Aaron Delwiche's students at Trinity University have posted their World of Warcraft enthnographies. Delwiche's site includes links to the final papers as well as weblogs the students maintained during the course.
Below, you will find term papers written by undergraduate students in the class "Games for the Web: Ethnography of Massively Multiplayer On-line Games."
These students used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to explore sociological issues associated with massively multiplayer virtual worlds. Each student in the class pursued a different research question. Their term papers (and web logs) are linked below.
From the outset, we have intended to share the findings of our research with the gaming community. Please visit the site, and take a look at the student's preliminary research findings. We would love to hear your constructive feedback, either through e-mail or via postings to student web logs.
Please keep in mind the limitations of this research setting. Time was too short to pursue in-depth ethnographic research, and sample sizes were too small to extrapolate with confidence to the broader gaming community. For many of the students, it was the first time that they had undertaken a research project of this scope. Nevertheless, this work reflects the efforts of a new generation of scholars grappling with the social significance of this vital medium.
[via Boing Boing]
Posted by johndanseven at December 6, 2005 07:57 AM