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Thesis Misbehavior in Virtual Worlds: Breaking the Rules

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Thesis Misbehavior in Virtual Worlds: Breaking the Rules THESIS MISBEHAVIOR IN VIRTUAL WORLDS: BREAKING THE RULES FOR SOCIAL BENEFIT Submitted by Kevin Shiflett Department of Journalism and Technical Communication In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Master of Science Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Spring 2019 Master’s Committee: Advisor: Rosa Mikeal Martey Joseph Champ James Folkestad Copyright by Kevin Shiflett 2019 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT MISBEHAVIOR IN VIRTUAL WORLDS: BREAKING THE RULES FOR SOCIAL BENEFIT This thesis uses Gidden’s (1984) Structuration Theory as a guiding framework for examining the causes and consequences of misbehavior in virtual worlds. Misbehavior is clearly delineated from more commonly studied cheating behaviors to examine the possibility that certain unintended behaviors (those that break coded rules, semiotic rules, and emerging social norms) may be productive and even beneficial behaviors for social groups in online spaces. Data was gathered at a private island within Second Life as part of the larger SCRIBE project. Therefore, this thesis conducted a secondary analysis of qualitative data and found that participants were primarily able to misbehave by transgressing boundaries created by structures of domination, legitimation, and signification if the group identity of detective trainees was salient over the individual identities of present participants. Such findings are consistent with the social identity model of deinviduation effects (Lea & Spears, 1991). Further findings are discussed in detail using supporting literature and theory. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. SECOND LIFE AND THE MOONSTONE QUEST............................................... 5 2.1. The Virtual World Second Life ........................................................................................ 5 2.1.1. How it Works—The Basics ...................................................................................... 7 2.1.2. Residents in Second Life ........................................................................................... 9 2.1.3. So, What is Second Life, Really? ............................................................................ 11 2.2. Research Setting and Quest Story: Adamourne on Wells .............................................. 12 2.3. Quest Plot and Game Play .............................................................................................. 15 2.4. My Roles: Quest Designer and Participant Observer .................................................... 17 CHAPTER 3. Theories of Interaction and Misbehavior ............................................................... 20 3.1. Structure, Society, and Play—How the Rules are made ................................................ 21 3.1.1. Domination: Rule Types and Their Roles .............................................................. 23 3.1.2. Signification: Signs, Symbols, and Meaning .......................................................... 27 3.1.3. Legitimation, Deindividuation, and Group Norms ................................................. 34 3.2. Research Questions ........................................................................................................ 39 CHAPTER 4. DEFINING MISBEHAVIOR IN VIDEO GAMES ............................................... 42 4.1. Types of Cheating .......................................................................................................... 42 4.2. Cheating as Misbehavior ................................................................................................ 45 CHAPTER 5. METHODS ............................................................................................................. 49 5.1. The SCRIBE Project: Methods and Data Collected ...................................................... 50 5.1.1. Research Interests and Setting ................................................................................ 50 5.1.2. Pilot Study ............................................................................................................... 51 5.1.3. Participants and Recruitment .................................................................................. 52 5.1.4. Conducting the Research Sessions.......................................................................... 53 5.2. Data Sources and Management ...................................................................................... 54 5.2.1. Session Videos ........................................................................................................ 55 5.2.2. Session Field Notes ................................................................................................. 55 5.2.3. Chat Logs ................................................................................................................ 56 CHAPTER 6. DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................................ 58 6.1. Secondary Analysis and Qualitative Data ...................................................................... 60 6.2. Qualitative Analysis ....................................................................................................... 61 6.3. Summary ........................................................................................................................ 64 CHAPTER 7. RESULTS ............................................................................................................... 65 7.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 65 7.2. Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 66 7.2.1. Jumping ................................................................................................................... 67 7.2.2. Using Menu Commands ......................................................................................... 68 iii 7.2.3. Object Generation ................................................................................................... 70 7.3. Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 71 7.3.1. Addressing Research Questions .............................................................................. 71 7.3.2. Rules as Code .......................................................................................................... 75 7.3.3. Rules about Rules ................................................................................................... 79 7.4. Discussion Summary ...................................................................................................... 89 CHAPTER 8. CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................... 93 8.1. Limitations ..................................................................................................................... 95 8.2. Areas of Future Research ............................................................................................... 98 8.3. Final Thoughts ............................................................................................................. 100 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 101 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Quest zones (upper left to right): Start Area, Manor, Jeter Factory, Town, Morlock’s Apartments .................................................................................................................. 13 Figure 2. Ghosts obscure a clue in the Factory yard .................................................................. 16 Figure 3. The visible boundary at the bottom of the stairs in the Blayfield Manor. .................. 81 Figure 4. The tall fence and visible boundary enclosing the Blayfield Manor Garden. ............ 82 Figure 5. Stinky’s avatar appearance as he jumps to bypass the Factory challenge. ………….87 v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION The gaming industry has grown exponentially in the past decade. Recent market predictions expect the global industry’s revenue to reach $180.1 billion by 2021 (Takahashi, 2018), up from $41.9 billion as recently as 2007 (Caron, 2008). In 2018, more than 150 million Americans played video games (Entertainment Software Association, 2018). Of those, “56% of the most frequent gamers play multiplayer games…spending 7 hours playing with others online and 6 hours playing with other in person” each week (Entertainment Software Association, 2018). As such, games and gamers have become serious objects of study for researchers in a variety of fields. Specifically, why and how people cheat games and each other is a growing topic of inquiry. Many scholars have stated a specific need for studying deviance and misbehavior in online environments (Sternberg 2000; Denning & Lin 1994; Dutton 1996; Kollock & Smith 1996). In a succinct articulation, Denegre-Knott and Taylor (2005) assert that simply documenting and defining deviance online (though
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