UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Games of stake: control, agency and ownership in World of Warcraft Glas, M.A.J. Publication date 2010 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Glas, M. A. J. (2010). Games of stake: control, agency and ownership in World of Warcraft. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:30 Sep 2021 GAMES CONTROL, AGENCY AND OWNERSHIP OF IN WORLD OF WARCRAFT AS L G NÉ E STAKE R Games of Stake Control, Agency and Ownership in World of Warcraft René Glas René Glas, 2010. ISBN: 978-90-9025681-8 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Netherlands License. Visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc/3.0/nl/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Cover design: Ivo Mulder Games of Stake Control, Agency and Ownership in World of Warcraft ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het college van promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op vrijdag 15 oktober 2010, te 12:00 uur door Marinus Adriaan Jan Glas geboren te Amsterdam Promotiecommissie: Promotor: Prof. dr. J. F. T. M. van Dijck Co-promotor: Dr. J. A. A. Simons Overige leden: Dr. J. Goggin Prof. dr. J. Jansz Prof. dr. J. Raessens Prof. dr. R. A. Rogers Prof. dr. E. S. H. Tan Prof. dr. R. van de Vall Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen This research was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and was part of the research project “Transformations in Perception and Participation: Digital Games”. TO NYNKE, MADELIEF & HENTE TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 INTRODUCTION 7 CHAPTER 1: FRAMING THE GAME 13 1.1 Introduction 13 1.2 Game Design 14 1.2.1 The definition game 15 1.2.2 A history of the MMORPG 16 1.3 Game Play 19 1.3.1 Play as movement 19 1.3.2 Play and the Social 24 1.4 Game Culture 28 1.4.1 The makings of a subculture 28 1.4.2 Play and/as participation 31 1.5 Game Contract 35 1.5.1 Social rules and magic circles 35 1.5.2 Playing on a license 38 1.6 Games of Stake 40 1.6.1 The stakeholders of WoW 40 1.6.2 The battlefields of MMORPG play 43 1.7 Conclusion 44 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCHING THE GAME 47 2.1 Introduction 47 2.2 Between play and research 48 2.2 Between players and Blizzard 51 2.3 Between field and scene 56 2.5 Conclusion 59 CHAPTER 3: CONTROLLING THE GAME 61 3.1 Introduction 61 3.2 Setting up the game 62 3.2.1 The network of play 63 3.2.2 Playing machines 66 3.2.3 Setting up the game 70 3.3 The rules of play 77 3.3.1 Designing play 77 3.3.2 Designing cooperation 84 1 3.3.3 Facing the other 88 3.4 Playing with fiction 91 3.4.1 Representing Azeroth 92 3.4.2 The space of play 98 3.4.3 Stuck in time 101 3.5 Conclusion 104 CHAPTER 4 – GAMING THE GAME 107 4.1 Introduction 107 4.2 It’s about time 108 4.2.1 Paratexts as cheating tools 109 4.2.2 From emergence to progression 113 4.2.3 Hyperproductive demystification 120 4.3 Twinking, or playing another game 124 4.3.1 The luxury of twinking 125 4.3.2 Going for the easy kill 128 4.3.3 A game within a game 133 4.4 Playing the interface 137 4.4.1 Mods as social surveillance tools 138 4.4.2 Controlling code through theorycrafting 141 4.4.3 Exposing the inside 145 4.5 Conclusion 149 CHAPTER 5: CLAIMING THE GAME 153 5.1 Introduction 153 5.2 Virtual thievery 155 5.2.1 Play, work or crime 155 5.2.2 The power of small print 159 5.2.3 Part of the game 164 5.3 Performing on the edge of rules and fiction 169 5.3.1 Our story, your story 170 5.3.2 Looking the other way 177 5.3.3 Exploration or Exploitation 181 5.4 The fragmented and the multiple 186 5.4.1 Community control, controlling community 188 5.4.2 With great power comes great responsibility 191 5.4.3 Identity and community experimentation 195 5.5 Conclusion 199 CONCLUSION 203 2 SUMMARY 215 SAMENVATTING (DUTCH SUMMARY) 221 BIBLIOGRAPHY 227 CURRICULUM VITAE 246 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I can still remember the day I first logged in into World of Warcraft in early 2005. I had just started my PhD research project on the social dimensions of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (or MMORPGs). However, while I had been playing online for close to ten years, I had never tried one of these games before. Initially, it turned out to be an overwhelming, even somewhat frustrating experience. It took me hours to understand finally how to train new spells for my human warlock, and I got lost repeatedly in the immense virtual world this game offers its players. Studying this game, I thought, was going to be challenge. Soon, however, I was drawn in – not just by the game but also by its players and the culture they built around the game. World of Warcraft is a game that is not just played, but that is shaped by the community-driven practices of millions of players from across the world. Its influence on the way games are produced and played is felt throughout the gaming industry and beyond. Challenging or not, I am very thankful that I have been able to witness and study this phenomenon over the past years. The study you have in front of you would not have been possible without support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), which funded “Tranformations in Perception and Participation: Digital Games”, the research project it is part of. My supervisors, José van Dijck and Jan Simons, have also been indispensable during the research. José’s emphasis on structure and argumentation and her inspiring enthusiasm helped tremendously in shaping my work. Together with Jan’s sharp observations on complex topics, their supervision proved invaluable throughout the writing process. By helping me focus my thoughts and framing my arguments in a series of meetings and conferences, the members of the Digital Games project contributed considerably, especially in the early phases of the research. Led by Renée van de Vall, the group also included Maaike Lauwaert, Martijn Hendriks, Jack Post and Joseph Wachelder. I thank the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) research institute for their continued support and advice in various stages of my research. My gratitude also goes out to Karin Wenz and Sally Wyatt for providing valuable feedback on my work as external experts. Writing a PhD dissertation can be a solitary experience, but my fellow PhD students and other colleagues at the Media and Culture department at the University of Amsterdam made for excellent company. For sharing offices, discussions, ideas, conferences and drinks I would like to thank Joyce, David, Maryn, Jennifer, Dan, Andrea, Martijn, Bas, Senta, Marijke, Ward, Jan, Laura, Thomas, Emiel, Floris, and many others. 4 A very different group of individuals I would like to thank are The Truants, a guild of “rogue scholars” I met in World of Warcraft and played with for years. Under the lively leadership of Torill Elvira Mortensen, the members of The Truants did not just play – in an often endearingly chaotic way – but they also convened during international conferences to share their work on World of Warcraft and games in general. Being part of this group proved to be an inspiring and enjoyable part of my research. Among the many Truants I would like to thank for their companionship are Luca, Kristine, Espen, Valter, Hilde, T.L., Jessica, Ragnhild, Charlotte, Peter and Emma. Special mention goes to Ivo Mulder, a friend who also joined The Truants and with whom I shared many online adventures. Ivo is also responsible for this book’s wonderful cover design, for which I cannot thank him enough. Michael Katzberg in turn was kind enough to proof-read my work on rather short notice: his thoroughness and solid advice improved my work tremendously. I also want to thank Nynke Atema and Dan Hassler-Forest for proof-reading and editing the final bits and pieces. Special appreciation goes out to my colleagues at the University of Utrecht for providing me with the breathing room to finish my dissertation during the final stretch.