10 slides PPT, 150 words max, research World of Warcraft, Games and Society
uraguy
ic60QualExample.pptxQualitative Template
Gary Wells
ICS60
Research Questions
How do World of Warcraft players choose what to name their character?
What factors seem to have the most influence on how they decide?
So What?
Character names in WoW are arguably the most unique identifier provided in the game
Players are given a significant amount of freedom in choosing their name; among many other factors, what they choose can represent:
The player’s personality
Their sense of humor
Real world references and topics important to them
Understanding patterns in the thought process behind choosing a name can provide insights into the WoW playerbase as a whole
Data Collection Method
Create Blizzard/World of Warcraft account
Go on to https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/, a popular fan forum linked to the official developer website
Find the “Guides” section and enter the “New Player Help and Guides” subsection
Publish a post that asks “When you started playing WoW, how did you decide on your character’s name? What factors influenced your decision?”
Leave post up for one week from publish date, checking in on the responses once per day
Record all relevant responses
Data Analysis Method
Clean all responses
Fix all grammatical and spelling errors Making sure the text is legible is very important in qualitative research
Code responses
Read through each response and track for common themes, ideas, words, etc.
Formulate codes from those common factors
Eg. Code: Meme. Examples found in responses: “Grumpy Cat”, “Arthur’s fist”, Rickrolling”
Eg. Code: Sports. Examples found in responses: “Soccer”, “Swim practice”, “Basketball”
Organize codes into categories
Eg. Category: Sense of humor. Codes: Memes, references, inside jokes, etc.
Eg. Category: Activities outside of WoW. Codes: sports, other games, academics, hobbies, etc.
Findings Summary
30 responses
Categories Remember, yours will be different based on the data you collect!
Sense of humor:
memes (“I love Grumpy Cat” – GrumpycatFAN) Provide examples of your codes
References (“Batman is my favorite superhero” – TheRealBatman22)
Activities outside of WoW:
Sports (“When I’m not gaming, I’m at swim practice” – TheRealAquaman33)
Hobbies (“I cook a lot then hop on WoW while I eat” – KeyboardLasagna)
Likes/Dislikes
Animals (“My favorite animals are raccoons” - RocketRaccoonPhD)
Color (I hate seafoam green” – SeafoamGreenHater_173)
Other
“I chose my name in a way that can’t possibly be categorized” -LilFrog
Data Visualization
Fig. 1: Word cloud representing some of the most common key terms responders used when explaining how they chose their character name.
It’s good to include a caption that describes what the data in your visualization shows
Conclusions
WoW players most often choose their character names based on their sense of humor, activities they enjoy outside of the game, and their general likes and dislikes Clearly state the results of your study.
Therefore, character names often reveal some aspect of the player’s personality and life outside of the game Then discuss what those results say about WoW as a whole. Why do your results matter?
World of Warcraft players might see their characters as representations of themselves, rather than completely new identities
Future research: Track character-specific (race/class) and player-specific (account tag, join date) demographics to look for possible patterns in how different groups choose character names Future research is something you can add on to your conclusion. Think of new project ideas that can be based on your findings from the current study.
Limitations
Data was only collected from one forum; maybe players who like to post in other forums choose their character names differently
Data collection was limited to only those who willingly responded on a public message forum. Responses from players who don’t go on to forums at all may produce different results
Sample size was too small (Unless you’re able to get a large number of responses, this will probably be one of your limitations)
References
World of Warcraft [massively multiplayer online game]. Irvine, CA: Blizzard Entertainment.
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/
Be sure to reference the game as well as any readings, videos, pictures, links, etc. you used in your slide deck.
