In- and Out-Of-Character
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Florida State University Libraries 2016 In- and Out-of-Character: The Digital Literacy Practices and Emergent Information Worlds of Active Role-Players in a New Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Jonathan Michael Hollister Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION & INFORMATION IN- AND OUT-OF-CHARACTER: THE DIGITAL LITERACY PRACTICES AND EMERGENT INFORMATION WORLDS OF ACTIVE ROLE-PLAYERS IN A NEW MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE ROLE-PLAYING GAME By JONATHAN M. HOLLISTER A Dissertation submitted to the School of Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Jonathan M. Hollister defended this dissertation on March 28, 2016. The members of the supervisory committee were: Don Latham Professor Directing Dissertation Vanessa Dennen University Representative Gary Burnett Committee Member Shuyuan Mary Ho Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii For Grandpa Robert and Grandma Aggie. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to my committee, for their infinite wisdom, sense of humor, and patience. Don has my eternal gratitude for being the best dissertation committee chair, mentor, and co- author out there—thank you for being my friend, too. Thanks to Shuyuan and Vanessa for their moral support and encouragement. I could not have asked for a better group of scholars (and people) to be on my committee. Thanks to the other members of 3 J’s and a G, Julia and Gary, for many great discussions about theory over many delectable beers. Thanks to my wife, Jisue Lee, the first J, for being amazing, tolerating many long hours sitting in front of the computer screen for this project, and still marrying me; I love you, Chaki. Thanks to my Dad and Martha for their support (and cookie shipments) through thick and thin. Thanks to my Mom and younger sister Aundria, for showing me that you can start over. Thanks to my brother, Steve, for always sending a laugh and lending an ear when I needed it. Thanks to my friends Jordan, Andy, and Ren, for much needed distractions and assorted shenanigans. Thanks to my friends and family for supporting me even though they had no idea what I was doing. I must also thank my feline research assistants, Louie and Chloe, for always knowing when to take a nap break. Thanks to Evan and Malcolm and the other great staff at Lucky Goat Coffee, where much of this dissertation was written. As a wise role-player once told me: "Bring beer, better than thanks. Thanks is dumb." So, to everyone else I forgot to thank—you know who you are—I owe you a beer or three. Or coffee, especially if it’s from Lucky Goat. A huge thanks to the role-playing community of WildStar for being so welcoming and supportive of this project. Jon Thorstein and Jonti Thort send their warmest regards and thanks! And most of all, thank you to everyone who told me that video games were waste of time. /wave This study was not sponsored or funded by Carbine Studios, nor its parent company NCSOFT Corporation. All screenshots are used in accordance with the Fair Use doctrine as stated in Section 107 of the Copyright Act for nonprofit educational, research, and noncommercial purposes. However, all in-game screenshots are copyrighted art assets and are subject to the following copyright and trademark notices: © 2014 NCSOFT Corporation. All rights reserved. NCSOFT, the interlocking NC logo, Carbine, WildStar, and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCSOFT Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ viii 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................7 3. METHODS ...............................................................................................................................40 4. RESULTS .................................................................................................................................64 5. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................186 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................222 A. ROLE-PLAYING PROFILE ..................................................................................................222 B. ACTIVE RESEARCHER PROFILE ......................................................................................223 C. INFORMATION WORLDS AND DIGITAL LITERACY PRACTICES CODEBOOK .....226 D. INFORMED CONSENT FORM FOR INTERVIEWS ..........................................................229 E. SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW PROTOCOL ..............................................................233 F. UPDATED INFORMATION WORLDS GENERAL CODEBOOK ....................................235 G. INITIAL IRB APPROVAL LETTER ....................................................................................247 H. CHANGE IN PROTOCOL IRB APPROVAL LETTER .......................................................248 I. IRB RENEWAL APPROVAL LETTER ...............................................................................249 J. RP TRANSCRIPT KEY .........................................................................................................250 References ....................................................................................................................................252 Biographical Sketch .....................................................................................................................268 v LIST OF TABLES 1 Data Collection Points, Tools, Outputs and Purposes.............................................................63 2 Inter-Coder Reliability Testing Results...................................................................................67 3 Summary Report for NVivo Cluster Analysis via Jaccard’s Coefficient..............................183 4 Summary Report for NVivo Cluster Analysis via Sørensen's Coefficient............................184 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1 In-Game Informed Consent Process ....................................................................................... 49 2 In-Character Interview – Tea House ....................................................................................... 50 3 Code of Conduct Excerpt: "Do not steal content." .............................................................. 164 4 Class Lore Guides ................................................................................................................. 165 5 Character Naming Thread Part 1. ......................................................................................... 165 6 Character Naming Part 2. ...................................................................................................... 166 7 Interpretation of Media Messages ......................................................................................... 171 8 Media Creation: YouTube Video RP Guide ........................................................................ 172 9 Media Creation: Chibi Characters ....................................................................................... 174 10 Media Creation: Experimentation ........................................................................................ 175 11 Media Creation: Troubleshooting ........................................................................................ 176 12 NVivo Horizontal Dendogram via Jaccard's Coefficient. .................................................... 183 13 NVivo Horizontal Dendogram via Sørensen's Coefficient. .................................................. 184 14 Positive Responses and Interest in the Study ........................................................................ 210 15 Positive Responses and Interest in the Study Continued ...................................................... 211 16 Comment on Study Transparency ......................................................................................... 211 17 Snowball Sampling Example ................................................................................................ 212 18 Public Data Concerns ............................................................................................................ 216 19 Don't Be a Stranger ............................................................................................................... 217 20 Member Checking Conversation .......................................................................................... 219 21 Member Checking Conversation Continued ......................................................................... 220