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E-book
Author Nardi, Bonnie A., author.

Title My life as a night elf priest : an anthropological account of World of warcraft / Bonnie A. Nardi
Published Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press : University of Michigan Library, [2010]

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Description 1 online resource
Series Technologies of the imagination
Technologies of the imagination.
Contents What is World of warcraft and who plays it? -- An ethnographic invetigation of World of warcraft -- Play as aesthetic experience -- A new medium -- Work, play, and the magic circle -- Addiction -- Theorycraft and mods -- Gender -- Culture : WoW in China-and North America
Summary "World of Warcraft rapidly became one of the most popular online world games on the planet, amassing 11.5 million subscribers -- officially making it an online community of gamers that had more inhabitants than the state of Ohio and was almost twice as populous as Scotland. It's a massively multiplayer online game, or MMO in gamer jargon, where each person controls a single character inside a virtual world, interacting with other people's characters and computer-controlled monsters, quest-givers, and merchants. In My Life as a Night Elf Priest, Bonnie Nardi, a well-known ethnographer who has published extensively on how theories of what we do intersect with how we adopt and use technology, compiles more than three years of participatory research in Warcraft play and culture in the United States and China into this field study of player behavior and activity. She introduces us to her research strategy and the history, structure, and culture of Warcraft; argues for applying activity theory and theories of aesthetic experience to the study of gaming and play; and educates us on issues of gender, culture, and addiction as part of the play experience. Nardi paints a compelling portrait of what drives online gamers both in this country and in China, where she spent a month studying players in Internet cafes. Bonnie Nardi has given us a fresh look not only at World of Warcraft but at the field of game studies as a whole. One of the first in-depth studies of a game that has become an icon of digital culture, My Life as a Night Elf Priest will capture the interest of both the gamer and the ethnographer."--Print version back cover
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record and CIP data provided by publisher
Subject World of Warcraft (Game)
Video games -- Social aspects
Virtual reality -- Social aspects
Visual anthropology.
Role-playing, war games & fantasy sports.
Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography.
Virtual worlds.
GAMES -- Fantasy Sports.
GAMES -- Role Playing & Fantasy.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
Computer games -- Social aspects
Social aspects
Virtual reality -- Social aspects
Visual anthropology
World of Warcraft (Game)
Korea (South) -- Social aspects
Korea (South)
Genre/Form Electronic books
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2020707025
ISBN 9780472026715
0472026712
1282639137
9781282639133
9786612639135
661263913X
9780472900435
0472900439