A hybrid cultural ecology: world of warcraft in China

We analyze online gaming as a site of collaboration in a digital-physical hybrid. We ground our analysis in findings from an ethnographic study of the online game World of Warcraft in China. We examine the interplay of collaborative practices across the physical environment of China's Internet cafes and the virtual game space of World of Warcraft. Our findings suggest that it may be fruitful to broaden existing notions of physical-digital hybridity by considering the nuanced interplay between the digital and physical as a multi-dimensional environment or "ecology". We illustrate how socio-economics, government regulations and cultural value systems shaped a hybrid cultural ecology of online gaming in China.

[1]  William Sims Bainbridge,et al.  Electronic game research methodologies : Studying religious implications , 2007 .

[2]  Scott D. Mainwaring,et al.  Infrastructures and Their Discontents: Implications for Ubicomp , 2004, UbiComp.

[3]  W. Bainbridge.  The Scientific Research Potential of Virtual Worlds , 2007, Science.

[4]  Suzanne L. Thomas Xueming Lang.  FROM FIELD TO OFFICE: THE POLITICS OF CORPORATE ETHNOGRAPHY , 2007 .

[5]  Paul Dourish,et al.  Aesthetic journeys , 2008, DIS '08.

[6]  Tony P. Pridmore,et al.  The spatial character of sensor technology , 2006, DIS '06.

[7]  Matthew Chalmers,et al.  Seamful interweaving: heterogeneity in the theory and design of interactive systems , 2004, DIS '04.

[8]  Paul Dourish,et al.  Yesterday’s tomorrows: notes on ubiquitous computing’s dominant vision , 2007, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.

[9]  Matthew Fuller,et al.  Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture (Leonardo Books) , 2007 .

[10]  The Use of Models of Space in Mixed-Reality Systems , 2002 .

[11]  Matthew Chalmers,et al.  Models of space in a mixed-reality system , 2004 .

[12]  Steve Benford,et al.  Traversable interfaces between real and virtual worlds , 2000, CHI.

[13]  Wiebe E. Bijker,et al.  Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change , 1995 .

[14]  Tom Rodden,et al.  Hybrid ecologies: understanding cooperative interaction in emerging physical-digital environments , 2008, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.

[15]  Hiroshi Harashima.  Special Issue on Networked Reality , 1994 .

[16]  Thomas M. Malaby.  Capital in and Beyond Virtual Worlds , 2006 .

[17]  Pramod K. Nayar,et al.  Media ecologies: Materialist energies in art and technoculture , 2007, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[18]  S. Turkle.  Life on the Screen , 1995 .

[19]  Marek Bell,et al.  CSCW at play: 'there' as a collaborative virtual environment , 2004, CSCW.

[20]  Bonnie A. Nardi,et al.  Strangers and friends: collaborative play in world of warcraft , 2006, CSCW '06.

[21]  Julian Dibbell.  Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot , 2006 .

[22]  Giorgio Casadei,et al.  Information Ecologies , 1999, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[23]  Bonnie A. Nardi,et al.  Real genders choose fantasy characters: Class choice in world of warcraft , 2007, First Monday.

[24]  Adriana de Souza e Silva,et al.  From Cyber to Hybrid , 2006 .

[25]  S. Turkle.  Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet , 1997 .

[26]  P. Milgram,et al.  A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays , 1994 .

[27]  Steve Benford,et al.  Can you see me now? , 2006, TCHI.

[28]  Thomas M. Malaby.  Parlaying Value , 2006, Games Cult..

[29]  Steve Benford,et al.  Seamful Design for Location-Based Mobile Games , 2005, ICEC.

[30]  Mark Weiser.  The computer for the 21st century , 1991 .

[31]  Jason Cleverly,et al.  Creating assemblies:: aboard the Ghost Ship , 2002, CSCW '02.

[32]  Eric Kabisch,et al.  Datascape: A Synthesis of Digital and Embodied Worlds , 2008 .

[33]  Christine Reid,et al.  The Myth of the Paperless Office , 2003, J. Documentation.

[34]  Kjeld Schmidt,et al.  Taking CSCW Seriously: Supporting Articulation Work * , 1992 .

[35]  Robert J. Moore,et al.  "Alone together?": exploring the social dynamics of massively multiplayer online games , 2006, CHI.