow irate and feeling betrayed. At any rate, we needed to leave. For about one month, a great deal of communication and collaboration had drained everyone both in real- and virtual lives. For me, this war had become a first priority in life, knowing that my other faction members were engaged in a military conflict literally kept me up all night, as I needed to

7 Vocation mode is a premium option for players to stay away from the game (possibly for vocation) for three weeks.

be awake while it was daylight in the US. I remember my mother kept checking on me and lovingly (and angrily) asking me to go to bed so that I was fresh for my classes (I was teaching at the time). It was also the same for my co-players--everyone needed to tip the work-life balance in favor of the game. Bear had a family and job, Jennifer was a waitress, Tikeno was a nurse,

Middo was a salesperson, Golden was a disc jockey, Morning Destoyer was a clerk at a construction company, Golden was a self-employed printer, Treld was in the military, and Justin was a college student. At the game level, we lost most of Somerset, the county we were defending. Also, we lost most of our villages, and used up all our gold, honor, and FP, which took our ability to capture/pillage/ransack/raze villages and form armies and monks to advance war-related campaigns.

Accordingly, we needed to go into VM, which would help us restore our real- and virtual life balance. However, as an amateur gamer, I had never needed to spend money on the game. I certainly liked to develop faster by purchasing strategy cards, but I had never needed more than what I could have through my completion of quests. The game is so sleepy for a farmer, and I was a farmer, I did not need any Thoroughbreds scout, Expert Discipline armies, or The Last

Stand rally forth knights. Besides, even if I wanted to, how could I pay for them? Iran had been cut off from the international banking system and there was no way for me to pay for the

Crowns8. But time had come for me to use a premium token to activate VM. Treld bought me

Crowns and instructed me how to activate the VM and what time to deactivate it and return to the game. I was speechless as to how supportive everyone was and how included I had become in the faction.

8 The game currency

After two weeks, we all deactivated VM and logged back to the game. I was so excited that I was seeing everyone again. All of us except Treld logged back to the game at the same time. A week later, Treld also joined. He had been on duty in Texas for a hurricane. Things had calmed down and nobody was after us. Also, to avoid confrontation, we left the faction and stayed neutral, but we were still communicating. The whole world was now orange and controlled by House 16.

Shared experiences. We could not help but to reflect on what happened during the war:

Why did it happen, why did we act the way we did, why did Moring Destroyer have to leave, and so many other questions. Reflecting on these occurrences, we shared memories of the war and discussed them. We also planned for the future, whether we would create a faction and join a different house, go rogue, or go separate ways given our daily-life responsibilities:

Bear: I can't believe what happened two weeks ago. Treld texted me at home to come on asap, sort his villas (as he was away for a party). I put ID on my villas & drained gold on 3 parishes but am so surprised to see the faction collapsed. I never thought Morning Destroyer would chicken out. oK...have we any plans going forward? Quitely, rogues, or rebuilding towards something else?? I'm here whatever & so will my son. :) King: You know we can’t fight this war, it’s up to you but I don’t want to see our hard efforts go to waste. Mire: What happened was ridiculous. War declared when no one was ready. Then a certain faction leader decides it was best to disband a faction wtf!!!! Then wonder what caused the demise of our faction. Cus they bloody booted the faction ffs. Then expect those to rejoin after that debacle when no PM was given of the intent and plan etc. King: Yes, it was pretty bad. Honestly wasn't sure what was going on. Logged in to find we were at war and I lost 3 villages. I wasn't interested in fighting a war that disorganised. Anyone thought about the rest of the House then? Anyway it's in the past but please feel free to rant, honestly think it's good if we let everything out. And how to move forward? Everyone please chip in, honestly it'll make our life easier if everyone can contribute your thoughts in this. (Records, 2015)

Table 11. Major Category and Codes of Shared Experiences

Category Codes

Shared Experiences Defeats, Gameplay, Victories, Conflicts, Good/tough times, Captures, Razes, Pillages, Timed attacks, Breaking, Monking, Flipping, Memories

Ultimately, we decided to farm. We created a new faction with a different name,

Rainbow of Chaos. Furthermore, we decided to join a house, as being neutral could lead to conflict:

Vahid: You razed my village, why? Snail: If u don’t know, there is war between our houses Vahid: The war is over! I am neutral. Snail: There is nothing I can do.

(Records, 2015)

Therefore, upon the advice of a friend, Tate1099, we joined House 20, which, in a nationwide vote, had been reserved for peace9.

Support. Now part of House 20, we needed to support each other economically. The war had officially ended and we needed supplies (stone, wood, iron, and tar) to build up the remainder of our villages which had been pillaged and ransacked multiple times during the war.

Therefore, we needed to develop our economic industries (e.g., stone quarries, woodcutter’s hutts, iron mines, pitch rigs, and farms) along with carts and markets to trade goods.

9 The members of House 20 did not have any desire for war or expansionism, and only farmed in a peaceful manner, focusing on tackling challenges posed by the game internal grammar. However, the path of peace did not mean that there was no governance structure or strategy in place. On the contrary, the house composed of several faction members, who voted for their own generals, with the generals voting for the marchal. Also, if our territories and allies came under attack, we would fight.

Furthermore, we needed to charter new villages, and, as we had lost almost all of our gold and honor, we needed to sell our goods in the markets and hold banquets to rank up. Therefore, we created a support thread and posted our needs and offered help. Everyone tried hard to rise and help others to rise as well. Below you may see some of the requests that players posted on the supply thread:

1. Middo: Wood and Stone for 112049 and 26216 Village pleaseeee Mire: Sending loads landing in an hr to 2 hurs…

2. Mire: I need help ranking up if anyone can send banqueting goods on a regular basis it would help a lot wine/salt/spice im ok with the meat/metal/cloth and wood……

3. Bear: Can anyone spare me 50+ armour to 59815 Devon please. I have some pike cards but used all armour up :( Jennifer: I will send from somerset Golden: 75 on their way 22 mins.

4. King: I am CP 23 and have lots of LL spaces so please let me know if there is anybody that needs LL. Mail me direct with villa numbers. Thx.

5. Mire: Morning Destroyer has 11 villas left, if anyone wants to claim them do so now on this thread…. If help is needed to open them let us know and we can sort something out….

6. Justin: I now have all my LL slots filled and a huge thanks to all!

7. Golden: Guys, I am going offline for 2 weeks after tomorrow night, please look after my villages.

8. Vahid: Any of you wonderful people have some FP to spare? I need ID on my villages. I am travelling tomorrow. (Records, 2015)

To sum up this section, most of the activities in this phase of the faction life revolved around shared experiences and support, although there were codes which could be placed under trust, closeness, collaboration, skills, rules, and communication. This phase, which lasted about

one year and 4 months, saw the nine players pulling together and living peacefully as they interacted towards development both with each other and other players in the house. By the end of this phase, everyone was a Crown Prince, and, I can say, they were all seasoned in the workings of the game, although they did not engage in any war. In terms of social responsibilities, all my nine co-players had stewardship roles in different parishes, Mire was the

FG of Rainbow of Chaos, King, Treld, Middo, and Tikeno were officers, and the other members were players. Also, the number of players in our faction had risen to 17. Also, most of us had the experience of playing parallel worlds:

Bear: I think i will stick to W8 and USA1 until W8 ends. Too much to manage.... Im also in W3, but mainly for the prince rank... which I have. Mainly sticking around there to hold land for Pandora and house 9 & 7.

(Records, 2016) End of the world. After several rounds of glory race and global wars, the world was close to an end. Based on the rules, all active players received strategy card packs, with higher ranked players and those in the winning house receiving more perks and “diamond” cards. This phase of data analysis sees a great deal of planning for the next world to which players needed to immigrate. Here we also see all the themes mentioned above in place, with the following being more outstanding.

Rules. The world was coming to an end and players wanted to know what would happen next, who would win the race, how would the world end, what were the prizes, how would they be given to players, who would get them, and other inquiries of this sort were made by the players. We had never finished a world, so it was a mystery to all of us. Therefore, players inquired about the end of the world:

Bear: So what happens when the world ends? Who gets what prizes? Or a free for all, and all out war, which I can't see happening on this server! Mire: By default, all players get bronze prizes if they are at or above prince level and have one village. For the players in the top 5 houses, their bronze prizes are upgraded to silver. For the top house, their silver prize is upgraded to gold. This might be an easier way to look at things. Tikeno: How about rank? Mire: As long as they are a prince and have a village on the world when House 16 presses the “End the World Button”… these players will receive a bronze prize. Bear:These a few rogues I hoping to knock off this world before prize allocation. Do they get anything if they HAD a village on the final day? :) Mire: Yes! Bear: Well I’ll make sure they don’t have one then :) Mire: :D (Records, 2016)

Despite frequent answers to questions regarding the end of the world, Wild-Lion, the marshal of House 20, issued a proclamation and laid out the rules of the game and the future of our journey:

Wild-Lion: We are nearing the end of the world. There are about two weeks left. For those interested in playing on another world after this world ends, then I can suggest two worlds for you. USA 1 is where a few of our house leaders are. Right now, we plan to take a vacation on this world and relax from the politics. If you are looking for a peaceful world to join, then this world might be for you. East Washington is where we are located (Western side of the map). Please spawn here if you want help building up. On the opposite side of peace, you have island world where most of House 16 members are located. If you want to enjoy a more action pact side of the game, then I suggest speaking to Colonel Bleach or perhaps Mnago to know where to spawn. Other than that, I think Oak is starting a group on Global 3, but he will have to speak about that. Zebra is playing on Global 1 and I am sure a few other people can suggest some interesting worlds to join. (Records, 2016) We continued the path of peace and decided to immigrate to USA 1.

Closeness. Here we see many attempts for the faction members to be together in the next world. Some were planning to quit the game, because it had been almost one year and a half of gameplay:

Jennifer: I tried to leave the game, but I can’t.

Bear: I keep wanting to leave the game, but never get around to it, so i might as well stock up on as much as possible, and help the ones that want to continue, get theirs. (Records, 2016)

Ultimately, however, we did not quit--we landed in East Washington and started again:

King: Hi ALL.... am i first? Golden: This is very exciting, Justin. Justin: Now I just got to get you all playing again. Golden: I thought I just did. LOL I promise I will play, but only if I have something useful to do. Justin: You can do useless stuff too. (Records, 2016)

Excitement. We were so excited that the game was ending. This gaming journey had been filled with happy and sad memories for all of us, and now there was a new world that we hoped we would start together again. Treld and Bear joined USA 1, which had just started, to help accommodate the faction there one month before the world ended. They reported back to the faction about the area, the neighbors, and what factions and houses were there. In other words, they were scouting the area, making sure that we would enter a safe place:

Jennifer: How is life in the new world? Mire: Yes, so what precisely are you buggers up to on USA1? Treld: Not much, boss. Kinda waiting it out, I guess. Everything peaceful there. No siege camps yet. Looking for the Honour. I have 3 villages in USA 1 and producing more resources than some people with 8. Bear: Hmm, USA 1 has opened up the previously closed counties. Three days on USA 1 and I'm knight already, sweet. Treld: USA 1 is the most peaceful world I have seen yet... though when you speak to its players... to them its like the big bang. :D (Records, 2016)

Communication. There was a lot of communication over team-making in USA 1. We were part of House 20, the peace-loving house, so we were mostly in contact with the members

of other House 20 factions, and we would like to take them with us. Therefore, we started communicating with other members to see if they were interested in joining the house:

Treld: Hey Seeker, long time no see! How have you been? Seeker: good how about you? Treld: Good, you playing any worlds at the moment? Seeker: World 1 and 2 but not that much 1-2 villages max :) Treld: A lot of us are on USA 3 if you'd like to join :) Seeker: well maybe i will but i dont think that i will have more than 2 villages :smile: not playing that much (Records, 2016)

Immigration to a new world. Finally, the world ended on day 1,555 11:02:24 PM game time when House 16 pressed the “End the World” button. For a few days logging in to the game would shows us fireworks (in a gaming manner) on a frozen world (see Figure 8). After a few days, the world got deactivated and no login was possible. Therefore, as planned, we immigrated to USA 1, our new world.

Figure 8. Fireworks at the End of the Game (Roles of Silk Flying in the Air)

The hardest part with a new a world is that one needs to start from the very lowest rank, and, when one is used to a full repository, it is not easy. Therefore, we needed support--the reason why Bear and Treld had settled down in East Washington before us. Upon the entry in the world, we messaged each other and created our communication channels:

Vahid: Hi. I'm here. Mire: Hey,when you are of rank to join a faction, let me know. I will send an invite. Vahid: Ok. Thanks! (Records, 2016)

Support. Mire, as the FG of Rainbow of Havoc, had already created a new faction with the same name; however, we could not join it until we reached Rank 7 (Bondsman). A support channel, therefore, was created, helping us rise as fast as we could. Through this thread, we requested what we needed and all the faction members helped:

Vahid: Can you LL [Liege Lord] me at 49310 (Peace)? Thanks! I got a new villa--yay! Justin: Yep and request sent Vahid: Thank you ;) (Records, 2016)

Middo: Do you know about inactive villages I can capture? Justin: I do not know of any inactive players. But I am happy to give away any village of mine outside of McCann Creek. Just let me know if you see one that you want. Minus the village in Bear Lake... that village is for Bear, I believe. Bear: yea. sorry im so slow Justin. but i am getting serious honor goods production right now :D (Records, 2016)

Since we were neural, other players could attack us on baseless groups. Therefore, we also created a security thread to help us against possible aggression by other neighboring players from non-aligned houses:

Mire: I started this thread for all H20 members concerning outside houses, events, and any situation that may arise for our members. Anything, and everything, can help in

maintaining the security of our house. Even if you just wanna complain about something (concerning other players from different houses, or neutrals), post it here. Furthermore, this thread is for posting concerns of a diplomatic nature. Please feel free to express those concerns! :) Thank you, Mire (House Diplomat) (Records, 2016)

Jennifer: fyi i was scouted by sneaky monster about 3 hours ago Mire: Thank you... I will look them up Mire: @Jennifer: Sent a message to house officers to be on the lookout for this guy. Just keep me informed if he does anything else squirrely. Jennifer: Thanks :) (Records, 2016)

Rules. A new world has many rules to follow, most of them similar to what we were used to in our previous world. As new settlers, we needed to be briefed on the new land’s rules so that we did not cross any lines that could potentially lead to a new unwanted conflict. In other words, our experience of the previous world made us cautious at the beginning (and still). In that respect, Halo, the marshal of House 20, issued the following proclamation:

Halo: Nothing is really going on, right now, but I would just like to send a reminder to my fellow players. Check with your Sheriff for county rules--although most are just common-sense. Still, the willingness to communicate goes a long way to showing the local power-in-charge that H20 is not a threat. Expansion can be misinterpreted as a threat. So, once again, communicate with your sheriff (for taking stewardship of a parish), and your steward (for starting a new village). I know I'm stating the obvious, so forgive me... It's just a reminder ;) (Records, 2016)

Quite related to this category and our caution was the politics of the new world. In order to survive a new world with its own dynamics and power struggles, we needed to make certain that we showed a friendly picture to the rest of the world. Therefore, we also regularly embarked on humanitarian actions, such as making donations and healing diseases. The following proclamation by our HM shows our stated policy on good deeds:

Halo: Right now, our greatest weapon (as a house) is diplomacy: and our actions speak louder than our words. We've already talked about expansion, and communicating with your stewards and sheriffs. However, I would like members to keep in mind that actions like making regular parish donations, upgrading parish buildings, and healing disease in your parish (and neighboring parishes), can go a long way to giving H20 a good reputation for being friendly & helpful. This can only help our house in times if/when things become hostile. The reason I talk about action as a form of diplomacy is that I realize that not everyone has the "gift-of-gab" (AKA: bullshit-artist). And, in reality, "action" can be a more effective form of this art. So, keep in mind the concepts of kindness, generosity, and hospitality, in your dealings with other players. This being said: if there are any members that feel that they have a "gift-of-gab" and can be a diplomat for our house, let me know. At one point, someone gave me a chance as well. Keep up the good work, Halo (Records, 2016)

We have now been playing for over almost a year in USA 1 together. Our current faction is composed of all of us plus 8 more members. We are still in House 20. We have had some skirmishes since we started, but we are still on the path of peace. Most of us think that USA 1 is the last world that we will play, but only time will tell. The following exchange shows our recent conversation on quitting the game. I particularly asked this question for ending this section:

Vahid: How would we deal with ending of this world? Will there be a time when we’ll leave the game? If so, will we still be in touch? Justin: This server [Discord] will forever be open to all. Not sure about what I'll do post this world. Probably blow what I have left in island or rise. Vahid: I see. Bear: I'm on W5 most of the time :joy: Vahid: Ending W1 was bittersweet for me. I wonder if you felt the same. Justin: I wanted to do one last world with everyone that stuck around. We were fortunate to go to usa1. Bear: I had a personal goal, but i was even more excited to, for once, be with a group. people who were around, and had the "family" kind of feel to it. Justin: I just (ab)used your gold pile! Bear: But now I am the gold pile! (Records, 2018) In the next section, a debate marking the beginning of war will be presented and analyzed.

Conversation Analysis

This conversation analysis tends to shed more light on the linguistic norms of this community. As the amount of data gathered was cumbersome, I focused my analysis on one area of castle life--debate. This sample relates to the beginning of an all-out war (there were skirmishes before) following which Brown Eagle members came under attack by House 16 members. Throughout this debate, the different sociocultural norms of this CoP revealed in the previous section were all at work.

After the capturing incident (see above) and several skirmishes, Black Dog, the Governor of North West England and a player from House 16, wrote us through the SK’s in-game messaging service. In the message, he advanced several language functions: threatening, assuming, encouraging, offering, praising, persuading, assessing, establishing identity, hypothesizing, and evaluating (just to mention some). The message which had been posted to all of us triggered a long conversation in which everyone was witnessing the development of the topic, deciding for themselves which side to back.

Black Dog started the debate by addressing the faction, and then proclaimed that we had attacked House 16 with no reason. Afterwards, he excluded the members from the address, pointing at our leader, and praised us for our neutrality (as we were not affiliated to any faction) and appreciation of peace. Then, he offered us the opportunity to leave our faction, be neutral, and/or join his. Next, he implicitly threatened us, stating that we could have our assets if we left

Brown Eagle. Subsequently, he explicitly threatened us that if we did not follow his command,

“we would never be given peace,” as personal swords would be placed on us (at that point only faction swords had been placed on us). After this argument, he expressed sorrow over

occurrences of this incident, stating that he could not tolerate non-aligned players’ attacking others. Finally, he threw the ball in our court and, excluding us again from “other players in our faction,” and offered us the opportunity to avoid that “pointless conflict”:

This message, along with its power-laden signature, was new to us, a bunch of newbies.

We had never seen such a threatening message before, with a governor who probably required by law to defend the county against our “unprovoked attacks.” “Had we really violated the laws of the world?” we thought. “But Treld was only going to capture Chino’s village after he went inactive.” “Perhaps all the inactive villages in the county belonged to the governor!” We had so many questions to which we needed answers. At this point, Treld, our faction member, wrote back and told our own version of the story, highlighting the fact that he tried to capture a village from another inactive faction member and that he had been attacked first by the alliance:

Trled: I'II summarize the events of today for you all. I left the Brown Eagle faction yesterday to capture from a faction member. While I was sleeping, IsaacU decided that I was neutral. Which according to your definition, I still am whether in a faction or not. Whether they knew I was in Brown Eagle or not I suppose is subjective, though easy enough to prove - and the monking has not stopped. Anyhow, they started to monk me out claiming that I have no rights to the Parish because I'm neutral. P-Jazz presumes I have joined the faction to hide. Which from my perspective is a poorly crafted deception

to propagate an agenda. He scouted me, therefore I scouted him. He sends back a msg stating that my actions are of war, when I am the defender, not the aggressor and frankly, kiss my a*s. I know a lot of history. Perhaps P-Jazz should research Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pot, etc. You know what you're doing. (Records, 2015)

Weather P-Jazz researched Hitler or not, at this point, Morning Destroyer, our faction leader, replied. We were so happy that he wrote, as we felt completely defenseless. In the message, he questioned the claim, stating that it was unfounded, and that we had responded to

House 16’s attacks with counterattacks. He also undermined their claims about attacking us and confirmed Treld’s story, reminding Black Dog of the rules of engagement (dropping factions to capture an ally’s village). Furthermore, he lashed out at Black Dog for claiming that Treld did not belong to our faction, calling it a “blatant lie.” Finally, referencing history, he blamed three players (IsaacU, P-Jazz, and Devil) who had sneakingly derailed their collaborations in the past, trying to advance their own “personal agenda” again. Then, he lashed out at the leaders of House

16 for not realizing their agendas and being deceived. Finally, he urged us not to reply to the thread, as he believed that it was a trick to find out who was active in faction:

Morning Destroyer: Unprovoked attacks? You know thats not true, just as members of the faction know its not true. Scouts and attacks on members of this faction and its parishes by your members and members of House 16 were responded with in kind, thats all. Trying to claim your attacks were "justified" as the Karmageddon members in question had dropped faction to trade flags or villages with other members and were therefore neutral" at the time is a joke. You know full well that players have to drop faction to attack their own and you know full well how you would have reacted if we (or anyone) had done the same to any alliance" member that had dropped faction to do same. Trying to also claim members of this faction that have been members for months and held parishes in these lands before H16 even landed in England, were not members of the faction before is just a blatant lie. Your members (IsaacU, P-Jazz, and Devil) started this, just as they caused us to leave that alliance" by betraying H16 and H15 a leaderships word months ago.. Its been them all along with their own little personal agenda they had when they were H10 and are now hiding behind H16 colours after surrendering and flipping to that House without so much as one iota of resistance, trash talking cowards that have suckered you into their whims. Nobody else reply to this, its just a ploy to stir up shit and see who is active and when.

The mistakes behind being made here is they think we are fools and woefully underestimate what 3 years experience teaches someone. (Records, 2015)

After this counterargument, Black Dog responded. In the message, he addressed us, not

Morning Destroyer. He said that he had asked Morning Destroyer “a number of times” to provide him with evidence (faction messages and reports) for the claim that Treld was indeed our faction member and he had dropped faction to do a friendly capture, which, accordingly,

Morning Destroyer had not complied. Furthermore, he said that Morning Destroyer had tried to show the incident in a different light, pretending that we had been attacked first while, in fact, we were the ones who started it. Finally, excluding us from “a few of [our] members,” he restated his claim that we were the ones who declared war:

Black Dog: Morning are you kidding me?? Trying to claim your attacks were justified as the Brown Eagle members in question had dropped faction to trade flags or villages with other members and were therefore neutral at the time is a joke. “You know full well that players have to drop faction to attack their own and you know full well how you would have reacted if we (or anyone) had done the same to any alliance" member that had dropped faction to do same. Forward me the reports!!!! like ive asked you to do 3 times now. you have caused the problems by not doing as requested. i said 2 days ago any more attacks on our members will be classed as an act of war on against us. you either chose to deliberatly ignore that or you have rouge members. its one of the other. the more you throw your mouth around the worse this is going to get. (Records, 2015)

After this, Morning Destroyer wrote back, lashing out at Black Dog’s propaganda.

Drawing on historical happenings, he tried to persuade Black Dog, who was also the king of the world, that House 16 was a not worth defending, as they were “multi-accounting house jumping farmers” that could betray others and “flip House” when threatened. In his devaluing House 16, he also mentioned the historical reason why he, as the leader of a House 15 faction, had to leave the alliance. To further back his claims, he referenced Priest Marco, a veteran player, stating that he had also been forced to abandon the world “disgusted at how H16 was betraying key H15.”

Finally, he insulted the House 16 players as “trash talking whining bitches” who only cared about their own benefits:

Morning Destroyer: I forwarded all reports, stop your bullshit propaganda Black dog, you are defending multi-accounting house jumping farmers that done nothing for that Alliance other than flip House the moment they felt threatened. You defend and believe the very people that caused the faction that whilst in H15 had cleared Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire of enemies and pushed into Buckinghamshire, to leave, i.e. us.. Shame Priest Marco isn't still around to clarify historical facts and the real situation in this area... but that's right, he left game, disgusted at how H15 was betraying key H16 factions in favour of trash talking whining bitches that had their own little agenda and had done nothing for that faction or that house. (Records, 2015)

Right after this message, he also composed another message in response to Black Dog, referencing other historical events backing his claim. He likened Black Dog to a “corrupt politician” who had his agenda and mind set, not willing to look into the evidence provided:

Morning Destroyer: No I am not kidding you... that's the facts... Your mind's made up though and facts won't change it... you have your agenda and propaganda to stick to, just like a corrupt politician. Honesty and Glory left H16 about the same time as Leo left HM position and H16 started absorbing the multi-accounting, cheating egomaniacs from H12/H1 and H9 in England at the time, letting them dictate a new course for H16 in England... Uncomfortable truths... but truth nonetheless. (Records, 2015)

As this conversation was unfolding in front of us, we were all amazed at how deep this conflict was and how little we knew of the history of this game. We were all newbies in some way, and I had just joined Brown Eagle. Although we were weighing the evidence provided by both sides, we trusted Morning Destroyer. His skills, knowledge of the game history, language, high rank, and support made us trust him. Besides, we had been part of the operation which led to this conflict; therefore, we had seen for ourselves how deceitful the Black Dog was. When ultimately, after a long debate (see Appendix C), the prospect of peace diminished, and Morning

Destroyer offered more evidence on House 16’s hypocrisy, the Black Dog declared war:

Black Dog: I offered you peace multiple times and all you do is attack me. You really want to commit suicide then you'll get your WAR. Having seen the state of you castles in the faction, obviously those two or three players who started this WAR may be ready but the rest of you will die. Any of you not wanting in on this WAR, leave Brown Eagle now or face the consequences. You may have razed one of my castles but I raze ten for your decision to attack me. (Records, 2015)

We did not say anything on this thread because Morning Destroyer had told us not to, but we shared our support for him in the faction communication thread. He was our leader and we trusted him:

From a linguistic standpoint, in this snippet, we can see examples of language use that are opinion evaluation (e.g., “from my perspective is a poorly crafted deception to propagate an agenda,” or “is a blatant lie”), causative (e.g., “he scouted me, therefore I scouted him.”), defensive-passive aggressive (e.g., “when I am the defender, not the aggressor and frankly, kiss my a*s.”), establishing identity (e.g., “I know a lot of history. Perhaps P-Jazz should research

Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pot, etc.”), justification (e.g, “scouts and attacks on members of this faction and its parishes by your members and members of House 16 were responded with in kind”), formulaic (e.g., “you know full well,” “is a joke,” or “the more you throw your mouth around the worse this is going to get”), hypothesis-conditional (e.g., “how you would have reacted if we (or anyone) had done the same to any alliance”), contradict-contrast (e.g., “however I have a report showing that Cor_rect attached IsaacU first), setting the record straight (e.g., “you guys therefore declared war on us not us on you”), aggressive (e.g., “forward me to reports!!!,” “you either

chose to deliberatly ignore that or you have rouge members. its one of the other.”), and metaphoric (e.g., “disgusted at how H15 was betraying key H16 factions in favour of trash talking whining bitches that had their own little agenda and had done nothing for that faction or that house). Of course, this was a small excerpt of this debate (see Appendix C), the rest shows a variety of other linguistic moves and speech acts in place.

The Big Picture

This analysis was conducted to answer the first research question in the study: What are the linguistic and cultural norms and practices of the faction community in which NNES participated? This analysis, at a macro level, depicts a dynamic culture with its norms and practices. The community is alive with social interactions, shared experiences, negotiations, learning, friendships, animosities, mixed feelings, and diverse backgrounds, all cultivated around gameplay. On the other hand, the members of this community, as both actors and participants, stood together through war, peace, and a new world (and still playing). Once at the periphery of this community, they became legitimate members. In other words, this gaming CoP afforded them the conditions required to meet and communicate. Then, within the rules and regulations of the setting, shared interests, trust, and close ties were formed, and the members actively supported each other in the face of communal challenges, acquiring the skills needed to rise and succeed as a whole. Although virtual, as Kolo and Baur (2004) note, this culture was no less real than real-life cultures.

Furthermore, from an SLA perspective, this dynamic context had the potential to support the principles of SLA (e.g., input, output, social interaction, noticing, feedback, scaffolding) in a

CoP. We know from the literature of SLA that language learners need multiple forms of comprehensible input, which is slightly (i+1) above their current linguistic repertoire (Krashen,

1985) and within their ZPD (Vygotsky, 1978), at the right balance of challenge and skill

(Csikszentmihályi, 2014). Furthermore, for learners to take up the input, they need to be given opportunities to express themselves (comprehensible output) and interact with other (NES and

NNES) interlocutors, where they can receive feedback and scaffolding (Gabarre, Gabarre, Din,

Shah, & Karim, 2016) and notice the forms (Egbert & Shahrokni, 2018; Ellis, 2008). Moreover, research shows that students learn better from authentic materials, those which are interesting and meaningful to them (Flowerday & Shell, 2015). All these elements existed in this CoP. The

NNES player, Middo, sees himself as a contributing member of Brown Eagle, where members interact over what is authentic to all of them--game. The interactions are filled with linguistic input, feedback, and scaffolding, be it linguistic or gaming skills. Sometimes the needs are more individualistic, such as when one enters the game as a low-level villager and needs supplies to rise, and sometimes they are more collective, such as when one is a leader or member of a faction and needs to actively engage in policy making, diplomacy, and supporting a cause. In all these situations language is necessary and the member has the potential to apprentice to the norms.

In the next section, an interview is conducted with Middo to further delve into his experiences of being a member of this CoP, focusing on answering the second research question:

How does the faction community shape and support the NNES’ development of linguistic skills?

Interview

In order to investigate the affordances of the faction community for language development, I created an interview protocol (see Appendices A) comprising 6 main questions and many probes around them. The interview was conducted via Discord where I approached

Middo and asked him on an interview (see Appendix B for the interview text). I started with a warm-up to create a positive atmosphere and then asked questions in a semi-structured manner (I originally had plans to interview Tikeno as well; however, she was not available for an interview while the study was in progress). Throughout the interview, I tapped the participant’s age, gender, game experience, geographical location, and language (Demographics), asked about his gaming experience (Description/Experience), asked if he had assumed any social roles in the game, and, if so, how it had affected his language development (Structural), asked him to compare his gaming experience and linguistic skills with other faction members (Contrast), posed him with hypothetical scenarios (Hypothetical), investigated his SLS journey in reference to certain game points (Behavioral Event ), asked him to express what being “competent” in the game meant to him (Phenomenological), and, finally, asked for clarifications on many issues which were shared (Probe). The interview was conducted on three occasions, with the participant being open to my questions. The first two sessions were during my data analysis, while the third session was a follow-up conducted after the data analysis was finished.

Middo was a 27-year-old male Egyptian gamer who spoke Arabic as his first language.

He had been playing the game for more than five years, with SK not being the only game he played or was playing at the time—he had played the offline version of the game, Stronghold

Crusader, and was playing other games and multiple worlds at the time of the interview.

Furthermore, he had assumed different social roles in SK and other MOOGs.

He had learned English in school, but he believed that speaking with NES in the game was important in developing language skills, helping him to learn “new vocabulary” and

“improve the structure of sentences and grammar.” He also mentioned another MMOG called

Angles Online that he had played, which helped him with “remembering the language.” When asked if playing the game could help him communicate with a tourist in a hypothetical situation, he mentioned that it had, especially when he “wanted to ask about something,” as the game helped him with “practicing and learning the language” without which his “English would be forgotten.” He believed that “if u dont use the language u will forget it after sometime.”

He played as part of a faction in SK and was in contact with some players on Facebook.

He rated his activity level as medium, due to life and work responsibilities, but said that he had been more active on Discord when playing Angles Online, or generally more active in the game when he was unemployed. He believed that playing as part of a team was more enjoyable as

“you do a part and others do another part.” He was generally not interested in taking so many responsibilities, “a big issue in [his] personality,” so he had refrained from assuming high-office roles which would put him “in front line.” He was considered a skilled player, and, thus, had been asked twice to be a faction leader in two other worlds that he was playing; however, he had declined the offers, opting for the less responsibility-laden position of “officer” in our world.

His written English showed instances of different local errors; however, those errors did not block the conversation. For instance, there were word choice (e.g., i was afraid that u maybe quit), punctuation (e.g., i would say its medium), grammar (e.g., i dont like much

responsibilities), missing word (e.g., my English not very well), and spelling (e.g., hay sry i was in a vacation) errors in his responses. On the other hand, his writing showed a mix of simple and complex structures along with a satisfactory range of vocabulary. For instance, there were passive structures (e.g., I've been asked to be a faction leader), complex structures (e.g., not only

SHK is the online game that i play i play also another game), dropping “that” in a clause and adding an appositive (e.g., i hope everything is good there especially after trump), conditionals

(e.g., i could handle it alone i would do it alone sometimes), and different expressions (e.g., thanks to the online games). Rating this writing piece using an IELTS Writing Task 2 rubric10, to me, places him in the sixth band score level, descriptive of a very good language user. Of course,

I do not, nor I tried to, know how much of this proficiency level has been achieved through gaming, but gaming, as Middo acknowledged, has surely contributed to it (see Chapter 5).

Final Thoughts

To conclude this section, I map the findings of this analysis on the tenets of the CoP model. As the analysis shows, a faction community in SK can be considered a CoP where players, forming communal ties, gather around a shared domain, and collaborate towards accomplishing shared goals by engaging in shared practices. In this dynamic community, newcomers can receive support from old-timers, moving from a peripheral to a central position in the community. As could be seen, the breakout of war united the community towards a shared goal and they developed their communal ties and skills in the process, becoming competent members of their faction. All members, regardless of background, contributed to the cause and, even though they lost the battle, stayed together and formed their own neutral faction and house

10 https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/writing-band-descriptors-task-2.ashx?la=en

in a new world. Likewise, the NNES-player of this community used the same affordances and engaged in the social dynamics involved in the community to develop his language skills at the same time that he enjoyed the play. This supportive environment, filled with input, output, noticing, social interaction, feedback and scaffolding, trust, and excitement, gave him the potential for second language socialization—the process by which NNES become competent members of social communities.

Figure 9. Model of SK CoP

Based on this model, the principles of a CoP, namely, domain, community, and practice characterize the social dynamics at work in SK. The domain, that is, the shared area of interest— the gameplay—gathers players from diverse backgrounds in the game world, providing them with a reason to invest in the domain. Pursuing their goals (e.g., dominating the world), the players, then, engage in communal endeavors and shared practices with other community members, forming communal ties, experiences, and feelings. The diversity of members’ backgrounds, interests, and goals, all relevant to the domain, has the potential to shape different relations, feelings, practices, and courses of events within the CoP in such a way that the world houses multiple sub-CoPs within its premises, just as how the physical world operates.

Moreover, as can be seen, the principles of the CoP are in constant interaction with each other.

That is, domain interacts with both community and practice, and vice versa. For instance, the interest in dominating the world motivates the development of certain skills whose acquisition corresponds to differing status levels within the community. Likewise, higher status entails the expertise in the workings of the game which will maintain the interest in the domain. For instance, a high-level player such as Morning Destroyer possessed different skills and viewed the gameplay differently from other lower-ranking players, as shown in his analysis of events at the beginning of war.

Brown Eagle was a CoP within SK, a sub-CoP to be exact, which was not part of a

House. The faction members, who came from different backgrounds and gaming experiences, gathered around their interest and formed communal ties while engaging in shared activities in the face of changing times. War united them against an external enemy; peace gave them a chance to rise again; end of the word had them excitingly plan for the future; and immigration gave them hope to live together at peace. The range of activities required to live during each time

was unique and, at the same time, recurrent, only the priorities changed. For instance, while communication and collaboration were essential communal activities during all times, they were vital during the war, as the faction faced an existential threat. Elements which helped the members stand together during their 3-year journey were communication, collaboration, support, trust, excitement, closeness, and status. These elements, on the one hand, interacted with the community practices, such as the knowledge and observance of rules, development of skills, and shared experiences, and with domain on the other.

Accordingly, the dynamics within Brown Eagle were compatible with those of CoP.

However, the categories closeness and excitement, while emerging in two eras, namely, war and end of the world, enveloped all faction endeavors. Faction dynamics were always emotionally charged—happiness, sadness, fear, anger, joy, and surprise were some of the emotions that I personally felt during my gameplay, and I think the gameplay aroused similar feelings in my co- players as well. Therefore, the role of emotions in consolidating a CoP, while currently not a tenet of the theory, is an undeniable part of the dynamics in a CoP in general and MMOGs in particular, which needs to be investigated further. This topic will be further elaborated in the next chapter.

Reflexivity

As a participant-researcher and human being, I certainly brought my human condition to this study. When I first started playing SK, I would never imagine that it would be the focus of a dissertation. When sharing the title of my work with one of my colleagues, Carla, she mentioned,

“your thesis sounds like a dream thesis!”, and it certainly has been one. I have played an MMOG for three years, what I have immensely enjoyed, and written my dissertation in the process. The

experience of being situated in what I loved as a personal hobby, a passion that has been with me since childhood, playing generations of gaming consoles from old Atari 2600 (1977, https://www.atari.com/), Nintendo (1986, https://www.nintendo.com/), Sega Genesis (1989, https://www.sega.com/), to more recent PlayStation (https://www.playstation.com/) and Xbox

(https://www.xbox.com). However, an MMOG was a new mode of gameplay for me—it was alive, not AI. My first human interaction in the game left me, someone who had experienced dial-up connections and slow and often-interrupted chat messaging services, amazed at how easily I could play online with other people. Thinking about the fact that any village on the map was actually a human being, not an AI, was so exciting! I could see how scouts, carts, monks, and armies were dispatched from villages on the map, and I would watch them forever, guessing the intention of the players behind them. I had even reviewed their profiles. I knew how many villages and achievements most of them had. When I received Morning Destroyer’s invitation to join Brown Eagle, I know deep down that I needed them more than they needed me! I was so thrilled to be a member of the community whose actions I had long watched, so excited that I did not hesitate to accept their invitation. When, however, I saw the swords on the map, and learned that the faction was at war, I felt afraid and somehow cheated. I had not seen this coming. “What should I do now?” I thought. “Should I drop faction and be neutral again? Were they my friends?

Who would put you in trouble like this?” I was contemplating anxiously.

Ultimately, however, I decided to stay. Was it my need for social interaction? It sure was!

Had the game become so boring that I was desperate to join a group of players? Maybe—there were AI enemies to be busy with, but human-related challenges and social dynamics felt more natural. Were there no other factions to join and experience “human-related challenges”? Of course there were! Why, then, did I stay with them and take this challenge which would drag me

into a world war? Honestly, I do not know! It just felt right to stay with Brown Eagle. I followed the arguments put forth by both sides of the conflict and felt that Morning Destroyer, Kreld, Bear and others were right, and it was not fair to leave when I learned their story. In the long run, also,

I did not regret accepting that invitation and joining Brown Eagle, even though it impacted my gaming and real life severely for some time. In the game, I lost all my villages—those that I had tried so hard to own by completing quests. In real life, however, the game changed my priorities—I had pushed almost all my other real-life commitments to the margins, and put SK in the center. I was familiar with the addictive nature of offline games, but nobody missed or cared about an AI, they were always there whenever you played the game, but, with an MMOG, I felt I was part of a human endeavor, and needed to support my fellow players, especially when they were being unfairly targeted by ruthless H16 coordinated attacks. However, all in all, the interactions we had, the joy and excitement we shared while defending our territories, and the support and learning that happened in the process were so profound and unprecedented in my experience that it was worth going through. Even when Morning Destroyer left so suddenly, and

I felt betrayed and heart-broken, it did not cause me to leave; I still liked being with the faction, and we are still together, playing on and off. We know each other very well and share our life journeys. The other day, Justin was telling me about his boating life experiences (he lives on a boat in Nevada). We have not seen each other in person yet, but maybe someday we will.

The research had an immense effect on my own perception of teaching and learning. For someone like me being educated through a dominantly behaviorist school system, where, by principle, repetition and practice led to good habits, the type of learning which I saw develop and be co-constructed was novel. Of course, as educators, we read about the merits of constructivist and situated approaches to learning in general and language learning in particular; however, this

dissertation allowed me to see for myself and experience how in practice such collective learning experiences could emerge in a gaming CoP, without access to any formal educational planning, curriculum development, and assessment strategies by professionals. As an educator, I found the dynamics of this community unique in mobilizing hundreds of individuals from around the globe and gathering them in a CoP around, as Wenger (1998) notes, a mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire. My most important learning developed throughout this study, therefore, was to acknowledge that learning can be fun, interesting, authentic, situated, interactive, feedback-laden, unstructured, voluntary, emotional, and durable. Learning should not be an activity that discourages, isolates, tires, and impedes; rather, it should motivate, bind, engage, and facilitate. I experienced this type of learning while playing SK with Brown Eagle.

As a researcher, one who is new to the qualitative world, I found ethnography a powerful methodology in capturing the sociocultural norms of the community. Coding was a cumbersome part of this work. With so much data, which increased momentarily as we played, it was so challenging and time-consuming to code all possible nuances of language and situations.

Besides, the interactions were so rich and deep that one could easily get distracted in the process;

I kept reviewing the tenets of the theoretical framework to know what I was looking for and let the rest of data be there for future work, when SLS and/or other frameworks would be employed to analyze the data in different lights. Despite this challenge, however, I believe the different iterations of open and axial coding carried out in this study ultimately led to descriptive codes, categories, and themes. Of course, this dissertation would not be finished if I were to do justice to the nuances and complexities of this sociocultural setting; therefore, I intend to explore this world more deeply in the future. Another challenge was being a participant-observer in this community. I had taken a selective observation approach to observing the sociocultural norms of

the community; however, I was so situated in the community that I saw all activities contributing to a NNES’s development of linguistic skills, which, in fact, they are, but with a deadline to defend and so much data in my possession, it was impossible to attend to all activities. To deal with this issue, I adopted two strategies. First, my meetings with my chair allowed me to zoom in on the portions of data which could inform my observation—we decided that some data, although important, did not merit the present analysis and needed to be worked on in a different study. Second, I realized that distancing myself from my data could help me find new boundaries within the activities in the community, a strategy known to qualitative researchers (Bernard,

1994). For instance, voting, which I primarily could see as one activity, was, in fact, an activity with multiple layers, from the actual clicking/tapping a button to lobbying, negotiating, proclaiming, threatening, monk waring, capturing, flipping parishes, etc.

To conclude this section, I need to restate that this research was a “dream thesis” in numerous ways. First, it provided me with an opportunity to work on an area close to my heart.

Second, it afforded me the opportunity to explore how MMOGs, the media which are sometimes referred to as the “future of learning” (Shaffer et al., 2005, p. 10), could provide an engaging situated learning experience for students. Third, it marked a new chapter in my academic life by allowing me to walk in the beautiful, colorful realm of qualitative inquiry. Forth, it showed me how harmoniously we could work together despite our diverse upbringings, geographical locations, cultures, political views, religions, etc. towards accomplishment of shared global goals. Finally, it allowed me to better understand a virtual but real culture in which I was immersed for an exciting period of my life.

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I revisit my research questions and answer them. Furthermore, I detail the contribution of this work to the field of second language teaching and learning and discuss how these findings can shape future research and practice.

Research Questions

This dissertation aimed to explore the process of SLS in a faction community called

Brown Eagle in an MMOG called SK. Two research questions drove this inquiry:

Question #1. What are the linguistic and cultural norms and practices of the faction community in which NNES participated?

To answer this question, I was a participant-researcher in the faction community for three years, where I could observe the group dynamics at the same time that I was participating in communal activities. Also, I collected as much data as I could from our communication threads over these years, a period during which the faction passed through four eras—war, post-war peace and life in exile, end of the world, and immigration to a new word. The data were coded, categorized, and thematized based on the principles of the theoretical framework, SLS with CoP and LPP orientations. The results showed that a faction community was in fact a CoP with various opportunities for SLS and language development. Brown Eagle, in line with the tenets of the CoP, was founded on a domain (gaming), a community (SK), where (close) communal relations were formed through communication, collaboration, support, trust, status, and experiences and practice structured through rules and skills. Likewise, in line with the tenets of the LPP, this dynamic community provided the newcomers with opportunities to apprentice to the norms and become central members of the community through group participation, support,

and apprenticeship in a friendly environment. Therefore, in line with the tenets of SLS, this community provided potential affordances for a typical NNES-gamer to become a competent member of this social group.

Different eras experienced by Brown Eagle triggered different group dynamics among the members. Although all categories of norms were at work in all eras, some were more salient during specific eras. For instance, the breakout of war mobilized almost all categories

(collaboration, skill, support, rules, closeness, trust, communication, and status); the era of post- war peace showed shared experiences and support; end of the world showed rules, closeness, excitement, and communication; and immigration to a new world showed support and rules (see

Table 1). I find a similar pattern between these norms and what could happen in real-life CoP where different priorities could arise out of necessity at different phases of one’s life journey.

Table 1. Summary of Faction Norms War Post-war peace and life End of the Immigration to a new in exile world world Collaboration Shared Experiences Rules Support Skill Support Closeness Rules Support Excitement Rules Communication Closeness Trust Communication Status Note: Instances of these categories could be seen in all faction life eras, but they were more salient during the corresponding era.

Question #2. How does the faction community shape and support the NNES’ development of linguistic skills?

To answer this question, an interview was conducted with one of the non-native English speakers of the community. The results showed that the participant, a 27-year-old Egyptian gamer, considered the affordances of MMOGs in general, and SK in particular, very important and useful in shaping his linguistic skills. He asserted that his participation in this community helped him keep his English “at a good level” by “really talking to english native talkers.” He even went so far as to say, “really thank god for online games to get [him] to this point in [his] english language.” Furthermore, the diversity of lexical and grammatical features in his language showed that his language proficiency, based on an IELTS Task 2 writing rubric, was descriptive of a good language user. Therefore, to answer this question, I believe, based on the results of this study, it is safe to conclude that MMOGs in general and SK in particular provide a supportive environment where principles of language learning (e.g., input, output, authenticity, social interaction, noticing, feedback, and scaffolding) can be supported in CoP, where LPP can occur.

Although this study, due to limitations (see below), could not investigate the process of SLS longitudinally, I believe it is safe to argue for the potential of faction dynamics and norms to support the SLS process.

Contributions to the Field

This study has several contributions to the field. First, it provides supporting evidence on the effectiveness of MMOGs for teaching and learning purposes. The results support Prensky’s

(2001) assertion that learning with games is a unique experience, as games are fun, playful, rule- governed, goal-oriented, interactive, outcomes-based, feedback-laden, adaptive, competitive, challenging, and fictional. The social dynamics at work in SK supported these qualities. Second, this study applied the SLS framework to another unexplored gaming context, hence responding

to Palmer’s call, and found similar results that MMOGs provide special affordances for SLS.

Third, on a methodological level, this ethnographic case study provided a macro-analysis of

MMOG contexts, which, due to their recency, are gravely under-researched and sometimes negatively viewed, thus answering calls by Reinhardt and Sykes (2012) and Peterson (2016) for more sociocultural research on MMOGs. Fourth, on a theoretical level, SLS, being a fairly new perspective in SLA (Duff, 2007; Zuengler & Cole, 2005), was found to be a robust lens through which to look at the sociocultural norms of SK CoP, hence, responding to Chappelle’s (2009) call for diversifying theoretical perspectives on SLA. Fifth, this study provided compelling evidence that social approaches to SLA are equally important in our investigation as cognitivist approaches, as, according to Ochs (2002), language learning is “part of a much larger process of becoming a person in society” (p. 106). Finally, and most importantly, this study supports

Turnbull’s (2000) suggestion that “learning and emotion are inextricably linked in organizational life” (p. 440) and, therefore, expands the notions of Lave and Wenger’s (1998) CoP and Gee’s

(2003) affinity spaces to include the concept of emotionality. Obviously, interactions in SK were emotionally charged, as was seen earlier, and I argue that emotions, among other things, have kept this community alive for over three years. Of course, the faction members have communicated, collaborated, built trust, supported each other, and accomplished shared goals, just as how real-world CoP work. However, to be together for such a long time, despite the fact the members have not even seen each other in person (although some of us are friends on

Facebook now), is an infrequent happening. In real-life situations, we see CoP formed and maintained based on a domain, community, and practice (Lave & Wenger, 1998), usually with many institutional resources and budgets, but, it is likely that such CoP fall apart. It is interesting how the SK community, with none of the support available to most real-world CoP, has

withstood the test of time and the members are still together. In my experience, there have been times when a member has logged in to the game just to say hi and vent over a real-life issue and then gone inactive for a while. This connection and closeness is beyond description. The only factor that I believe is key in keeping the faction together is feelings experienced during shared practices. This factor has largely gone unexplored in CoP settings. Furthermore, although Gee’s

(2003) notion of affinity spaces is arguably a more descriptive term for the dynamics at work in an MMOG (a common endeavor, a shared heterogeneous multi-level and generative space, knowledge (intensive, extensive, individual, collective, dispersed, and tacit) development and sharing, different routes to participation and status, and porous leadership), it does not include emotion as a key factor in a CoP’s success. One theory which can help account for the importance of emotionality in the cohesiveness of Brown Eagle as a CoP is Oatley’s (1992,

2000) social interaction. According to this theory, emotions serve three specific goals in social communities: protection, affiliation, and dominance. Accordingly, in a community, out of fear or anxiety, members tend to protect each other against possible dangers befalling them, resulting in their attachment. Likewise, members, out of happiness, tend to affiliate to the community, resulting in affection or warmth towards each other. Finally, members, out of anger, tend to exert power on and dominate each other, resulting in aggression or assertion. Ultimately, if the emotions are prolonged, they turn to sentiments, which commit people to a predictable course of action and beliefs. Accordingly, following the tenets of this theory, what happened in the case of

Brown Eagle was that the faction, out of anger exhibited by House 16, came under attack, and, out of fear, resorted to a united protection countermeasure. This mutual engagement created warmth and affection among Brown Eagle members and they affiliated to the community, feeling happy about their mutual engagement in defending themselves and their territories. Of

100

course, as there are two sides to any conflict, the same feelings must have been aroused in House

16 members as well. As these emotions occurred over a long period of time, these emotions turned to sentiments and kept/have been keeping the group together. Therefore, as Imai (2010) notes, emotions are not mere byproducts of human social interaction; they underpin it, ultimately configuring how human activity is organized, operated, and accomplished (p. 281).

Implications for Practice and Research

This study has some implications for practice. This study showed that the dynamics in

MMOGs can help language learners develop and/or improve linguistic skills (Black, 2005, 2006;

Lam, 2004). Group participation and collaboration, negotiations of actions, feedback and scaffolds, authenticity and connection, and balanced challenges are required to make an engaging learning experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Levy & Stockwell, 2006; Egbert & Shahrokni,

2018; Zheng et al., 2009). The success story of Brown Eagle, among other factors, was about the interaction of these elements, which formed close bonds and shared learning experiences for all members. It is imperative that we use the potential of MMOGs to develop engaging learning environments where participants can interact, collaborate and/or compete over solving shared authentic tasks and balanced challenges. These elements will make learning engaging and allow students to explore a broader range of knowledge (Beatty, 2015; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990;

Widdowson, 2012; Squire, 2008; Squire & Jenkins, 2003). At the present, such standalone educational MMOGs are scarce in the field; however, CALL applications and technologies could effectively be employed and adapted to create such online CoP. Likewise, gamifying education, that is, using game elements in non-game settings, has been found to be an effective strategy to catalyze engagement, motivation, attention, and investment in learning (Arnold, 2014).

101

This study has some implications for research. It would have been ideal for this dissertation to look into the process of SLS from the beginning of Middo’s linguistic journey.

Through this, I could have seen how he developed the sociocultural and linguistic knowledge and practices to be considered a competent member of the community. Likewise, this may have allowed me to find out how he played peripherally and when and how he moved to the center of the community. However, playing the game did not start for both of us by entering Brown Eagle.

Personally, I had been playing on and off before, and he had played other MMOGs and was already a member of Brown Eagle when I joined. Therefore, unfortunately, I could not track his sociocultural and linguistic developments over the years by analyzing his language; what I arrived at was the product of his non-SK, SK, and non-game sociocultural and linguistic experiences. Therefore, this study, at its best, scratched the surface of the SLS process, establishing that SK, as a diminutive of MMOGs, was a legitimate site of culture and a CoP, where there were ample resources and opportunities for sociocultural and linguistic development.

Likewise, this study showed that Middo had a positive attitude towards his linguistic journey in

SK. Further research is required to delve more into the process, rather than the product, of a

NNES’s SLS journey, accessing the initial posts and exchanges of their progression longitudinally. Another issue which needs to be considered in further research is conducting more interviews with participants. Finally, research should focus on the role of emotions in group dynamics and organizational settings. As was stated in the previous section, I argue that the formation of a CoP needs observance of the sociocultural norms of the community; however, the success of a CoP depends largely on emotions. For instance, Morning Destroyer left the faction after the war, never to return. He was the leader of our faction and he let the leadership be porous although he mentored us into acquiring the gaming skills in the beginning. What is it then

102

that has kept us together? I would personally argue that it was the different feelings that we experienced since the beginning of our gaming journey which has kept us together for the past three years. Therefore, further research is required to assess the importance of emotions in community formation and longevity. The answer to this virtual question is even more important for the sake of real-life communities—if we, not just as scholars but as citizens of the world, know what can keep us together despite our diversities in a CoP in the size of a world, in the face of global challenges that impact all of us, we can invest in it, much less than what we invest in building walls and arms. Or maybe we already know the answer!

103

REFERENCES

Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive

behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial

behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychological Science,

12(5), 353-359.

Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L., Bushman, B. J., Sakamoto, A., ... &

Saleem, M. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial

behavior in eastern and western countries: A meta-analytic review. Psychological

Bulletin, 136(2), 151-173.

Angrosino, M. V. & Mays, D., Kimberly A. (2000). Rethinking observation: From method to

context. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd

ed, pp.673-702), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Arnold, B. J. (2014). Gamification in education. Proceedings of the American Society of

Business and Behavioral Sciences, 21(1), 32-39.

Bax, S. (2003). CALL—past, present and future. System, 31(1), 13-28.

Berk, L. E., & Winsler, A. (1995). Scaffolding children's learning: Vygotsky and early childhood

education. NAEYC Research into Practice Series. Volume 7. National Association for the

Education of Young Children, 1509 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036-1426

(NAEYC catalog# 146).

Bernard, H. R. (1994). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative

approaches (2nd ed.). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

104

Bishop, J. (2009). Enhancing the understanding of genres of web-based communities: The role

of the ecological cognition framework. International Journal of Web-Based

Communities, 5(1), 4-17.

Black, R. W. (2005). Access and affiliation: The literacy and composition practices of English-

language learners in an online fan fiction community. Journal of Adolescent and Adult

Literacy, 49(2), 118-128.

Black, R. W. (2006). Language, culture, and identity in online fanfiction. E-Learning, 3(2), 170-

184.

Brown, P. (2011). The cultural organization of attention. In A. Duranti, E. Ochs & B.B.

Schieffelin (Eds.), The handbook of language socialization (pp. 29-55). Wiley-Blackwell.

Bushman, B. J., & Huesmann, L. R. (2012). Effects of violent media on aggression. In D. G.

Singer & J. L. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of children and the media (2nd ed., pp. 231–248).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Canfield, D. W. (2016). The discursive construction of language teaching and learning in

multiuser virtual environments. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of

Tennessee, Knoxville.

Chapelle, C. (2009). The relationship between second language acquisition theory and computer-

assisted language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 93, 741-753.

Charsky, D. (2010). From edutainment to serious games: A change in the use of game

characteristics. Games and Culture, 5(2), 177–198.

105

Chomsky, N. (1959). A note on phrase structure grammars. Information and control, 2(4), 393-

395.

Cornillie, F., Clarebout, G., & Desmet, P. (2012). Between learning and playing? Exploring

learners’ perceptions of corrective feedback in an immersive game for English

pragmatics. ReCALL, 24(03), 257-278.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper &

Row.

Dalgarno, B., & Lee, M. (2010). What are the learning affordances of 3-D virtual

environments? British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(1), 10-32.

Delwiche, A. (2006). Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) in the new media classroom.

Educational Technology & Society, 9(3), 160-172.

Dill, K. E. (2009). How fantasy becomes reality: Seeing through media influence. Oxford

University Press.

Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed

methodologies. Oxford University Press.

Duff, P. A. (2007). Second language socialization as sociocultural theory: Insights and issues.

Language teaching, 40(4), 309-319.

Duff, P. A. (2008). Language socialization, higher education, and work. In P. A. Duff & N. H.

Hornberger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education: Vol. 8. Language

socialization (pp. 257–270). New York: Springer.

106

Duff, P. A., & Talmy, S. (2011). Language socialization approaches to second language

acquisition. In D. Atkinson (Ed.). Alternative approaches to second language acquisition

(PP. 95-116). NY: Routledge.

Duff, P. A., & Talmy, S. (2011). Language socialization approaches to second language

acquisition. In D. Atkinson (Ed.). Alternative approaches to second language acquisition

(PP. 95-116). NY: Routledge.

Duff, P., & Hornberger, N. (2008). Encyclopedia of language and education. Language

socialization, 8.

Eckert, P. (2006) Communities of practice. In K. Brown (Ed.). Encyclopedia of language and

linguistics (2nd ed., pp. 683-685). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Egbert, J. (2004). A study of flow theory in the foreign language classroom. Canadian Modern

Language Review, 60(5), 549-586.

Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second language acquisition (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Firth, A., & Wagner, J. (1997). On discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental concepts

in SLA research. The Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 285-300.

Firth, A., & Wagner, J. (1998). SLA property: No trespassing! Modern Language Journal, 82,

91-9.

Frawley, W., & Lantolf, J. P. (1984). Speaking and self-order: A critique of orthodox L2

research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 6(2), 143-159.

107

Garrett, P. B. & P. Baquedano-Lopez (2002). Language socialization: Reproduction and

continuity, transformation and change. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31, 339–361.

Gass, S. (1998). Apples and oranges: Or why apples are not orange and don't need to be a

response to Firth and Wagner. The Modern Language Journal, 82(1), 83-90.

Gee, J. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. NY: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Geertz, C. (2005). Deep play: Notes on the Balinese cockfight. Daedalus, 134(4), 56-86.

Gentile, D. A., Bender, P. K., & Anderson, C. A. (2017). Violent video game effects on salivary

cortisol, arousal, and aggressive thoughts in children. Computers in Human Behavior, 70,

39-43.

Gorman, G. E., & Clayton, P. (2005). Qualitative research for the information professional: A

practical handbook (2nd ed.). London: Facet.

Grasser, A. C., Pearson, N., Lu, Z., Jeon, M.G., & M.G., & McDaniel, B. (2005). Learning while

holding a conversation with a computer. In L. P. Zillig, M. Bodvarsson, & R. Bruning,

(Eds.). Technology-based education: Bringing researchers and practitioners together

(pp. 143-167). Greenwich: Information Age Publishing.

Guichon, N., & McLornan, S. (2008). The effects of multimodality on L2 learners: Implications

for CALL resource design. System, 36, 85-93.

Hall, J. K. (1997). A consideration of SLA as a theory of practice: A response to Firth and

Wagner. The Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 301-306.

108

Halverson, A. C. (2009). Rethinking education in the age of technology. New York: Teachers

College Press.

Halverson, R. (2005). What can K-12 school leaders learn from video games and gaming?

Innovate: Journal of Online Education, 1(6), 1-9.

Hine, C. (2000). Virtual ethnography. London: Sage Publications.

Hine, C. (2008). Virtual ethnography: Modes, varieties, affordances. In N. G. Fielding, R. M.

Lee, & G. Blank (Eds.). The Sage handbook of online research methods (pp. 257-270).

London: Sage Publications.

Howe, K., & Eisenhart, M. (1990). Standards for qualitative (and quantitative) research: A

prolegomenon. Educational researcher, 19(4), 2-9.

Imai, Y. (2010). Emotions in SLA: New insights from collaborative learning for an EFL

classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 94(2), 278-292.

Karlsen, F. (2004, December). Media complexity and diversity of use: Thoughts on a taxonomy

of users of multiuser online games. Paper presented at the Other Players conference,

Center for Computer Games, Research, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Kasper, G. (1997). “A” stands for acquisition: A response to Firth and Wagner. The Modern

Language Journal, 81(3), 307-312.

Kasper, G., & Rose, K. (2002). Pragmatic development in a second language: Oxford:

Blackwell.

109

Kendall, L. (2002). Hanging out in the virtual pub: Masculinities and relationships online.

Berkley, CA: University of California Press.

Kim, S. H., Lee, J. & Thomas, M. K. (2012). Between purpose and method: A review of

educational research on 3D virtual worlds. Journal of Virtual Worlds, 5(1), 1-18.

Kingdoms Mobile Gameplay | Firefly Studios (2016). Retrieved from

http://fireflyworlds.com/2016/08/17/kingdoms-mobile-gameplay/

Kolo, C. & Baur, T. (2004). Living a virtual life: Social dynamics of online gaming. The

International Journal of Computer Game Research, 4(1), 1-10.

Kolo, C., & Baur, T. (2004). Living a virtual life: Social dynamics of online gaming. Game

studies, 4(1), 1-31.

Lam, W. S. E. (2004). Second language socialization in a bilingual chatroom: Global and local

considerations. Language Learning and Technology, 8(3), 44-65.

Lantolf, J. (1996). SLA theory building: "Letting all the flowers bloom." Language Learning,

46(4), 713-749.

Lantolf, J. P. & S. L. Thorne (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language

development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lantolf, J. P., & Frawley, W. (1988). Proficiency: Understanding the construct. Studies in

Second Language Acquisition, 10(2), 181-195.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (1997). Chaos/complexity science and second language acquisition. Applied

Linguistics, 18(2), 141-165.

110

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2002). Language acquisition and language use from a chaos/complexity

theory perspective. In C. Kramsch (Ed.), Language acquisition and language

socialization (pp. 33-46). London: Continuum.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2007a). Reflecting on the cognitive-social debate in second language

acquisition. The Modern Language Journal, 91(s1), 773-787.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2007b). On the complementarity of chaos/complexity theory and dynamic

systems theory in understanding the second language acquisition process. Bilingualism:

Language and Cognition, 10, 35-37.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation.

Cambridge university press.

Liddicoat, A. (1997). Interaction, social structure, and second language use. Modern Language

Journal, 81, 313-317.

Lincoln, Y. S. & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Long, M. H. (1985). Input and second language acquisition theory. In S. Gass & C. Madden

(Eds.), Input and second language acquisition (pp. 268–86). Rowley, MA: Newbury

House.

Long, M. H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W.

C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of research on Language Acquisition:

Second language acquisition (Vol. 2., pp. 413-68). New York: Academic Press.

Long, M. H. (1997). Construct validity in SLA research: A response to Firth and Wagner. The

Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 318-323.

111

Malinowski, B. (1935). Coral gardens and their magic. London: Allen & Unwin.

Nguyen, H. T., & Kellogg, G. (2005). Emergent identities in on-line discussions for second

language learning. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 62(1), 111-136.

Norton, B., & Christie, F. (1999). Genre theory and ESL teaching: Genre theory and ESL

teaching: A systemic functional perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 33(4), 759-763.

Oatley, K. (1992). Best laid schemes: The psychology of emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Oatley, K. (2000). The sentiments and beliefs of distributed cognition. In S. Bern (Ed.),

Emotions and beliefs: How feelings influence thoughts (pp. 78-107). Cambridge:

Cambridge University.

Ochs, E. (1990). Indexicality and socialization. Cultural psychology: Essays on comparative

human development, 287-308.

Ochs, E. (1992). Indexing gender. In A. Duranti & C. Goodwin (Eds.), Rethinking context:

Language as an interactive phenomenon (pp. 335-358). Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Ochs, E. (2002). Becoming a speaker of culture. In C. Kramsch (Ed.), Language acquisition and

language socialization (pp. 99-120). London: Continuum.

Ochs, E., & Schieffelin, B. (2012). The theory of language socialization. In A. Duranti, E. Ochs,

& B. Schieffelin (Eds.), The handbook of language socialization (pp. 1-22). Malden:

Wiley Blackwell.

112

Palmer, S. D. (2010). Second language pragmatic socialization in World of Warcraft.

Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Office of Graduate Studies, University of California,

Davis.

Pearce, C. (2009). Communities of play: Emergent cultures in multiplayer games and virtual

worlds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Pearce, C., Boellstorff, T., & Nardi, B. A. (2011). Communities of play: Emergent cultures in

multiplayer games and virtual worlds. MIT Press.

Peterson, M. (2016). The use of massively multiplayer online role-playing games in CALL: an

analysis of research. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 29(7), 1181- 1194.

Population - SSB (2017). Retrieved from

https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/nokkeltall/population

Poulisse, N. (1997). Some words in defense of the psycholinguistic approach: A response to

Firth and Wagner. The Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 324-328.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Prensky, M. (2006). “Don’t bother me Mom, I’m learning!”: How computer and video games

are preparing your kids for twenty-first century success and how you can help! St. Paul,

MN: Paragon House.

Rama, P. S., Black, R. W., van Es, E., & Warschauer, M. (2012). Affordances for second

language learning in World of Warcraft. ReCALL, 24(03), 322-338.

113

Rampton, B. (1997). Second language research in late modernity: A response to Firth and

Wagner. The Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 329-333.

Reinhardt, J., & Sykes, J.M. (2012). Conceptualizing digital game-mediated L2 learning and

pedagogy: Game-enhanced and game-based research and practice. In H. Reinders (Ed.),

Digital games in language learning and teaching (pp. 32-49). New York, NY: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Rheingold, H. (1993). Virtual communities: Homesteading on the electronic frontier. Reading:

Addison Wesley.

Robbins, R.W., & Butler, B. S. (2009). Selecting a virtual world platform for learning. Journal of

Information Systems Education, 20(2), 199-210.

Schecter, S. R. & R. Bayley (1997). Language socialization practices and cultural identity: Case

studies of Mexican-descent families in California and Texas. TESOL Quarterly, 31, 513-

542.

Schensul, S. L., Schensul, J. J., & LeCompte, M. D. (1999). Essential ethnographic methods:

Observations, interviews, and questionnaires. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Schieffelin, B. B., & Ochs, E. (1986). The microgenesis of competence: Methodology in

language socialization. In D. Slobin, J. Gerhardt, A. Kyratzis, & J. Guo (Eds.), Social

interaction, social context, and language (pp. 251-263). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Schroeder, R. (1999). Social life in virtual worlds: Structure and interaction in multi-user virtual

reality technology. Communications & Strategies, 33(1), 137-150.

114

Sfard, A. (1998). On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one.

Educational Researcher, 27, 4-13.

Shaffer, D. W., Squire, K. R., Halverson, R., & Gee, J. P. (2005). Video games and the future of

learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(2), 105-111.

Egbert, J., & Shahrokni, S. A. (2018). CALL principles and practices. OER. Available online at: https://goo.gl/XoKcCp Shahrokni, S. A., Salsbury, T., Bettis, P., Newcomer, S. & McMahon, D. (in press). Second

language socialization in a massively multi-player online game: A case study. CALL

Journal.

Shen, C., & Williams, D. (2010). Unpacking time online: Connecting internet and MMO use

with psychosocial well-being. Retrieved from http://dmitriwilliams.com/Unpacking.pdf

Squire, K. & Jenkins, H. (2003). Harnessing the power of games in education. Insight, 3, 7-33.

Retrieved from http://website.education.wisc.edu/kdsquire/manuscripts/insight.pdf

Squire, K. (2005). Changing the game: What happens when video games enter the classroom.

Innovate: Journal of Online Education, 1(6). Retrieved from

http://website.education.wisc.edu/~kdsquire/tenure-files/26-innovate.pdf

Squire, K. (2007). Games, learning, and society: Building a field. Educational Technology,

47(5), 51-54.

Squire, K. (2008). Videogame literacy: A literacy of expertise. In J. Coiro, M. knobel, C.

Lankshear, & S. Leu (Eds.). Handbook of research on new literacies (pp. 639-673).

Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

115

Tarone, E. (1983). On the variability of interlanguage systems. Applied Linguistics, 4, 142-16.

Turnbull, S. (2000). The role of emotion in situated learning and communities of practice. In C.

Symes (Ed.), Working knowledge: Productive learning at work (pp. 440-448). Sydney:

OVAL Research, UTS. van der Land, S., Schouten, A. P., van den Hooff, B., & Feldberg, F. (2011). Modeling the

metaverse: A theoretical model of effective team collaboration in 3D virtual

environments. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 4(3), 1-16. van Deusen-Scholl, N., Frei, C. & Dixon, E (2005). Constructing learning: The dynamic nature

of foreign language pedagogy in a CMC Environment. CALICO Journal, 22(3), 657-678. van Lier, L. (1994). Forks and hope: Pursuing understanding in different ways. Applied

Linguistics, 15(3), 328-346.

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Watson-Gegeo, K. (2004). Mind, language, and epistemology: Toward a language socialization

paradigm for SLA. Modern Language journal, 88,331-350.

Watson-Gegeo, K., & Nielsen, S. (2003). Language socialization in SLA. In C. Doughty & M.

Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 155-171). Malden, MA:

Blackwell Publishing.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. NY: Cambridge

University Press.

Wertsch, J. V. (1985). Culture, communication and cognition: Vygotskian perspectives.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

116

Yee, N. (2006). The psychology of massively multi-user online role-playing games: Emotional

investment, motivations, relationship formation and problematic usage. In R. Schroeder

& A. Axelsson (Eds.), Avatars at work and play: Collaboration and interaction in shared

virtual environments (pp. 187-207). London: Springer-Verlag.

Yee, N. (2006). The psychology of massively multi-user online role-playing games: Emotional

investment, motivations, relationship formation and problematic usage. In R. Schroeder

& A. Axelsson (Eds.), Avatars at work and play: Collaboration and interaction in

shared virtual environments (pp. 187-207). London: Springer-Verlag.

Young, K. (2009). Understanding online gaming addiction and treatment issues for adolescents.

The American Journal of Family Therapy, 37, 355-372.

Young, R. (1988). Variation and the interlanguage hypothesis. Studies in Second Language

Acquisition, 10(3), 281-302.

Zhang, Y., Song, H., Liu, X., Tang, D., Chen, Y., & Zhang, X. (2017). Language learning

enhanced by massive multiple online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and the

underlying behavioral and neural mechanisms. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 95,

1-7.

Zheng, D., & Newgarden, K. (2012). Rethinking language learning: Virtual world as a catalyst

for change. International Journal of Learning and Media, 3(2), 13-36.

Zuengler. J., & Cole, K. (2005). Language socialization and second language learning. In E.

Hinkel (ed.) Handbook of second language teaching and learning (pp. 301-316).

Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

117

APPENDIX

Appendix A. Interview Protocol

1. How long have you been playing? What dragged you to this game? 2. How did you learn English? Did playing the game have a role in learning English? 3. What roles do you play? Are you part of a faction? How socially are you engaged with the people in the game? Do you have close friends? Do you know people in real-life as well or it's just an in-game relationship? 4. How communicative are you in the game? How much messaging do you have to do? How active are you on Discord? 5. Do you learn English outside of the game? Do you need English in your daily life outside of the game? 6. What are the characteristics of a successful faction? What are the characteristics of a successful player?

119

Appendix B. Interview Text

July 15, 2018 Vahid: Hi Middo-it's so great to see you here :smiley: Middo: i was afraid that u maybe quit Vahid: oh! Thanks! No, I have been here all along. But I was busy with my classes. Middo: its really more fun to be all on discord Vahid: Yes Middo: better communication and fast Vahid: Sure! I just learned about it. For sure. Middo: u can also have it on mobile Vahid: Yes, I am going to do that today :smiley: Middo: good good Vahid: How's life? Middo: well i was between jobs lately stayed home 4 months Vahid: Aha Middo: but started to go new to work last week Vahid: Sorry about that, but at least you have chilled :smiley: Middo: so i had lately much time Vahid: Yaaaaaaay--congrats! What's the new job? Middo: so i was around in game so much Vahid: Oh-I see. Middo: and so much watching movies too Vahid: Nice :smiley: Middo: well i was an auditor in and audit firm Vahid: Oh, financial auditor or Psychological auditor? Middo: its a pretty good job and has a nice future and ppl looks to u good Vahid: Oh, Great! Middo: financial

120

Vahid: I see Middo: but i started to get bored after 4 years and half so i have 2 of my close friends who has a small clothing factory and i went to get a share and work with them. a big change in life. so its a small business. we hope for the best :smiley: Vahid: Yaaaay! Great! Good luck with that :smiley: Middo: thanks :smiley: Vahid: Where are you from, Middo? Middo: Egypt. and u? Vahid: Oh, yeah? I have a friend from Egypt, too. I am from Iran :smiley: Middo: ah cool Vahid: But I am in America right now. Studying for my PhD. Middo: wow thats cooler xD Vahid: :smile: Middo: i hope everything is good there especially after trump i mean with u Vahid: Thanks! Well, our lives get impacted with political decisions. But we keep trying :smiley: Middo: good good may god help and guide u Vahid: Thanks, brother :). I love Egypt. I would love to visit Egypt someday. Middo, my Egyptian friend, has told me we will visit Egypt one day. Middo: well my name is middo too. yes egypt is nice and cheap place to visit.many places to enjoy and 1usd=around from 16-19 EGP Vahid: Wow! Yes! I will, hopefully. You can visit me in Iran when I go back. Middo: i wish :heart_eyes: Vahid: :wink: Vahid: So, Middo, I was wondering if you could be my research participant so that I can ask you questions about your language learning experiences in the game. :smiley: Middo: umm lets try xD Vahid: Yay! Thank you :smiley: Let's do it! So, how long have you been playing? What dragged you to this game? :smiley: Middo: i think 5 years ago. what dragged me that i was playing stronghold crusader and when i find the online one i was interested to try it

121

Vahid: Oh interesting! So, obviously, you speak English very well. I know you are from Egypt, so English is not your first language. How did you learn English? Did playing the game have a role in learning English? Middo: nah my English not very well xD and yeah Arabic is my first language and i learned English while my education years in school and for sure the game and other online games played a role to improve my English . talking with people which English is their native language helped me alot Vahid: Very interesting! Thanks for sharing! So, you say talking with people who speak English helped you a lot. Can you be more specific? How can speaking with native English speakers help? Middo: i get new vocabulary from them and helps also to improve the structure of sentences and grammar too Vahid: Oh, I see. If you want to compare your English with the time that you started the game, do you think your English has approved? If so, how much of it do you think is because of playing the game? Middo: not only SHK is the online game that i play i play also another game even b4 SHK calls Angels Online which also helped me to improve my English and kept me remembering the language since u know if u dont use the language u will forget it after sometime Vahid: I see. Very interesting! :smiley: So, in the games that you play, what roles do you play? Are you part of a faction? How socially are you engaged with the people in the game? Do you have close friends? Do you know people in real-life as well or it's just an in-game relationship? Free free to add to this set of questions :). Middo: you can say i play as a farmer in SHK language and yes im a part of a faction and i have friends on FB from this game Vahid: Oh, interesting, Middo :smiley: Thanks! You don't have me as your FB fiend :frowning: My name there is Vahid Shahrokni. Let's be in touch there as well. Okay! Middo, have you ever been in a high-office position, like being a sheriff? Middo: you mean in real life or in game? Vahid: both :)? My focus is the game, but you could share your real-life experiences as well if you want to :). Middo: well I've been asked to be a faction leader twice once in W1 and Global Conflict 1 but i refused in both xD. i dont like responsibilities too much but im liking for a minimum responsibility like being officer here now Vahid: Oh, I see. What's about responsibilities that you don't like? just curious :smiley: Middo: i dont like much responsibilities in general like to be in front line and thats a big issue in my personality i should work to change it Vahid: I see. As long as you're happy with it :).

122

Okay, back to our interview, Middo! BTW, thank you so much for bearing with me. I really appreciate your help and support. So, how communicative are you in the game? How much messaging do you have to do? How active are you on Discord? Vahid: Middo :smiley: Where are you?

July 19, 2018 Middo: hay sry i was in a vacation and then i forgot to answer. i would say its medium . not much and not few fair amount .i was so active on discord on my other game Angels Online but not any more Vahid: Heeeyyyy :) Welcome back! I trust you have enjoyed your vacation :wink: Wow! I noticed you're gone :wink: Middo: yeah i enjoyed thank you :smile: Vahid: Great :smiley: So, do you have time for questions today? Middo: yes Vahid: So, you said your're not as active as you were? Why not? Middo: you know its life and work Vahid: Oh I see. :smiley: So Middo, do you like to play as part of a group or individually? Middo : i like to play in a group but if i could handle it alone i would do it alone sometimes Vahid: Some people say, the beauty of multiplayer online game like SK is playing in a group. Do you agree? Middo: i do agree.playing in multiplayer is more enjoying than playing alone.you do a part and others do another part Vahid: Middo, do you learn English outside the game? Do you need English in your daily life outside the game? Middo: nah its rare for me to use English outside online games Vahid: Oh, interesting! So, suppose you see tourists visiting the pyramids. Do you approach them and talk to them? Middo: not all the time but it happened few times when i wanted to ask about something Vahid: Oh interesting. So, did the language you practice/learn in the game help you in those times? Middo: yeah thanks to the online games it keeps me practicing and learning the language .without it my English would be forgotten Vahid: Oh, very interesting. So, tell me more about this, Middo. How is it so?

123

Vahid: Hello, Where are you, Middo? :smiley:

September 1, 2018 Middo: Helo vahid im sry for late respond but I got busy at work and studying. ok lets finish it buy tomorrow. Vahid: Oh, I see. Sorry! I’m going to finish it soon. Thanks for the time, Middo. So, I want to know more about your language learning in the game. Vahid: You said you’re not going to English classes, so how have you learned English? What is the role of playing games in your learning? Do you think your English has improved over the years of gameplay? Middo: my English isn't that well xD but the online games kept my English at a good level and really talking to english native talkers is helpful. i really thank god for online games to get me to this point in my english language Vahid: What are the characteristics of a successful faction? Also, what are the characteristics of a successful player? Middo: characteristics of a successful faction is a faction that works in a team i tested that in SHK many times and its really has a good taste. characteristics of a successful player is to learn how to work in that team well and give the hand to others when needed Vahid: Is there anything else you want to share about your gaming experience with me? How has it been playing for this long time? Middo: i want also to add that i started to study Accounting,Business and Auditing it also helping my english to be improved since my studies was in arabic all my years from school to university. you may ask me any question again if i didnt answer it well. im sry for being busy this period coz im having many interviews and i have to study for this interviews tests coz im looking for a new job Vahid: Thank you so much, Middo! That's excellent! I really appreciate your help. It was really interesting to talk to you, and know you at a different level. Before this, we were gaming friends and now I know a lot more about you and your journey. I hope this interview has been useful to you too as much as it has been to me. Thanks again, and good luck with your studies and everything. Hope to see you in person sometime :). Please don't hesitate to contact me if I could ever be of help :). And thanks for the offer. I'll contact you if there's anything else.

124

Appendix C: Debate

Black Dog: Brown Eagle, due to a number of unprovoked attacks on our members . Im sure there are a number of pleyers in the Brown Eagle faction that do not want to be attacked and they is why you are neutral in the first place. We would therefore like to offer you the oppertunity to drop faction and be neutral or even join our alliance. Anyone that drops faction will be left alone and will be able to keep all their land. Those that want to fight stay but know that anyone that sends an attack against us will have personal swords placed on them and will never be given peace. Im sony it has come to this but i cannot have neutral players attacking us without doing anything about it. You all have your chance now to get out this pointless conflict started by some players in your faction. Regards The Black Dog General of the League of Swords H16 Governor of North West England. Trled: I'II summarize the events of today for you all. I left the Brown Eagle faction yesterday to capture from a faction member. While I was sleeping, IsaacU decided that I was neutral. Which according to your definition, I still am whether in a faction or not. Whether they knew I was in Brown Eagle or not I suppose is subjective, though easy enough to prove - and the monking has not stopped. Anyhow, they started to monk me out claiming that I have no rights to the Parish because I'm neutral. P-Jazz presumes I have joined the faction to hide. Which from my perspective is a poorly crafted deception to propagate an agenda. He scouted me, therefore I scouted him. He sends back a msg stating that my actions are of war, when I am the defender, not the aggressor and frankly, kiss my a*s. I know a lot of history. Perhaps P-Jazz should research Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pot, etc. You know what you're doing. Morning Destroyer: Unprovoked attacks? You know thats not true, just as members of the faction know its not true. Scouts and attacks on members of this faction and its parishes by your members and members of House 16 were responded with in kind, thats all. Trying to claim your attacks were "justified" as the Karmageddon members in question had dropped faction to trade flags or villages with other members and were therefore neutral" at the time is a joke. You know full well that players have to drop faction to attack their own and you know full well how you would have reacted if we (or anyone) had done the same to any alliance" member that had dropped faction to do same. Trying to also claim members of this faction that have been members for months and held parishes in these lands before H16 even landed in England, were not members of the faction before is just a blatant lie. Your members (IsaacU, P-Jazz, and Devil) started this, just as they caused us to leave that alliance" by betraying H16 and H15 a leaderships word months ago.. Its been them all along with their own little personal agenda they had when they were H10 and are now hiding behind H16 colours after surrendering and flipping to that House without so much as one iota of resistance, trash talking cowards that have suckered you into their whims. Nobody else reply to this, its just a ploy to stir up shit and see who is active and when. The mistakes behind being made here is they think we are fools and woefully underestimate what 3 years experience teaches someone.

125

Black Dog: i have asked morning-destroyer a number of time to provide proof of this. he has not done so. he then tried to say they we were attacking and scouting a member called Cor_rect. he forward me the reports saying that we were in the wrong however i have a report showing that Cor_rect attacked IsaacU first. Morning had been trying to make it seem like my players are being aggressive towards you yet we are only reacting to a few of your members. if you want to be a part of a faction that wants to fight us then thats your will. as for the parish you should have sent the proof before my members were attacked. you guys therefore declared war on us not us on you. Black Dog: Morning are you kidding me?? Trying to claim your attacks were justified as the Brown Eagle members in question had dropped faction to trade flags or villages with other members and were therefore neutral at the time is a joke. “You know full well that players have to drop faction to attack their own and you know full well how you would have reacted if we (or anyone) had done the same to any alliance" member that had dropped faction to do same. Forward me the reports!!!! like ive asked you to do 3 times now. you have caused the problems by not doing as requested. i said 2 days ago any more attacks on our members will be classed as an act of war on against us. you either chose to deliberatly ignore that or you have rouge members. its one of the other. the more you throw your mouth around the worse this is going to get. Morning Destroyer: I forwarded all reports, stop your bullshit propaganda Black dog, you are defending multi-accounting house jumping farmers that done nothing for that Alliance other than flip House the moment they felt threatened. You defend and believe the very people that caused the faction that whilst in H15 had cleared Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire of enemies and pushed into Buckinghamshire, to leave, i.e. us.. Shame Priest Marco isn't still around to clarify historical facts and the real situation in this area... but that's right, he left game, disgusted at how H15 was betraying key H16 factions in favour of trash talking whining bitches that had their own little agenda and had done nothing for that faction or that house. Morning Destroyer: No I am not kidding you... that's the facts... Your mind's made up though and facts won't change it... you have your agenda and propaganda to stick to, just like a corrupt politician. Honesty and Glory left H16 about the same time as Leo left HM position and H16 started absorbing the multi-accounting, cheating egomaniacs from H12/H1 and H9 in England at the time, letting them dictate a new course for H16 in England... Uncomfortable truths... but truth nonetheless.

P-Jazz: Your member Cor_rect attacked the County Sherrif. apart from being a very stupid thing to do that alone is enough to have WAR declared It's very simple, you have three choices. 1. Stop interfering with the Alliance taking neutral and enemy parishes and stop trying to undermine those that are in Alliance hands. Basically stop playing your silly little games and you can go back to being peaceful neutral. If anyone wants to drop the faction for any reason and not be seen as neutral then you should inform the County Sherrif. before-hand 2. Rejoin the Alliance and you will be welcomed as an Ally and we can start making the County safer for everyone. If DW wants to take his political ambitions to another County then that is not

126

of my business and I have no objection to him doing so. Just stop the petty games and respect the Alliance decisions. That does not mean that anyone will lose their parishes or villages, just accept the Alliance decision as to who is Sherrif. You can keep all the parishes you currently own, I have no interest in them apart from I want to be in Alliance hands. 3. WAR. As stated by the NW governor, anyone wanting out of this war then just drop Brown Eagle now and you will be spared. Anyone making any form of attack on Alliance positions will be hunted down for-ever. Black Dog: LOL i cannot believe im hearing that. H15 factions!!!!!!!!!!! you guys joined after we took england and left because you didnt get your own way. if you were such a key faction then why are you not in our position now?‘? I know full well what happened in H18.Capt Earthquake and Bulldog were the HM's of H15 and they were my sister factions generals. All the reports you have sent me prove nothing only that we attacked your player after he attacked us. LOOK AT THE TIME THE ATTACK ON JACOB HIT THEN LOOK AT THE TIMES WE SCOUTED AND A'I'I'ACKED YOUR GUY are you blind orjust ingoring the fact that your players braught this on. Morning Destroyer: Left because we were fighting for something... As Captain Earthquake can confrim... he moved here to ensure what was agreed would be done... then IsaacU-P-Jazz started whining and decided to take the county, which baffled many in H16 who we were working alongside and could not understand why such a dumb move was allowed. I got mails from many in H16 at the time asking why we left and when it had been pointed out what happened supported us in our move and hoped H16 would correct the injustice... it never did... Besides you were away busy or otherwise afk at the time all that happened so you really know nothing iof what happened. by the time you returned you just had 2 member in your faction that nobody had heard anything from bitching endlessly in your faction threads (I saw them) about Buckinghamshire and so you picked sides regardless of prior agreements, alienating not only some in H16 but even some in your own faction! Black Dog: and yet here we are yet again. you have ignored the main bulk of my mail and lumped to the past. I do not live in the past and i dont really care about what 1appened. you have still not forward the eports i have asked for and im not going to ask again. you have not proved aything and are only digging yourself a bigger hole. dont argue anythin unless you have the evidence to back it up. im sure you know that. you seem to be an nteligent person. i see no point in wasting my time talking to you anymore so i still offerthe same peace to all karma members. if you dont want to be attacked then drop. P-Jazz: LOL I have only one account and I don't even think it is possible to cheat at this game, joined H16 when I felt H12 was not working anymore and was the first person in the region to do so. In the N of Bucks there was only two of us and we fought, cajolled and capped the County for H16. You were so busy building your own little fiefdom that you even managed to leave three enemy parishs in the North. Exactly where you claim that you were doing all your work. Still to this day, you allow and even encourage the enemy into your parishs. I have been your neighbour since the beginning and yet I saw none of this fighting you claim to have been involved with. I have openly offered you peace several times and all I get is some childish rants. Get over it. You lost the election for sherrif, it's about time you put aside your own feelings and act like a proper leader and do what is best for your faction. Rejoin the Alliance and we can be

127

allies. I don't ask that you like me, just stop undermining the Alliance. As for my personal agenda, l have little or no influence on Alliance decisions outside of the County of Bucks. I have no way of changing any of the founding principles of the Alliance and just want to see the County of Bucks, totally in Alliance hands (or theirAllies.) You claim to be a man 41, start acting like it then, the decision to rejoin the Alliance is a no-brainer and war is just suicide. Anyone who knows Black Dog will just laugh at your accusations against him. Morning Destroyer: You dont get to choose what is past and when nor what is relevant. It is the past that led to the present and so its very relevant to the current situation. A situation stirred up by the very same people that stirred it up in the past, when we were part of that alliance, said it many times when we were in hat "alliance", and not just in regards to Buckinghamshire, our biggest political and territorial opposition was always some members in H16, far more so than any enemies of the alliance we dealt with at the time. H15 was seen as a pawn to H16... whislt telling people in those "allied" Houses that they would get to be in the glory house, H16, once they proved themselves, instead H16 has busily recruiting and letting in factions from enemies that surrendered. Players that had done nothing whatsoever for the alliance, they just appened to have ill-gotten titles and parishes, a quick way to flip colours. H16 started using its "allies", getting them to clear land and secure it with the promisse of that land becoming theirs. oefore moving H16 players in and claiming it forthemselves instead. H16 has done this to several factions in its "support Houses" and indeed some in its own house and caused them to leave, then calling them traitors for doing so, with no mention of the fact that they had left because they had been lied to, used and betrayed. Thats the facts. again... Many in H16 and that alliance that were in it from when it was solely in Ireland knew how things were meant to work and saw how things increasingly were not working that way... I had mails from them, mails of support and offers of forming breakaway factions there is a discontent within H16 it has sought to suppress and stifle many times. It is a discontent from knowing that the House is no longer what it was, not the house they joined, it is some bastardised form of the houses it abosorbed in England and the egomaniacs in it will eventually turn on each other... or flee to the next new world. to try fk that world up too.. P-Jazz: My god, you rants become harderto follow all the time. So now your problem is with the treatment of MS by MS, They are both part of the Alliance. If you just want to be in the House that wins the Glory rounds then join H16, surely a place can be found for you, just to solve this. Forthe record I've only ever been in two factions, h10 for about four weeks from the begginning and h16 since then. I only joined h16 by chance, it was the first Alliance faction to send me an invite. Just stop the tantrums and do the sensible thing, rejoin the Alliance. If you're unhappy with things then try to change it from the inside. Iwouldn't let my personal feelings about you cloud my judgement of what the right thing to do is. As long as you are willing to help make Bucks County completely Alliance territory (or at least not hinderthe process) then I have no problem with you. I don't want to have a any power over you or any of your faction. As long as you abide by Alliance rules, decisions etc. then there will be no problems. Black Dog: morning i do believe i offerend you the chance to join my faction a number of times when you were join gthe alliance. you turned the offer down. The strongest factions get to join and stay in H16. you left before your faction could be recognised. thats your fault. Anyhow. you still have not provided any jusitfication as to why my members were attacked. you have used the attacks from our allies to strike P-Jazz and IsaacU because of your grudges against them that is

128

the reason this has all kicked off so stop blming us forthis skirmish. YOU started it and after several warnings you continued to attack. again your fault. The alliance doesn't have room for players that dont respect the rules set before them. you wanted a fight. Black Dog: I offered you peace multiple times and all you do is attack me. You really want to commit suicide then you'll get your WAR. Having seen the state of you castles in the faction, obviously those two or three players who started this WAR may be ready but the rest of you will die. Any of you not wanting in on this WAR, leave Brown Eagle now or face the consequences. You may have razed one of my castles but I raze ten for your decision to attack me.

129

Appendix D: Abbreviation Table

No. Term Abbreviation 1. Alternative account alt 2. Away from keyboard AFK 3. Communities of Practice CoP 4. Computer-assisted Language Learning CALL 5. Enemy Artificial Intelligence AI 6. English as a Foreign Language EFL 7. Faction General FG 8. First Language L1 9. House H 10. House Marshal HM 11. Interdict ID 12. Legitimate Peripheral Participation LPP 13. Massively Multiplayer Online Real-time Strategy Game MMORTS 14. Multiplayer Massively Online Game MMOG 15. Native English Speakers NES 16. Non-native English Speakers NNES 17. Quest Atlantic QA 18. Second Language SL 19. Second Language Acquisition SLA 20. Second Language Socialization SLS 21. Sociocultural Theory SCT 22. Stronghold Kingdoms SK 23. Three-dimensional 3D 24. United Kingdom UK 25. Virtual Worlds VW 26. Vocation Mode VM 27. World of Warcraft WoW

130