Sade-Beck article summary February 29, 2008
Posted by nutheadgreg in gaming.Tags: delicious, Research Methods
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Below I have reviewed and summarised the article on Internet Ethnography by Liav Sade-Beck from the University of Isreal, he posses some interesting issues surrounding the use of this methodology.
Internet Ethnography: Online and Offline by Liav Sade-Beck (2004)
- Describes methodological issue resulting from Internet-based qualitative research.
- Demonstrates the path used to deal with problems of such research, it is based on Integration of online observations, interviews and content analysis.
- He suggests that there is little writing on integration of the Internet into qualitative research.
o Jones (1999) explored both theoretical and practical issues in his book “Doing Internet Research”.
o Hine (2000) shows how important the need to study the Internet, as a cultural product and also in its cultural context through his text “Virtual Ethnography”.
o Mann & Stewart (2000) defined the Internet as a research field, and as a data gathering instrument in qualitative research.
- Jones (1999) highlights several methodological issues in Internet Ethnography due to complex, diffuse and multi-faceted structure; as a result it is difficult to maintain a focus.
o The population for Internet research can not be determined on regular criteria, as it is not limited to a single social space.
o Data analysis is difficult as you cannot obtain a ‘Hard Copy’ of the Internet database.
o The Internet is updated daily, thus needs to be monitored on a daily basis
- Sade-Beck suggests the Interview and Online Observation cause more problems.
o Interaction is done through writing. Adds problems as there is no face to face meeting, which results in loss of many additional layers of meaning including speech tone, body language, facial expression and gestures.
o The time lapse between thought and writing as in speech gives the Interviewee more time to think and organise the answer.
o Following the activities of actual people is difficult, so ‘Participant-observer’ cannot be applied to description of online observation.
o At what point does the researcher define ones status, which is similar to other web users, it shakes the researchers professional authority.
o The Internet enables the researcher to be anonymous, which raises some ethical issues.
o Only focusing upon the online aspect is looking a part of the picture. Offline (RL) is also part of the picture, as it is linked to Online, this just adds to the difficulty. “…the virtual world and the real world merge, creating a broader definition of reality. Instead of relating to the features that distinguish the Virtual world, we must adopt an approach focusing on imagination, associations and reciprocity between the two worlds…” Sade-Beck referring to Wittel (2000)
New Meat for Dissertation Flesh February 19, 2008
Posted by nutheadgreg in Uncategorized.Tags: delicious, Game theory, video games
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Below I have summarised a journal article that I found on the net, it poses some interesting ideas about understanding Video Games, and provides a definiton of the authors understanding of how they work. It gives reference to society too, which is always useful.
Beyond Play: A New Approach to Games (Thomas M. Malaby, 2007)
- His ideas are centred around the following definition of a game
“A Game is a semi-bounded and socially legitimate domain of contrived contingency that generates interpretable outcomes”
- In this work Malaby is trying to move away from the common pitfalls that other game theorists fall into. He suggests that looking at games in a way the removes them out of the context of play, and holds them up against reality is an inappropriate way of studying them. For example, suggesting that video games cause violence. However, he also wants to avoid theorists who see games in a utopian light, in that they are a positive thing to be doing or playing, an example of this is studies that demonstrate how playing games boosts in a learning environment helps kids learning.
- He suggests that existing (normative) treatments of games, that separate between games and play run into problems. As by treating play activities as pleasurable and fun experiences is more or less the same way in which games are treated. As a result how is it possible to say that the two are separate, when it is clear that games and play intrinsically, is the same thing?
- To get away from existing treatments, Malaby explains that a better way of viewing games is in a non-normative way, where games are considered as socially constructed artefacts. Under this he suggests the follow ideas about games:
- Games are processual i.e. the experience of them is an ongoing and evolutionary process.
- Games can change as they are played i.e. rules altered in monopoly where chance and community card fines are paid into a pool, and whoever lands on free parking can claim the money.
- They can change when new ways are found to play games (can lead to rule changes) i.e. being able to see through walls on Counter-Strike, which was outlawed from the game as it gave you an advantage over other players.
- That games are grounded in human practice in that they are always a process of becoming something.
- That games are not reducible by rules at any given moment that may produce new practices or meaning.
- Malaby goes on to say that games are like social processes as they are dynamic and recursive, reproducing their form through time. It doesn’t matter how stable a game is as it can change like social processes.
- From all of the above, it is suggested that it is possible to identify the universal feature of games as a set of processes.
- Games are seen as a contrived contingency, this is because games are designed to have a number of different possible paths (contingencies) to follow some are predictable others are unpredictable. As a result of this games are popular as they allow us to see what could have been if a different route is taken. This can be done in RL, but risk is involved. In games bigger risks can be taken than in RL.
- The contingency within games is utilised by game designers, it is there job to contrive how multiple options (contingencies) are integrated into their games. The effectiveness in which this is done, will impact on how well the game is received by the audience.
Found a Brilliant Link February 17, 2008
Posted by nutheadgreg in gaming.Tags: digital games, Game theory, video games
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I wish that I had stumbled upon this link at a much earlier time, basically its a group of researchers who over the last few years have been collectively working in the field of video games or ‘Digital Games’ as they refer to it. The website is called Digiplay Initiative.
The timing of finding this link is bad because one of the researchers works at Manchester University, and it would have been good to speak to him at an earlier stage in my dissertation project.
However, all is not lost as the website that the research collective has created is very good. Infact, so good that it contains a timeline of video games, which I have been searching for months to find. This one has academic groundings too, which is always a bonus. More useful material will be uncovered the deeper I travel into the website.
Here is the link: http://digiplay.info/about
Lack of Posts February 16, 2008
Posted by nutheadgreg in Uncategorized.Tags: General, reflections
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Having looked back on my previous posts I have noticed that they have been on an unregular basis. As a result of this I need to make more of an effort to at least put a comment on my blog every other day, if not everyday until the hand in date of my dissertation.
I will have more to write about now, as I am beginning to flesh out my dissertation. I also have found some more journal articles and usefull websites to write posts about.
Henry Jenkins quote February 13, 2008
Posted by nutheadgreg in Gaming ethics.Tags: ethics, philosophy, video games
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I have found a useful quote from the work of Henry Jenkins, it features in his book Fans, Bloggers, Gamers. This is going to be of use in the introduction section.
“We turn to violent entertainment for the same reason moral reformers turn toward apocalyptic rhetoric-because it gives us a sense of order in a world that otherwise can seem totally chaotic. We fantasize about a lot of things we’d never want to do in real life, and through fantasy we bring those impulses momentarily under control. What is bad about a lot of games isn’t that they are violent but that they trivialize violence. They tell us little about our inner demons because they fall back too quickly on tried-and-true formulas. Without fail, the works that moral reformers cite are not the ones that are formulaic but those that are thematically rich or formally innovative. It is as if the reformers responded to the work’s own provocation to think about the meaning of violence, but were determined to shut down that process before it ever gets started”
In this Jenkins demonstrates how violent games get a bad press, he suggests that the trivial manner that violence is used in games is the problem. This can be linked back to Brands ideas on game ethics surrounding violence, as in some video games such as Counterstrike you are rewarded for killing both a terrorist or a counter terrorist this blurring in what Jenkins is refering to when he suggests that bad games trivialize violence. This becomes all the more confusing when you consider that fact that Counterstrike is still the most popular online FPS game, however just becase a game is popular, its not necessarily a good game.
The second theme running through this is the moral reformers (parents, mass media, government officials) are only looking at violence through the view of sensation, and moral panic. They do not look below the surface, as a result their issues do not get resolved.
Skeleton Chapter Plan February 12, 2008
Posted by nutheadgreg in Uncategorized.Tags: General, planning, research
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I have constructed a list of titles that will be contained within my dissertation, I have created around 20 titles and this should enable me to structure my ideas in order to guide the reader.
Breakdown of Dissertation Content
Introduction
- An introduction to the World of Gaming
- Video Games from the Past
- The Emergence of the First-Person Shooter game
- Defining discursive Gaming Language
- The importance of Play in understanding Gaming
- How can a Game be defined?
- The theory behind understanding the Video game
- How Games can be applied to Moral Ethics and Values
- What I expect to gain from the research
Method and Methodology
- Approach to my study and Philosophy behind it
- Explanation of Internet Ethnography
- How is my Internet Ethnography relevant
- Application of Internet Ethnography
- Other Methods used in Conjunction with Internet Ethnography
- Ethics of Research
- Proposed choice of Data Analysis
- How I aim to operationalise the Data for use
Data Analysis and Evaluation
- Summary of Interviews
- The Key findings
- Discussion of Results
- How do my findings relate to my proposed outcomes?
- The extent to which my research relates to previous theory
- Personal Critique of my study
- How can the area of Computer Game ethics can be researched further?
- Conclusion
Citations
Bibliography
Appendices
This is the structure I aim to work with, however some of the titles may change. As new ideas will emerge from my writing that will allow them to become more concise and better formed.
