In the second portion of Nadri’s book, she couches World of Warcraft as a “magic circle.” This circle encases the players of WoW, drawing them in and holding them captive and occupies a place removed from work. The polar opposites of work and play, opposites we are all familiar with, are blurred, however, in the game. We cannot fully separate WoW from work, nor should we necessarily want to, according to Nardi. Instead, she argues that WoW is interconnected to work in many ways.
But first, Nardi explores the idea of WoW as a game, or rather, as an active aesthetic experience. Unlike watching a movie, where viewers are passively accepting a story, passively appreciating the work of art, active aesthetic experience (a combination term developed by Dewey) in WoW allows the player to appreciate but also engage with the item which they are appreciating. In WoW players can walk around the world they are in, taking in the scenery (which in many areas is quite stunning), admiring the constructions of the game, but they are also playing. They have goals within this elaborate world—quests, raids, and farming.
Not at all dissimilar to James Paul Gee’s principles on video games and learning, Dewey’s theory of active aesthetic experience mandates that players become a part of the experience. They are active and by becoming active they then can delve into a deeper sort of experience, a more critical learning sphere. To fully understand the game, to understand the experience, we must do it.
With that in mind—that WoW is a learning, doing, active experience, we can turn to Nardi’s arguments about work and play within WoW. Games take us away from work, they allow us to escape into a world where we can be release from our routines of work (housework, homework, workwork). She makes an important distinction about play, saying that it is a choice, unlike work, and so the acquisition of any work like actions within the play space are okay; they are freely taken.
But, work and play can cross paths, as Nardi mentions. There are those in Korea who play the game to become professional gamers and there are those in China who do gold farming (an activity Nardi says is not play even though it takes place in the play world). People have taken the idea of the Talent Trees and turned them into workplace strategies, mining (so to speak) the game for tidbits which may strengthen the workplace or make it more enjoyable. Teachers have done the same thing with classes, having students “level up” instead of using the typical A,B,C,D scale.
Another tidbit Nardi touches upon in the work and play theory is farming within WoW. Farming happens for those who seek a profession—be it mining, fishing, herbalism, or others. Players spend countless hours farming these items in order to make better equipment for raids or to make in game gold. These tasks are very similar to work in “real-life” according to Nardi, but players never seem to complain about such tiresome tasks. Instead, they continue this work without complaint. Nardi suggests nebulously that this “work” allows players some heightened reward such as armor that will protect against a certain mob or some extra gold to purchase more items whereas in the “real-world” work often rewards enough to play bills and maybe, if lucky, a promotion. “Leveling up” in the out of game world is difficult. The magic circle of WoW “entails a feeling of being ‘apart together’; it creates its own collective social order—one from which nonplayers are excluded” (116). Players are often “alone together” because they seem, to outsiders, to be staring into a computer screen and clicking buttons frantically. Outsiders cannot understand their commitment to the game and players end up dealing with aggros in their real lives—significant others, parents, friends. But, their world in-game allows them to be connected and working towards some goal with others. They are together, definitely, but they are situated outside of their out of game settings.
But, Nardi attempts to break down the barrier between work and play. She does not try to eradicate it, but rather she attempts to show that they are related and that they cannot be fully separated. The magic circle is there separating players from nonplayers, but it can cross into their out-of-game lives and out-of-game lives can cross into their in-game lives. As Nardi puts it, “We enter a smaller, more perfect universe in which satisfaction is not guaranteed, but we gain a pretty good chance of achieving moments of limited perfection” (120).
Questions:
1. Nardi speaks in the chapter entitled “A New Medium” about the change in raids drastically altered the communities. The idea of the community seems then, very tenuous, especially as we consider some guilds such as Scarlet Raven which had very strong communities. Does the need for mastery outweigh the need for community? In your playing, would you be willing to help others if that means your scores and stats would be a bit lower?
2. Do you, as a player, find leveling rewarding? We are not in guilds, so we might not have the chorus of “Great job!” when we level, so as a personal, almost private experience, do you find it motivating/exciting/rewarding?
3. Nardi talks about the in-game lives and out-of-game lives and when she does so she talks about the players vs. nonplayers. The players often express their aggro spouses, girlfriends, etc. What should the balance between in-game and out-of-game lives be? You make a commitment to your guild members, but you also make a commitment to friends, family, spouses.
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