My Life as a Night Elf Priest - Chapters Six through Nine

Chapter six was of particular interest to me because it deals with addiction.  I have always been a very extreme person, and I can't think of a single game that I have ever played casually.  That paired with my limited access to games growing up created the hesitancy that I have had towards gaming in general.  I remember playing Mario Kart religiously, staying up all night playing Goldeneye, and spending all of my summer savings for a steering wheel and pedal set to play Daytona USA.  All of these were solo games, so I can certainly understand how someone could become addicted to WoW.

I liked how Nardi addressed the actual term addiction.  As much as I have thrown it around all semester, I didn't really understand how strong of a word it actually is.  Referring it to a term used by medical professionals puts it in perspective, and the supporting evidence from the AMA shows that we should not apply this term to video games.  Similarly to Turkle, she relates the term addiction to things that always carry negative connotations, such as drugs or alcohol.  As demonstrated by both of them, online gaming has postive aspects, so addiction should have never been a term attached to them.  Quotes from players mentioned in the book were all supportive of each others responsibilities in RL (Real Life).

The game is harder than it looks.

Theorycraft and modding made me instantly think of the Sega Saturn that I had in middle school.  I asked for a Gamepro subscription for Christmas just so I could read up on how to beat all of the Mega Man games.  At the time, magazines like Gampro and EGM were the "forums" where information like this could be accessed.  The modding in WoW is very interesting and I was surprised to read that many people began doing it as a supplement to the game.  To me the game is till very overwhelming, so it's hard to imagine wanting to add more to it.  I would like to add some of the features that are mentioned in the text, and Cosmos has a lot of nice features.  Being able to track my statistics would be nice, and would help me stay motivated through some of the drawn out quests.

The issue of gender in WoW seems to be a combination of how are society operates paired with the freedom people feel when communicating electronically.  I appreciate that Nardi points out that she did not mind the banter because she understood they were only joking, and merely testing her.  I think that is a solid attitude to have when going into something that is dominated by men.  Females playing this game is just like females that work in restaurants.  Both are dominated by males, and many of them will often test the women to see what they can get away with.  I have seen that my entire career, and it was interesting to see how closely it translates into another form of communication.

Reading about the study Nardi did in China makes me wish that internet cafes existed here.  Internet cafes could serve as a great merging point to dispel the negative image that gaming has in general.  Though the Chinese use these somewhat as a product of circumstance, I would much rather play in a cafe with other people that I can celebrate with than in my room alone.  I enjoy interacting with people in the game, but playing with them in person would be a lot of fun.  Just like playing NCAA football at a party with your friends, the competition would become that much more intense when the people you are competing with are directly beside you.

Questions for Nardi:

1.  As you moved through the levels, did it become increasingly harder to focus on conducting research as the game increased in difficulty?
2.  After spending the time in China and seeing the cafes that they play in, which environment would you prefer?  Do you think it has an impact on the gaming experience itself?