Mark Chen Leet Noobs THE LIFE AND DEATH OF AN EXPERT PLAYER GROUP IN WORLD OF WARCRAFT PETER LANG New York Washington, D.C./Baltimore Bern Frankfurt Berlin Brussels Vienna Oxford Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chen, Mark. Leet Noobs: the life and death of an expert player group in World of Warcraft / Mark Chen. p. cm. — (New literacies and digital epistemologies; v. 55) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. World of Warcraft. 2. Computer games—Social aspects. 3. Shared virtual environments. 4. Virtual reality—Social aspects. I. Title. GV1469.25.W64.C54 794.8—dc23 2011043456 ISBN 978-1-4331-1611-7 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4331-1610-0 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-4539-0255-4 (e-book) ISSN 1523-9543 Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/. Cover image by Mark Chen The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council of Library Resources. © 2012 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006 www.peterlang.com All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited. Printed in the United States of America Dedicated to Robin and Ushki. Table of Contents Acknowledgments ............................................................................................... ix Prologue: In the Fiery Depths… .................................................................. 1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 3 Wait a Sec… Is Expertise in Games Valuable? ............................................. 3 Social and Cultural Capital .......................................................................... 6 Description of Chapters ............................................................................... 7 A World of Warcraft Primer ......................................................................... 11 Setting, Group, and Data Collection ......................................................... 14 Pugging the Chicken Quest ...................................................................... 23 Chapter One: Individual vs. Group Expertise ............................................ 29 Expertise Understood Through Ethnography ........................................... 33 Stage One: Leveling Up .............................................................................. 37 Stage Two: Raiding ..................................................................................... 41 Reflections on Studying Expert Practice .................................................... 47 Chat Norms ............................................................................................. 51 Chapter Two: Communication, Coordination, and Camaraderie .............. 55 (Computer) Game Theory .......................................................................... 56 A Typical Night in Molten Core ................................................................ 59 Gathering and Chatting .......................................................................... 59 Pulling, Coordinated Fighting, and Division of Labor ................................ 61 Making Encounters Routine by Finding Balance ....................................... 66 Welcoming Failure in Golemagg and Other Boss Fights ............................. 68 Socially Constructed Social Dilemmas AKA the Problem of Rare Loot ........ 71 viii Table of Contents An Atypical Night in Molten Core ............................................................ 73 Communication and Trust ......................................................................... 79 Role-Playing Takes So Much Time; We Could Be Killing Things Instead...83 Chapter Three: Assembling to Kill Ragnaros ............................................ 91 Mangles, Networks, and Assemblages ........................................................ 92 Roles, Responsibilities, and Aggro ............................................................. 97 Threat Management ................................................................................... 98 KLH Threat Meter (KTM) ........................................................................ 103 Using KTM as a Temporary Actor to Kill Ragnaros: April 28, 2006 ...... 108 KTM and Networks .................................................................................. 120 Narrowing Play and Exposing Disruptions .............................................. 123 Walt and Thoguht “Theorycrafting” Amidst a Server Shutdown ............. 127 Chapter Four: Death of a Raid ............................................................... 133 Changing Schedules and Changing Roster .............................................. 133 Death by Drama ........................................................................................ 134 Making Sense of the Meltdown ................................................................ 152 Tension Between the Roles I Play ........................................................... 159 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 167 The Major Assertions of This Book ......................................................... 168 Epilogue: Victory! ................................................................................... 173 Appendix: Raid and Guild Members .............................................................. 177 Glossary ............................................................................................................ 181 Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 185 Index ................................................................................................................ 191 Acknowledgments Tons of people to thank, but foremost are Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel for thinking this book had promise back when it was just a terrible mess. Thanks, also, to Peter Lang folks: Chris Myers, Sophie Appel, Catherine Tung, and Maria Abellana! I’d also like to thank people who gave me feedback on various parts of the various drafts: Phil Bell, John Bransford, Beth Kolko, Jen Stone, Tom Boellstorff, John Carter McKnight, Lisa Galarneau, Aaron Hertzmann, Heiji Horde, Hillary Kolos, Sam Lowry, Bonnie Nardi, Amanda Ochsner, Vanessa Svihla, Jonas Heide Smith, Reed Stevens, Doug Thomas, Constance Steinkuehler, T. L. Taylor, Drew Davidson, Eric Ellis, Moses Wolfenstein, the Everyday Science and Technology Group at UW, and alumni of the 2011 Digital Media and Learning Summer Institute. There’s no way Leet Noobs would have turned out as well as it did without your help. To my guild and the MC raid group whom this book is about: Thank you for letting me write about our experiences. I miss you guys a lot! Thanks also to Mom, Dad, Grandma, Dee, Frances, the rest of my family, and CACS. <3 Thanks and love to Robin for putting up with my gaming and helping me be less academic in my writing. In memory of Bill Winn whose enthusiasm and wonder were limitless. A shout-out goes to Lyndsi Achucarro at Blizzard Entertainment for her massive help. Everyone I’ve forgotten to include: Thank you, too! Portions of this book were made possible through funding by the National Science Foundation through the Science of Learning Center program under grant SBE-0354453. An earlier version of Chapter 1 appeared as Chen, M. (2009). Social dimensions of expertise in World of Warcraft players. Transformative Works and Cultures, 2. DOI: 10.3983/twc.v2i0.72. x Acknowledgments An earlier version of Chapter 2 appeared in Games and Culture, 4(1), 2009 by SAGE Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Screenshots in this book were taken by me. Reprinted by permission of Blizzard Entertainment. All rights reserved. ❄ P ROLOGUE ❄ In the Fiery Depths… Imagine 40 people grouped together in a dark, hot, volcanic cavern deep beneath the earth. Some of them appear to have been human at one point, but the flesh rotting off their frames clearly points to some supernatural force. Others are muscular, green-skinned brutes or wiry, purple-skinned figures sporting mohawks and tusks. A few hefty, cow-like, bipedal forms stand much taller than the others. Some in this exotic group are dancing, some are jumping up and down, others are sitting and drinking water and various other liquids, but the majority of them are just standing around, waiting or watching the large, spiky snake-man creature in the middle of the chamber. The humanoids are wearing an assortment of leather or metal armor and/or cloth or silk robes, and they are equipped with glowing swords, maces, and staves. A few of them are discussing the upcoming confrontation. One of them in particular is talking about the specific positions and roles for the others during the fight. Many of the others are talking privately with each other at the same time, sharing pleasantries or chatting about more mundane events, as if oblivious to their locale and the upcoming battle. The apparent leader of this raiding party, the one who was summarizing roles and strategy, yells, “Get in positions!” and everyone spreads out, running to various parts of the