Battlefields of Negotiation The massively multiplayer online role-playing media game World of Warcraft has become one of matters media the most popular computer games of the past decade, introducing millions around the world to community-based play. Within the boundaries set by its design, the game encourages players to appropriate and shape matters it to their own wishes, resulting in highly diverse forms of play and participation. This illuminating study frames World of Warcraft as a complex socio-cultural phenomenon defined by and evolving as a result of the negotiations between groups of players as well as the game’s owners, throwing new light on complex consumer-producer rela- tionships in the increasingly participatory but still tightly controlled media of online games. rené glas rené René Glas is assistant professor of new media and digital culture at Utrecht University. Battlefields of Negotiation Control, Agency, and Ownership in World of Warcraft www.aup.nl ISBN 978-90-896-4500-5 978 908964 5005 amsterdam university press amsterdam university press rené glas AUP MM 08.Battlefields. rug12mm v02.indd 1 20-12-12 12:23 Battlefields of Negotiation MediaMatters is a series published by Amsterdam University Press on current debates about media technology and practices. International scholars critically analyze and theorize the materiality and performativity, as well as spatial practices of screen media in contributions that engage with today's (digital) media culture. For more information about the series, please visit: www.aup.nl Battlefields of Negotiation Control, Agency, and Ownership in World of Warcraft René Glas Amsterdam University Press The publication of this book has been supported by NWO (The Netherlands Or- ganisation for Scientific Research), The Hague, the Netherlands. This book is published in print and online through the online OAPEN library (www.oapen.org) OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) is a collaborative initia- tive to develop and implement a sustainable Open Access publication model for academic books in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The OAPEN Library aims to improve the visibility and usability of high quality academic research by aggre- gating peer reviewed Open Access publications from across Europe. Cover illustration: Sarah Guilbaud and Ivo Mulder, Amsterdam Cover design: Suzan Beijer, Amersfoort Lay-out: JAPES, Amsterdam isbn 978 90 8964 500 5 e-isbn 978 90 4851 808 1 (pdf) e-isbn 978 90 4851 809 8 (ePub) nur 480 / 670 Creative Commons License CC BY NC ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) c R. Glas / Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2012 Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise). Contents Acknowledgements 7 Introduction 9 Part I: Framing the Game 1. The Definition Game 19 Games without end? 19 Tracing the MMORPG genre’s roots 21 2. The Many Faces of Play 23 The movement of play 24 Ludic vs. representational role-playing 25 Problematizing social play 27 3. The Contracts of Play 30 Social codes, norms, and boundaries 30 Playing on a licence 33 4. Play and/as Participation 36 Every player plays its part 36 Participation as exploitation? 39 5. Battlefields of Negotiation 41 Part II: Controlling the Game 6. The Setup of Play 47 Network play 47 Playing machines 49 Configuring play 53 7. The Rules of Play 59 Designing play 59 Designing cooperation 62 Facing the other 65 8. Playing with Fiction 72 Representing Azeroth 72 5 The space of play 77 Stuck in time 79 Part III: Gaming the Game 9. It’s About Time 87 Paratexts as cheating tools 88 From emergence to progression 92 Hyperproductive demystification 99 10.Twinking, or Playing Another Game 103 The luxury of twinking 104 Going for the easy kill 107 A game within a game 111 11. Playing the Interface 116 Mods as social surveillance tools 117 Controlling code through theorycrafting 119 Exposing the inside 123 Part IV: Claiming the Game 12.Virtual Thievery 131 Play, work or crime 131 The power of small print 135 Part of the game? 139 13.Performing on the Edge of Rules and Fiction 144 Our story, your story 145 Looking the other way 150 Exploration or exploitation 154 14.The Fragmented and the Multiple 159 Community control, controlling community 161 With great power comes great responsibility 163 Playing identity and community 167 Conclusion 173 Notes 181 Bibliography 195 Index 209 6 battlefields of negotiation Acknowledgements The evolution and realization of this book could not have been possible without the contribution of many friends, colleagues and institutions who I am greatly indebted to. Overseeing the research itself, José van Dijck and Jan Simons have been indispensable from the start. José’s emphasis on structure and argumenta- tion and her inspiring enthusiasm helped tremendously in shaping my work. Together with Jan’s sharp observations on complex topics, their guidance proved invaluable throughout the research process. The book you have in front of you would not have been possible without support from the Netherlands Organiza- tion for Scientific Research (NWO), which funded the “Tranformations in Percep- tion and Participaion: Digital Games” project from which the research originates. By helping me focus my thoughts and framing my arguments in a series of meet- ings and conferences, the members of the Digital Games project contributed con- siderably, 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. My gratitude also goes out to Karin Wenz and Sally Wyatt for provid- ing valuable feedback as external experts on the project. I also thank the Amster- dam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) at the University of Amsterdam for their continued support and advice in various stages of the research. Writing a book like this can be a solitary experience, but my colleagues at the Department of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam and, later, the Department of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University made for excellent company. For sharing offices, discussions, ideas, conferences and drinks I would like to thank Joyce Goggin, David Nieborg, Dan Hassler-Forest, Maryn Wilkin- son, Jennifer Steetskamp, Andrea Meuzelaar, Imar de Vries, Ann-Sophie Leh- mann, Mirko Tobias Schäfer, Michiel de Lange, Marianne van den Boomen, and many others. I would like to especially thank Joost Raessens and Sybille Lammes who, next to being wonderful colleagues and fellow adventurers in the study of digital games and play, were so kind to provide feedback during the final phase of the writing process. Another proofreader I must thank for his thoroughness on short notice is Michael Katzberg. I would also like to show my appreciation to the students I have had the pleasure of teaching in courses in game studies and beyond for interesting discussions and inspiring insights. 7 A very different group of individuals I would like to thank are The Truants, a guild of “rogue scholars” I met in and around World of Warcraft and played with for years. Under the lively leadership of Torill 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 War- craft 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, Ragn- hild, 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 responsible for this book’s wonderful cover design, for which I cannot thank him enough. Finally, I would like to thank all my family and friends for their warmth and support, and for putting up with my endless banter about World of Warcraft. Last but not least, I wish to express my dedication to Nynke and our daughters Made- lief, Hente and Dagmar for offering love, guidance, and distraction (in a good way) during all the ups and downs of the writing process. I dedicate this book to them. 8 battlefields of negotiation Introduction World of Warcraft is considered the pinnacle of massively multiplayer online role- playing games or MMORPGs, a genre of computer games that offer fictional uni- verses where thousands of individuals play with or against each other or simply hang out to socialize. World of Warcraft, developed by Blizzard Entertainment based in Irvine, California, facilitates a wide range of play styles and preferences, ranging from casual role-playing to pursuing hardcore cooperative challenges. The game is considered easy to learn but hard to master, and is surrounded by a huge, player-driven culture offering everything from information wikis to fan fic- tion, from user-interface modifications to guides explaining how best to level up and even how to learn a profession or how to earn virtual gold through the in- game auction house. Since its release in November 2004, World of Warcraft (WoW) has attracted a massive crowd of players, peaking at twelve million in 2010.1 The expansion pack entitled Cataclysm released that year sold more than 3.3 million copies in the first 24 hours after release, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. Even though the game has since shed some of it vast user base, with around ten mil- lion players in early 2012 the game remains one of the most popular MMORPGs in the world.