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Non/Participation in Eve Online Kelly Marie

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Non/Participation in Eve Online Kelly Marie TO PLAY OR NOT TO PLAY: NON/PARTICIPATION IN EVE ONLINE KELLY MARIE BERGSTROM A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, CANADA SEPTEMBER 2015 © KELLY BERGSTROM, 2015 Abstract This dissertation addresses a gap in the academic study of digital games whereby investigations remain focused on current players and the experiences of former or non- players are rarely accounted for. Using EVE Online (EVE), a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) known for its difficult learning curve and homogenous community as a case study, I conducted an investigation of who does/does not play this particular game and their stated reasons for playing or not. I argue that while EVE is positioned in the MMOG market as a “sandbox” style game where in-game activities are only limited by a player’s imagination, in reality only a very particular type of play (and player) is publically acknowledged by EVE’s developer (CCP Games), the gaming enthusiast press, and academics investigations of this game, emphasizing just how little is known about who plays EVE beyond the stereotypical imagined player. Drawing on literature from leisure studies to articulate a framework for exploring barriers/constraints to gameplay and theoretically informed by feminist theories of technology, I conducted an Internet-based survey to capture the thoughts and experiences of current, former, and non-EVE players. A total of 981 participants completed the survey. In my analysis of open-ended responses, I found that current players described the game in a way that emphasized its exceptionality, relied heavily on jargon, and assumed their reader was already familiar with EVE, its player community, and its surrounding norms and conventions. Non-players who were familiar with the game described their perceptions of EVE being an unwelcoming community meant they had opted out of playing without ever downloading the trial. Former players fell into three groupings: ex-players who had permanently quit EVE, a group who want to play ii but felt forced to take a temporary break due to external constraints (e.g. exams at school or financial limitations), and a third group would consider returning if changes to their personal circumstances and/or the game happened in future. Ultimately this research complicates what it means to play or not play MMOG, opening up avenues for future research about how access and barriers to digital game play inevitably shift over time. iii Acknowledgements Without Jennifer Jenson’s tireless support and expertise in navigating the most frustrating administrative hurdles, this dissertation would not exist. No matter how far down a bunny trail I would go, Dr. Jenson managed to get me back on track and made sure I crossed the finish line in one piece and she played an important role in my successes in obtaining Ontario Graduate Scholarship and Social Science and Humanities Research Council funding to support the writing of this dissertation. Working with Dr. Jenson has shown me how much labour goes into being a dissertation supervisor and I hope one day I will be able to pay it forward. Thank you. Celia Pearce and Chloë Brushwood Rose pushed me to think about my research in new ways and remind me that there would be light at the end of this tunnel. My supervisory committee felt like the dream team, thank you for joining me on this wild adventure through New Eden. Mia Consalvo, my external examiner, was in the audience at one of my very first conference presentations about EVE Online. At that meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers, Dr. Consalvo asked me to articulate how the study of EVE Online can push game studies forward. Five years and 200+ pages later, here is an answer to that question. To all of my participants, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences. This dissertation is as much yours as it is mine. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have been fortunate to meet so many amazing, smart, and generous people along this journey. Many years ago Richard Smith and J. Adam Holbrook supervised my iv undergraduate honours thesis about World of Warcraft, setting me on my path to graduate school. Richard Hawkins and Patrick Feng supervised my MA thesis about the same MMOG, and provided space in the Innovation Lab for me to articulate my growing interest in EVE. Fern Delamere first introduced me to leisure studies, and I am sad that she is not here to see how influential her work has been to my own. Nick Taylor and Suzanne de Castell, along with Jennifer Jenson, hired me to work on the VERUS project and so much of that work helped to shape my thinking about EVE. Stephanie Fisher, Felan Parker, Alison Harvey, Maren Hancock, and the rest of the VERUS RA team, thank you for the amazing memories. Long live Guardian Academy. Despite EVE having a reputation as being a cutthroat game, the community who researches it is the most cooperative, kind, and friendly group of game scholars I know. Marcus Carter, Darryl Woodford, Cat Goodfellow, and every author on the table of contents for Internet Spaceships are Serious Business, I look forward to all of our future collaborations. There are so many people who deserve thanks and I wish I could name them all. This will be an incomplete list, please forgive me Florence Chee, thank you for being there whenever I needed to Skype, the silly cat pictures when I needed a laugh, and reminding me that above all “I need dis”. Christopher Paul, Mark Chen, Todd Harper, TL Taylor, Adrienne Shaw, Shira Chess, and so many more amazing scholars I have met at the Association of Internet Researchers, you have all inspired me. I often describe AoIR as my “summer camp” and every year in October it truly feels like I’m returning to my scholarly home. I also want to thank my fellow Oxford Internet Institute attendees for voting me “most likely to be the next Judy Wajcman” – I hope this dissertation is v worthy of that honour. Renee, Megan, Angela, Crystal, Emily, Dennys, Jennifer, and anyone else on the Snark Squad that I am missing, I look forward to when our paths will cross again. Jane Griffith and Cristyne Hebert, thank you for being my library buddies and not actually making me go on that Jim Brickman cruise. I’m so happy that we are all crossing the finish line together. Jenn, Paul, Beth, and the rest of the jerks: thank you for making World of Warcraft fun again. And of course I thank my family for their constant and unwavering support. Whether it was on the dusty Intellivision or the Sega Game Gear he somehow managed to procure, my brother, Skylar, always let me have a turn to play. Now that you are a father I am so happy to see that Devyn has inherited your love of games. My parents, Dorothy and Richard, always encouraged me to further my education. You can now say that you have TWO doctors in the family. Finally, I must thank my husband, Richard Hydomako. Every time I wanted to quit, he was quick to remind me that I wouldn’t let him abandon his PhD so I had to finish my own. This dissertation is dedicated to you. vi Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................... iv List of Tables ...................................................................................... x List of Figures ................................................................................... xi Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................... 1 Blind Spots and Oversights in Game Studies ....................................................... 5 Constraints on Digital Game Play ..................................................................... 7 Why do players quit? ....................................................................................... 10 Filling in the Gaps: A study about EVE Online .................................................. 12 Research Questions ......................................................................................... 12 Dissertation Overview ..................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2: Leisure and “Choice” ....................................................... 17 Non/participation in Leisure Activities .............................................................. 18 Creating a model of barriers/constraints to leisure ...................................... 20 A gap in the literature: “lack of interest” ....................................................... 23 Women and Leisure: Exploring Constraints ..................................................... 24 Stereotypical Gamers and Constraints to Play .................................................. 28 Putting Leisure Studies and Game Studies in Conversation ............................. 37 Chapter 3: EVE Online and the Myth of the Sandbox ........................ 41 A Note on the “Difficulty” of EVE Online .......................................................... 42 A Brief Introduction to EVE Online ................................................................... 43 Unique features of EVE Online ...................................................................... 44 Positioning EVE Online in the MMOG market .................................................. 47 Space Battles and Press Releases: EVE
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