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Friday, April 16, 2010

CHI 2010: Intimacy in World of Warcraft

via Ashley @ CHI2010


The Rogue in the Lovely Black Dress: Intimacy in World of Warcraft
Jeffrey Bardzell, Indiana University
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Recall + describe a specific incident in which you experience what you would call an intimate experience in a virtual world

(Digra – digital games research association)

Four intimacy themes – common patterns and features in the responses
(1)     intimacy is often located across real and VWs and not in one or the other (across the two – mixed reality phenomenon)

WoW à Facebook or Google Talk à phone à real world (decreasing mediated interaction)

(2)     intimacy emerges from mundane, rather than extraordinary experience

Play feels like work b/c you’re fulfilling quests (e.g. farming) … more likely to socialize with friends because it’s so boring

Intimacy often occurs in poignant moment that breaks thru the mundane

WoW successful because it is disengaging – end of a long day, don’t want to face big boss

Mundane à surprise à new social bond à new mundane

(3) intimacy involves reciprocity (or exchange)

market exchange reciprocity (market value)

vs

reciprocity exchange – exchanged gifts of hard to measure and unequal value because of exchange, become friends (exchange vulnerability and empathy)

(4)     intimacy is exp in and articulated with temporal categories and concepts

2 rhetorical strategies of describing intimacy: (defined temporally)
a) episode – single event, exploring it in detail
b) history – narrative that sketches intimacy across many individual episodes or periods of time

Q+As

add’l graphic dimension of 3d offers add’l expressive opportunities / people choose more graphical emotes

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