Presented at the CCI Symposium -- Coogee Bay, November 2011

1. Hanging out is
hard to do
Ethnographic Methodology in Non-Avatar
Environments: Eve Online

2. What about you?
Going to start here...
Writing style: Current draft is toned
down a little from the version you have.
Comments on results: How does it
compare to other environments - VW’s,
Social networks, Forums?
Other methodologies -- bricolage.

3. Eve Marketplace

4. From here

5. WOW Auction House

6. Or maybe:
It feels different...

7. Why Virtual Worlds
Ren Reynolds says “we study VW's
because the legal norms being
established there will come to dominate
our lives”
But what are Virtual Worlds?

8. Greg Lastowka
I chopped this video a little to fit time
constraints. Full version at http://
www.ustream.tv/recorded/18456637
(hour-plus panel)
Greg’s book is “Virtual Justice”, available
in free PDF from his website.

9. Greg Lastowka

10. Greg Lastowka
How many times did he just say
‘Avatar’?
Virtual Worlds go beyond the
classically studied environments.
Eve is setting many precedents for
player politics, hybrid economies, and
‘legal’ purchasing of in-game currency.

11. So what methodology?
Much Virtual World research (Taylor,
Dibbell, Humphreys, Banks etc) is
‘Participant Observation’ Ethnography.
Can we apply that methodology to non-
avatar environments?
(My) answer is “kind of...”

12. Eve 101
Paranoid community. Fraud/scams
actively encouraged.
Community split. Newbies/established.
High-security / Low-Security. Public
space / wormholes.
As you may have guessed, no Avatar
(until recently). Instead, ‘pod goo’.

13. Chat
Not going to repeat everything in the
paper, but some highlights...
Chat is largely text based - whether
WOW or Eve. But do conversations feel
different when you ‘see’ each other?
And more importantly, what
opportunities are there to chat?

14. Space
Some games are designed for chat. Star
Wars Galaxies Cantinas are social
spaces, Trade hubs and the routes up to
them (in most MMO’s) encourage
bottlenecks/crowding & chat. Auction
houses encourage chat.
Eve is often a vast nothing...

15. Establishing oneself
Ethnographers normally fill a role.
Whether that is community manager,
healer etc, you take on a role.
Most MMO’s allow you to chose a role
and advancing is a question of skills
EVE roles are limited by total time
played.

16. Grouping
Bartle, discussing the design of MUD’s,
notes that group missions (as in WOW)
force players to communicate. Eve
follows a far more ‘solo’ path.
Essentially then, Eve follows a different
model than traditional MUD-origin
games. Less in-game communication,
thus more use of external channels.

17. Implications
Almost impossible to get a clear picture
of the Eve community from the
environment itself:
Limited in access to end-game spaces
(by virtue of skills / time).
Limited in access to sub-cultures (by
practicalities / Ethics disclosures).

18. Implications
Those access mechanisms there are,
would likely fall foul of IRB/Ethics
Pay to access (cheating?)
Non-disclosure of role and/or use of
pre-existing character.

19. Options
Ignore end-game spaces. I liken this to
claiming to do a comprehensive
ethnography of New York, without
leaving Manhattan.
Combine results of multiple
ethnographers. Elements of other studies
may apply to Eve.

20. Options
Use meta-game: blogs, IRC, forums
(leaked and public) to complete
narrative.
Ultimately, I am arguing for a
combination of (2) and (3). And, I
contend, these approaches have
implications for social networks &
avatar-based environments too...