Proposal for a Content Analysis of Equity Versus Efficiency In

DISSERTATION HUMAN-TECHNOLOGY RELATIONALITY AND SELF-NETWORK ORGANIZATION: PLAYERS AND AVATARS IN WORLD OF WARCRAFT Submitted by Jaime Banks Department of Journalism and Technical Communication In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Fall 2013 Doctoral Committee: Advisor: Rosa Mikeal Martey Donna Rouner Joseph Champ Eric Aoki James Folkestad Copyright by Jaime Banks 2013 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT HUMAN-TECHNOLOGY RELATIONALITY AND SELF-NETWORK ORGANIZATION: PLAYERS AND AVATARS IN WORLD OF WARCRAFT Massively multiplayer online roleplaying games, or MMOs, present an increasingly popular digital media experience whereby identity emerges as players contribute materially to play but contributions are governed by affordances and constraints of the game. Unique to this medium is the player’s ability to create and control a digital body – an avatar – to represent the Self in the immersive gameworld. Although notions of identity and the Self in digital games have been examined through a number of approaches, it is still unclear how the way one sees the avatar in the uncanny situation of having two bodies – one digital, one physical – contributes to a sense of Self in and around these games. Further, it is unclear how non-human objects contribute to human senses of Self. In that vein, this study examines two research questions: How do players have relationships with their avatars in a digital game? And how does the Self emerge in relation to those relationships? Toward understanding how nonhumans play a role in the emergence of the Self, this study approaches these questions from an actor-network perspective, examining how human, nonhuman, material, and semiotic objects exist in complex webs of relations and how those relations give rise to particular senses of Self in relation to particular gameplay situations. Tracing the history of the construct of “Self” from romantic and singular to postmodern and pluralistic, I argue for an approach to Self that accommodates postmodern perspectives that ii embodiment is only one way that the Self is signified across spaces. Actor-Network Theory principles are integrated with postmodern notions of identity to propose a Network Model of Self. In this model, the Self is a network of personas that are, themselves, complex networks of objects. Following, I present a research approach called “object-relation mapping” that integrates phenomenology, Actor-Network Theory, social network analysis, and Grounded Theory to accommodate network structures and multiplicities of the Self as it is signified across spaces. To address the questions of how the Self emerges in relation to different player-avatar relationships, I conducted in-depth interviews with 29 players of the online digital game World of Warcraft. Transcripts of those interviews were analyzed via thematic analysis for patterns in player-avatar relationships and via object-relation mapping for semantic and structural patterns in how object-relations give rise to persona- and Self-networks. Through this analysis, a four-point typology of player-avatar relationships emerged, characterized by variations in emotional intimacy, self-differentiation, perceived agency, and primary gameplay focus. It is interpreted that the different relationships are the result of sense- making processes in response to the uncanny situation of having two bodies – one digital and one physical. Analysis revealed that players of different relationship types “activated” different types of personas, resulting in a Self that was more or less complex and consistent across game and non-game spaces. Further, players of each relationship type differently approached particular objects in crafting those personas. Ultimately a model of active Self-organization is presented, where players work with the affordances and against the constraints of objects in sense-making practices in order to maintain and protect preferred senses of agency and to achieve personal gameplay goals. iii These findings suggest that players see avatars as objects that are, to different degrees, both human and technological, and as resources in the purposeful organization of a Self that serves individual psychological, social, and functional purposes. Different phenomenal accounts of the player-avatar relationship emerge as players work to make sense of human-technology interactions and to maintain agency and Selfhood in the face of technological constraints. Implications for human-technology relationships, more broadly, are discussed. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS About three months into beginning this project I tried (to no avail) to change my Facebook relationship status to “Married to my dissertation.” I very much was: I woke up to it, I fell asleep to it, I ate dinner with it, walked the dog with its ideas in my head, fought with it, was romanced by it. In truth, many different people were in a relationship with this dissertation over the past three, even if they were not entirely aware of it, and it is that cadre of supporters that made it possible for me to complete this project. At the front of this group is my adviser, Rosa Mikeal Martey, who spent countless hours with me, from inception to defense, brainstorming and hashing through the theory, design, data, analysis, and writing. She offered unwavering encouragement balanced against the painful but prudent critiques, and she was throughout a friend to be counted on for Drambuie toast (in the proper snifter, of course) after every success. This dissertation would not be what it is without her guidance and support. My committee members – Donna Rouner, Joseph Champ, James Folkestad, and Eric Aoki – through this project and through my entire graduate school experience have contributed to my growth as an academic. Along with Rosa, Jennifer Stromer- Galley and Mia Consalvo were mentors in the grant project that showed me the depth of game studies as a discipline, and they introduced me to that academic community that has since become my professional home. There were also many friends who kept me afloat through the emotional and intellectual rollercoaster that was this project. My guild in World of Warcraft taught me the nuances of the game, its culture, and helped me understand how play is not constrained to the interface. In particular, Steve Lovaas helped “raise” my first avatar from a wee Level 1 hunter to level cap – a member of my doctoral cohort, he and I shared many adventures in Azeroth and on barstools that v no doubt helped me keep my sanity. Nick Bowman, in the project’s final stages, was a tireless sounding board, a passer of tissues, a holder of hands, a shouter of cheers. There were also many people who contributed resources to the project directly, most notably Eric Leftwich, Victoria Flynn, Daniel Holt, Matthew McEligot, and Tamara Hauze. Their generosity as I faced a data processing crisis may well have saved the project, and I am deeply in their debt. Further, there are 30 World of Warcraft players who shared their time and their stories (some refusing the promised compensation) so that the world might better understand them, their community, and their love for the game. I also offer my deepest thanks to my family. My parents, Val and Skip, listened to me fuss about every brutal detail and celebrated every success, hid the occasional $20 bill in the fridge or random coat pocket, and put a roof over my head during the final year of the project. My sisters and brother delivered the appropriate amounts of nagging and harassment and cheers, and (with five children among them) answered when I was asked where my children are: “Hey, she’s pregnant with a dissertation.” Finally, a hefty dose of gratitude to my canine co-author, Stella, who sat in my desk chair during interviews, coaxed me into walks during coding marathons, and slept at my feet as I wrote. Thank you all for believing in me and in my ideas. Lok'tar! vi DEDICATION To Lan, Ombra, Lloyd, Isca, Azsher, and Kika – and their players – who showed me what it is to live in a very real digital world. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ v DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 Questioning the Multiphrenic Self .............................................................................................. 3 “Relations” and “Relationships” ................................................................................................. 4 De-privileging the Human .......................................................................................................... 6 Study Approach .......................................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 2: THE DIGITAL WORLD OF WARCRAFT ........................................................... 8 Digital Worlds ..........................................................................................................................

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