Digital Structures and the Future of Online Leadership

2013 ◽  
pp. 257-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moses Wolfenstein
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Leadership ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Original Study ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Learning Cycle ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Game World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Online Leadership

This chapter discusses findings from a study that looked at organizational leadership in the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft® in an attempt to inform the future of leadership in schools and other online and blended learning organizations. After offering a general orientation to the game world and the original study, this chapter delineates the ways in which studying virtual worlds of this sort can and cannot inform theory and practice of instructional leadership. It then examines the organizational leadership and learning cycle that emerged in the original study. Finally, it considers implications from the research for instructional and organizational leadership in a data rich environment.

Digital Structures and the Future of Online Leadership

2013 ◽  
pp. 1669-1692
Author(s):  
Moses Wolfenstein
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Leadership ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Original Study ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Learning Cycle ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Game World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Online Leadership

This chapter discusses findings from a study that looked at organizational leadership in the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft® in an attempt to inform the future of leadership in schools and other online and blended learning organizations. After offering a general orientation to the game world and the original study, this chapter delineates the ways in which studying virtual worlds of this sort can and cannot inform theory and practice of instructional leadership. It then examines the organizational leadership and learning cycle that emerged in the original study. Finally, it considers implications from the research for instructional and organizational leadership in a data rich environment.

Who owns the mods?

First Monday ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Ming Kow ◽  
Bonnie Nardi
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Online Game ◽  
End User ◽  
Commercial Products ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Game World ◽  
Video Gamers ◽  
Ethical Systems

Modding, the development of end user software extensions to commercial products, is popular among video gamers. Modders form communities to help each other. Mods can shape software products by weaving in contributions from users themselves based on their own experience of a product. The purpose of this paper is to investigate a conflict between a modding community and a gaming company which reveals contested issues of ownership and governance. We studied an online game, World of Warcraft, a large multiplayer game produced by Blizzard Entertainment. From content analysis of forum posts and interviews with modders, we explore the connected but divergent ethical systems of modders and Blizzard. The question -- Who owns the mods? -- arises through different perspectives of mods ownership rooted within contradictory ethics and practices in the two communities.

Learning Reflection and Creativity in Online Game Communities

2011 ◽  
pp. 808-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tunç D. Medeni ◽  
Mark Elwell ◽  
Steven A. Cook ◽  
Euler G.M. de Souza
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Online Technologies ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
To Come ◽  
Gaming Communities ◽  
Accurate Reflection

It is increasingly being recognized that participation in role-playing gaming communities contributes to the learning of their members. Within the field of educational research, there is a wide spreading interest in online communities and virtual worlds: Online technologies provide new opportunities for “anytime/anywhere” social interaction and the number of innovative curricular designs that incorporate online collaborative environments has been steadily increasing since such technology first emerged. As Lave and Wenger (1991) argue, understanding the learning in naturally occurring contexts, and not just formal ones, is crucial if we are to forward learning and educational theory and practice beyond the contexts we ourselves contrive. “We ought to investigate more naturally occurring, self-sustaining indigenous virtual cultures so that our theory might be a more accurate reflection of them and our practice a better reflection on them in days to come.” (Galarneau, 2004; Steinkuehler, 2005 p. 80-81)

Learning Reflection and Creativity in Online Game Communities

2011 ◽  
pp. 1760-1772
Author(s):  
Tunç D. Medeni ◽  
Mark Elwell ◽  
Steven A. Cook ◽  
Euler G.M. de Souza
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Online Technologies ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
To Come ◽  
Gaming Communities ◽  
Accurate Reflection

It is increasingly being recognized that participation in role-playing gaming communities contributes to the learning of their members. Within the field of educational research, there is a wide spreading interest in online communities and virtual worlds: Online technologies provide new opportunities for “anytime/anywhere” social interaction and the number of innovative curricular designs that incorporate online collaborative environments has been steadily increasing since such technology first emerged. As Lave and Wenger (1991) argue, understanding the learning in naturally occurring contexts, and not just formal ones, is crucial if we are to forward learning and educational theory and practice beyond the contexts we ourselves contrive. “We ought to investigate more naturally occurring, self-sustaining indigenous virtual cultures so that our theory might be a more accurate reflection of them and our practice a better reflection on them in days to come.” (Galarneau, 2004; Steinkuehler, 2005 p. 80-81)

scholarly journals Another Endless November: AOL, WoW, and the Corporatization of a Niche Market

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Op'tLand
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Niche Market ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
America Online ◽  
Market Leader ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Future Growth

The entrance of World of Warcraft (WoW) into the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMO) market has drastically altered conceptions of how popular a virtual world could be. Currently servicing over 12 million monthly subscribers (Woodcock, 2008), it has vastly exceeded expectations, and has brought with it more new users to persistent virtual worlds than any other product before it. However, while there has been much academic work exploring developments within the game itself (Bainbridge, 2007; Duchenault, et al., 2006; Castronova, 2007), the processes by which this explosive growth has occurred have been under-explored. The growth of World of Warcraft relative to the MMO market can only be explained via its extrinsic characteristics of the game and how these characteristics interact with processes of standardization and diversification with relative to the market as a whole. In this paper, I propose that the process that enabled WoW to rise to its current position as market leader amongst MMOs is remarkably similar to that employed by America Online (AOL) in the early 1990’s, and that the growth of both firms are evidence of the standardizing influence that a globalizing process such as McDonaldization has when it enters a niche market. The parallels that may be drawn between these cases may be instructive in understanding the future growth of MMOs and other virtual environments. I will examine the history of the two firms to find evidence of commonalities between them. I will also outline the parallel corporatist models of McDonaldization and Disneyization as proposed by Ritzer (2000) and Bryman (2004). The process by which these firms grew to dominate their spheres will be examined in this context. I will conclude with an examination of what this growth may mean for the future of the MMO industry.

Network Autocorrelation of Task Performance via Informal Communication Within a Virtual World

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb T. Carr ◽  
Paul Zube
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Informal Communication ◽  
Online Groups ◽  
Network Autocorrelation ◽  
Virtual Group ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Individual Achievement

Network autocorrelation occurs when individuals receive assistance from others which regulates their own behavior, and it can be used to explain how group members may improve their task performance. This study explored how network autocorrelation, via informal communication within a virtual group, affected an individual’s task achievement in the online game World of Warcraft. Informal interactions between guild members during a 4-year period were collected and analyzed to assess how informal interactions with other group members affected an individual’s in-game achievement. Findings indicate informal communication from other group members (specifically the experience and helpfulness of the other members) positively predict an individual’s task performance, while tenure with the group negatively predict individual achievement. Findings are discussed with respect to network analysis and influence in online groups.

The Nature of Degrowth: Theorising the Core of Nature for the Degrowth Movement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasi Heikkurinen
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Culturally Sensitive ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Radical Reduction ◽  
Nature Experience ◽  
Matter Energy

This article investigates human–nature relations in the light of the recent call for degrowth, a radical reduction of matter–energy throughput in over-producing and over-consuming cultures. It outlines a culturally sensitive response to a (conceived) paradox where humans embedded in nature experience alienation and estrangement from it. The article finds that if nature has a core, then the experienced distance makes sense. To describe the core of nature, three temporal lenses are employed: the core of nature as ‘the past’, ‘the future’, and ‘the present’. It is proposed that while the degrowth movement should be inclusive of temporal perspectives, the lens of the present should be emphasised to balance out the prevailing romanticism and futurism in the theory and practice of degrowth.

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