I have learned so much about MMORPGs and the people who play them over the past 4 years, and I feel there is still a lot to learn, but it’s time-consuming to carry out this research. I’d like to find a small cohort of other individuals who would like to join me in what I’ve been doing – coming up with issues of interest, creating survey instruments, processing and analyzing data, and presenting the findings in interesting ways. I’d like to emphasize that these are not paid positions, but would be greatly beneficial and practical for any student in the social sciences being trained to do empirical research, or anyone who have the appropriate skills and are interested in being part of this research. The time involvement should be fairly minimal (1-2 hours each week, or flexible). Below are the particular roles I am interested in finding people for. You are welcome to participate under more than one role.
Connector – Discussing Ideas, Themes, Theories, Applications
A private message forum will be created with the goal of encouraging discussion on how social science theories or insights can be applied to MMORPGs, or what non-game applications MMORPGs could be used for. Examples include using MMORPGs for assessing personality unobtrusively, mapping social networks, used as pedagogical tools, or political simulations.
Explorer – Finding Issues of Interest, Emerging Phenomena, News of the Week
The role of the Explorer is to identify emerging issues or themes of interest within MMORPG worlds and communities through their own experiences, casual observation or by browsing through message forums. Examples might include uncovering an interesting facet of the mafia in Sims Online, noticing a trend in eBay sales of virtual items, or understanding why a particular patch has infuriated SWG users. Explorers should be active MMORPG players who are intensely curious by nature and know where interesting things are happening.
Coder – Creating Surveys in HTML
The role of the Coder is to create new surveys based on existing templates and layouts. Basic knowledge of HTML is required. Coders will allow for more frequent and precise targeting of users from specific games.
Analyzer – Processing Data, Performing Descriptive and Inferential Stats, and Data Exploration
When you have 2000-4000 responses from individual surveys who have filled out past surveys, there’s a lot of data analysis that could be done. Knowledge of descriptive and inferential stats and use of a statistics program required. Basic knowledge of data exploration techniques (factor analysis, clustering, etc) a plus. Essentially, Analyzers will receive and analyze data sets at their own pace.
Presenter – Presenting Findings, Opinion Pieces, Interesting Themes
A specific finding is like an isolated island if it isn’t contextualized or presented from the right angle. Presenters will weave interesting perspectives around the underlying findings, or craft clever essays that provoke and tease the mind in just the right way. Presenters should be articulate and thoughtful writers. Of interest are students in social science disciplines who are able to contextualize the findings in the theories and ideas of their own disciplines. Essays can be as short as 500 words, so we’re not talking large treatises here.
Please email me at contact@nickyee.com with any comments, questions or if you are interested in particular roles. You should briefly mention your experiences or skills for the role you are interested in, what academic discipline you are grounded in, and where you are in your educational career.
