Beyond The Magic Circle Marinka Copier Graphic and cover design: Joris van den Ende. Copyright © Marinka Copier, 007. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, pho- tocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission in writing from the author. ISBN 978-90-393-4595-5 Aan Ina en Harald Aan Tijn Who’s unconditional love and support gives me wings 3 Beyond The Magic Circle Marinka Copier Promotoren: Prof. dr. M.L. Waaldijk, Prof. dr. R. Braidotti Co-promotor: dr. M. Ramstedt 4 Beyond the Magic Circle A Network Perspective on Role-Play in Online Games Voorbij de magische cirkel Een netwerk perspectief op role-play in online games (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. W.H. Gispen, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 1 juni 007 des middags te .30 uur door Marinka Copier geboren op 1 november 1976 te Heemstede 5 Beyond The Magic Circle Marinka Copier 6 That which we find through imagination is not imaginary in the sense that it is non-existent. Rather, imagination is a way of knowing that we can use to gain access to, and explore, nu- merous realities. The experience of these reali- ties is not available to us through reason or log- ic and cannot be verified by the latter means, because such realities are of a different order or kind. What we learn through them is not incon- sistent with reason and logic, just different. Margaret Somerville, The Ethical Imagination 7 Beyond The Magic Circle Marinka Copier 8 Contents Summary 10 Preface and Acknowledgments 1 Introduction 18 1. Fantasy Role-Playing Games: Code and Culture 36 . Role-Play in World of Warcraft 66 3. Beyond the Magic Circle 14 4. Theorizing Role-Play in World of Warcraft 154 Conclusions and Implications 196 Methodological Appendix 06 References 10 Samenvatting 220 Curriculum Vitae 223 9 Beyond The Magic Circle Marinka Copier Summary 10 Summary Currently, game research is characterized by the (re)construction of contested boundaries such as the “magic circle” of the game experience. These boundaries create dichotomies, for instance, between the real and the imaginary that hide the complexity of actual play, design and research. In this the- sis I propose to go “beyond the magic circle” in order to understand games and play from a network perspective. My case study is role-play in the online game World of Warcraft (WoW, Blizzard Enter- tainment 004), whereby players act out the roles of their Fantasy characters. I understand Mas- sively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) as networks of social interaction in which players (human actors) interact both with each other and with the system (nonhuman actors). Through interaction, role-players are creating meaning and social bonds that stretch out far beyond dichotomies such as in-character and out-of-character, in-game and out of game, real and imaginary, leisure and work or education, virtual and material, online and offline. The emergence of Fantasy role-playing games, of which the pen and paper game Dungeons and Dragons (D&D, 1974) is the first and World of Warcraft is one of the latest incarnations, ties in with the development of what sociologist Manuel Castells termed the “network society”. Through rich empirical case studies in his trilogy The Information Age: economy, society and culture (1996, 1997 and 1998), he mapped how since the late 1960s we have been witnessing a shift from hierarchies to networks in all sectors of society. Castells’ work is part of a growing body of network theory in which our society, including science itself, is understood as a complex system shaped by processes within and between actor networks that are often powered by information and communica- tion technologies. In order to study MMORPGs as networks, I made use of Actor Network Theory as it is formulated within science and technology studies (Callon 1986, Law 1987, Latour 1987, 005), Thomas Gieryn’s concept of boundary work (Gieryn 1983, 1999), Erving Goffman’s work on social interaction (Goffman 1956, 1974), and the concept of “situatedness,” a crucial addition that Donna Haraway made to network theory, which aims to make visible how scholars are positioned in constantly morphing network structures (Haraway 1991). This thesis contributes to 1) an understanding of online role-playing games as networks that interact with daily life, Fantasy game culture, and the broader technological and socio-cultural developments over the last thirty years; ) a description and analysis of role-play as a specific MMORPG play style that is characterized by its negotiation principles, and thus to understand the roles, conventions, identities, and interpersonal relationships that self-proclaimed role-players negotiate in and through the systems of a commercially distributed game; and, finally, 3) an understanding of how collaborative play, design, and game research are closely intertwined. Going “beyond the magic circle” has profound implications for both epistemology and educa- tion in game research and design. A network epistemology asks for interdisciplinary academic work that combines not only scholarship from the humanities and social sciences, but also from computer sciences. Furthermore, it calls for a societal contextualization of scholarship and a connecting of fun- damental and applied theorization both “inside” and “outside” academia, done by players, designers, and academics, roles that more often can be found in one person. A networked education teaches a spe- cialization in the context of other research and design disciplines, as the ability and passion to create unexpected blends is crucial for future innovative developments in play, design, and research. 11 Beyond The Magic Circle Marinka Copier Preface and Ac- knowledg- ments 1 Preface and Acknowledgments Something begins when I read the books of Terry Pratchett. He has the gift of weaving together networks of Fantasy1 and reality, entertainment and cultural criticism, intellect, wit and sexiness, in a seemingly effortless mix that makes me laugh – and think. The best creations are blends of concepts that we do not expect to be compatible, but someone imagined them to be so anyway. The best forms of leisure, education, and work are those that provide an encounter with great people, as well as with yourself. Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree. But many people have always been dimly aware of the problem with the start of things. They wonder aloud how the snowplough driver gets to work, or how the makers of dictionaries look up the spelling of words. Yet there is the constant desire to find some point in the twisting, knotting, raveling nets of space-time on which a metaphorical finger can be put to indicate that here, here, is the point where it all began… (Pratchett 1996, 11) Today, we no longer understand meeting yourself as meeting your “true identity” but finding out where you are situated, which roles you play, and which roles you can play, to imagine who we can become. In one of his most cited passages, “All the world’s a stage,” Shakespeare compared the world to a stage and life to a play. As sociologist Erving Goffman noted in furthering the metaphor, those roles are not masks, all those roles combined are us. We are not only the actors, we can also be the audience. In each situation, in each social interaction, we play a different role, as identity is a construct, an ongoing process that can both be playful and serious, but one that always involves power relations. While we gained consensus over this concept of identity, the world became wired into a global information network. Simultaneously, Fantasy role-playing games emerged as a leisure activity in which players consciously play with roles. One of the most popular online role playing games, World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertain- ment 2004), is a mishmash between Fantasy and reality, a mix between romantic neo-me- dievalism and high-tech culture. While players dwell as elves, gnomes, and orcs in worlds of 1 “Fantasy” as a genre is capitalized in order to distinguish between the Fantasy genre and fantasy in terms of the imagi- nary. 13 Beyond The Magic Circle Marinka Copier make-believe, they are both going with the flow of an imaginary character and world, as well as building an active out-of-character social net- work that stretches out over different social groups, nationalities, and time zones. Players are simultaneously escaping, questioning, and constructing their selves and the world. This may sound paradoxical and confusing from a dualistic perspective. But if we listen to the growing field of network science and stop putting everything in opposing boxes and start to look for connec- tions, what is it that we see then? Science is also about blending concepts that we may not expect to be compatible at first sight. Yet, with a combination of reason and imagination, we can learn to under- stand the patterns that connect it all. Fantasy role-play is my leisure, work, and education, it’s where I encounter great people as well as the many roles that make me. Meanwhile, I gained a nickname or two and wrote a thesis. Writing this thesis was like writing a travelogue. While playing and researching it was not yet a story. Only later, looking at the window of my word processor, I could look over all my experiences and shape them into a meaningful whole. This meaningful whole, which we call scholarship, stories, and anecdotes, has a temporary beginning and an ending.