1 UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SANTA CATARINA CENTRO DE COMUNICAÇÃO E EXPRESSÃO DEPARTAMENTO DE LÍNGUA E LITERATURA ESTRANGEIRAS — DLLE DOTA 2 AS A TOOL FOR DEVELOPING PLAYERS’ LANGUAGE SKILLS IN ENGLISH: APPLYING THREE LEARNING PRINCIPLES TO THE CONTEXT OF THE GAME HUDSON COGO MOREIRA Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso Florianópolis December, 2013 2 DotA 2 as a Tool for Developing Players’ Language Skills in English: Applying Three Learning Principles to the Context of the Game Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (TCC) para a disciplina LLE7462 do Departamento de Língua e Literatura Estrangeira do Centro de Comunicação e Expressão da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina — Curso de Letras — Língua Inglesa e Literaturas, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Bacharel em Letras — Língua Inglesa e Literaturas. Orientadora: Dra. Viviane Maria Heberle. Co-orientador: MSc. Fernando Silva. BANCA EXAMINADORA Profª. Dra. Viviane Maria Heberle MSc. Fernando Silva Dr. Gustavo Althoff Florianópolis December, 2013 3 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my parents — Maria de Lourdes Cogo Moreira, my mother, and Ozéas Batista Moreira, my father — for the opportunity they gave me to study in a University and only have to be concerned with my academic journey. Furthermore, I thank my parents for also giving me the opportunity to become a video game player when I was just five years old. Secondly, I want to thank my girlfriend, Karine Tiemi Yudo, for supporting me in my life and for being a constant source of pride and joy. Also, I want to thank her for supporting me with my idea of writing my Final Monograph about one of the games that both, her and I, so much enjoy playing. Thirdly, I thank my advisor, Prof. Viviane Maria Heberle, my co-advisor MSc. Fernando Silva and the defense board member Gustavo Althoff for all the good suggestions and for all the patience and effort they invested in me during my last two semesters of undergraduate study at UFSC. I also want to thank my friend Diogo Campos for explaining me the difference between a ‗gateway‘ and a ‗server‘. Finally, I want to congratulate Blizzard Entertainment for developing Starcraft and Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (and its expansion, The Frozen Throne), which served as base and inspiration for the creation of the first versions of DotA. Hence, I want to congratulate all the developers of the very first versions of DotA. To finish, I congratulate Valve Corporation and all the team responsible for creating and developing the new generation of the game: DotA 2. 4 Abstract DotA 2 as a Tool for Developing Players’ Language Skills in English: Applying Three Learning Principles to the Context of the Game Hudson Cogo Moreira Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2013 Prof. Dr. Viviane Maria Heberle Advisor MSc. Fernando Silva Co-advisor Among a range of genres of video games, MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games have become a major influence both on the professional scene (tournaments in a large or small scale, for example) and in the matter of entertainment in general. This study intends to analyze how DotA 2 serves as an effective tool for their players to develop different skills related to the English language while at the same time, how it engages them in an environment where communication is essential for a good game. Considering Gee‘s (2003, 2004, 2005) three learning principles — identity, interaction and situated meanings, the analysis was conducted in three phases: 1) from the analysis of a character in DotA 2, it investigated how its characteristics motivate players to develop their language skills in English; 2) from the analysis of specific parts of a team‘s conversation, it investigated how communication (in English) between players is also a relevant factor to help them develop their language skills in English; 3) from the textual resources offered by the game, it investigated how the DotA 2 characters‘ skills and responses, motivate players to develop their skills in English. Keywords: DotA 2; identity; interaction; situated meanings; language skills development; English language. Multimodality was removed from keywords. Number of pages: 83 Number of words: 12.177 5 Resumo DotA 2 as a Tool for Developing Players’ Language Skills in English: Applying Three Learning Principles to the Context of the Game Hudson Cogo Moreira Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2013 Prof. Dr. Viviane Maria Heberle Orientadora MSc. Fernando Silva Co-orientador Dentre uma gama de gêneros de video games, jogos do tipo MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) exercem grande influência tanto no cenário profissional (torneios de grande ou pequena escala, por exemplo) quanto na questão de entretenimento de modo geral. Uma das áreas de conhecimentos é relacionada ao desenvolvimento de habilidades em língua Inglesa. Esse estudo tem como interesse analisar como DotA 2 serve como uma ferramenta eficaz para que seus jogadores possam desenvolver diferentes habilidades relacionadas à língua Inglesa e também se engajar em um ambiente onde comunicação é elemento essencial para uma boa partida. Considerando três princípios de aprendizagem de Gee (2003, 2004, 2005) — identidade, interação e significados situados, a análise foi conduzida em três momentos: 1) a partir da análise de um personagem de DotA 2, procurou-se analisar como as características desse personagem podem motivar jogadores a desenvolver suas habilidades em língua Inglesa; 2) a partir da análise de partes específicas da conversação de um grupo de jogadores, procurou-se verificar como a comunicação (em Inglês) entre os jogadores é também um fator relevante para ajudá-los a desenvolver suas habilidades em língua Inglesa; 3) a partir dos recursos textuais oferecidos pelo jogo, procurou-se analisar como as habilidades e respostas dos personagens de DotA 2 motivam os jogadores a desenvolver suas habilidades em língua Inglesa. Palavras-chave: DotA 2; identidade; interação; significados situados, desenvolvimento de habilidades linguísticas; língua Inglesa. Número de páginas: 83 Número de palavras: 12.177 6 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 08 2. DotA 2: Where Different Languages Cross Each Other 16 3. Game Overview 18 4. Review of Literature 23 4.1. DotA 2 as a Set of Learning Principles 23 4.2. Identity 28 4.3. Interaction 32 4.4. Situated Meanings 37 5. Methodology 42 5.1. Data Source 42 5.2. Analytical Procedure 43 6. Data Analysis and Discussion of Findings 45 6.1. Interaction 45 6.2. Identity 50 6.3. Situated Meanings 53 7. Conclusions 56 7.1. Limitations of the Study 57 7.2. Pedagogical Implications 58 7.3. Suggestion for Further Research 59 8. References 60 7 8 1. Introduction ―What, it ain't started already? I thought it started.‖ — Aggron Stonebreaker, the Ogre Magi Over the last few years a new field has emerged around video games and learning, based on the principle that video games can involve players with deep and productive forms of learning in a highly motivating context (Gee, 2003, 2004, 2005). According to Gee (2003), video games are relatively new technology replete with significant, and not yet completely understood, implications. When the first commercial home video game console — Magnavox Odyssey — was released in 1972, a new entertainment industry started to give its first steps to become one of the most profitable businesses of this century. Nowadays, video games are more than simply an entertainment device: they also offer possibilities related to literacy — in special, the development of language skills in English, and DotA 2 is a good example of this type of possibility. The Defense of the Ancients 2 (best known by its acronym ―DotA 2‖) is a Massively Online Battle Arena Game1. According to Giant Bomb’s community‘s2 definition, MOBA is a sub-genre of the Real-Time Strategy genre. Basically, the gameplay is characterized by single unit hero strategic combat between two opposing factions, each trying to destroy the foes‘ base. 1 Commonly known by its acronym ‗MOBA‘. 2 Information retrieved from http://www.giantbomb.com/multiplayer-online-battle-arena/3015-6598/ 9 Picture 1 – Basic MOBA map3. According to Gosu Gamers‘s community, DotA‘s first version (also known as ―DotA Allstars‖) — released in 2003 — was created with a built-in software of the game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and for its expansion pack, The Frozen Throne, which means that, initially, the game was a simple custom game4 based on the Warcraft’s III design. As formally declared on DotA 2‘s official blog (http://blog.dota2.com/?l=english), in 2011, the Valve Corporation released the DotA 2‘s Beta phase and on July 9 of this year, the Beta phase ended and the game was officially released. Picture 2 – DotA Allstars logo5. 3 Retrieved from http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/scale_small/6/63119/2484026-map_of_moba.png 4 A Warcraft‘s III custom game is a map created by someone who wanted to share with the Warcraft III‘s players‘ community, his/her idea of a different game with unique characteristics and objectives. For example: Werewolf Transylvania, Legion Tower Defense, Element Tower Defense and so on. 5 Retrieved from http://images.wikia.com/defenseoftheancients/images/6/64/Dota_2_Logo_only.png 10 So far, I have completed one decade playing DotA games and during my saga I can certainly say that the experience I gained playing the game has contributed not only to develop my motor skills; I also developed my language skills in English while playing it during all these years. In fact, a well-designed videogame like DotA 2 can be a very useful tool in order to help players develop their language skills (specifically English). Soares (2010) explains that In addition to the general cognitive benefits from playing well-designed video games, these games can be helpful for language learning as well.