WORLD OF WARCRAFT: A SETTING FOR L2 USE AND

Transcription

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: A SETTING
FOR L2 USE AND DEVELOPMENT
INGRID FISCHER
s1531972
MA thesis, Department of Applied Linguistics
Faculty of Arts
University of Groningen
Supervisor:
Dr. S. L. Thorne
Second reader:
Dr. S. Jager
29-06-2011
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Martin Kloos for his advice and helpful comments in setting up the
follow-up interviews and his vital assistance in transcribing them. I would also like to thank
Steve Thorne and Xiaofei Lu for their contribution to the computational assessment of the
linguistic complexity analysis. And finally, I would like to thank all of the participants for
their informative contributions and unwavering enthusiasm.
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List of abbreviations
ANC:
American National Corpus
BA:
Bachelor’s degree
CLI:
Coleman-Liau index
D-Level:
Developmental level
GED:
General education diploma, which is an American and Canadian term for
high school diploma
HAVO:
‘Voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs’, the Dutch high school level
that prepares for University of applied sciences (HBO)
HBO:
‘Hoger beroeps onderwijs’, the Dutch term for University of applied
sciences, which correlates to a Bachelor’s degree
IPA:
Interpretative phenomenological analysis
J.D.:
Juris Doctor, which is the American term for a graduate degree in law
L1:
First language (native language, or mother tongue)
L2:
Second language (this includes any foreign language spoken in addition
to the L1)
LS1:
Lexical sophistication
MA:
Master’s degree
MBO:
‘Middelbaar beroepsonderwijs’, the Dutch term for upper secondary
vocational education
MLS:
Mean length of sentence
MMO:
Massively multiplayer online game, sometimes referred to as MMOG, or
MMORPG
MMOG:
Massively multiplayer online game, sometimes referred to as MMO, or
MMORPG
MMORPG:
Massively multiplayer online role playing game, sometimes referred to as
MMO or MMOG
MOO:
Object oriented MUDs
MSTTR:
Mean segmental type-token ratio
MUD:
Multi-user dungeon adventure game
NPC:
Non-player character, which refers to non-human computer-generated ingame characters
PARC:
Palo Alto Research Centre
PhD:
Doctor of Philosophy
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PvP:
Player-versus-player
SLA:
Second language acquisition
TL:
Target language
VMBO:
‘Voorbereidend middelbaar beroepsonderwijs’, the Dutch high school
level that prepares for upper secondary vocational education (MBO)
VOIP:
Voice over Internet protocol
VWO:
‘Voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs’, the Dutch high school level
that prepares for University (WO)
WO:
‘Wetenschappelijk onderwijs’, the Dutch term for University, which
correlates to a Master’s degree
WoW:
World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online game
ZPD:
Zone of proximal development
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Table of contents:
1
Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
2
Background------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2
3
4
5
6
7
2.1
Video-game generation ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
2.2
Learning-potential video games ------------------------------------------------------------- 3
2.3
Educational video games --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
2.4
Massively Multiplayer Online games------------------------------------------------------- 4
2.5
Studies on MMOs ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
2.6
Introduction to an MMO: World of Warcraft --------------------------------------------- 8
2.7
Studies on WoW ------------------------------------------------------------------------------11
Questionnaire -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14
3.1
Method -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14
3.2
Results and discussion -----------------------------------------------------------------------15
Follow-up interview------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 35
4.1
Method -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------35
4.2
Linguistic complexity analysis of in-game text samples ---------------------------------- 43
5.1
Method -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------43
5.2
Linguistic complexity analysis of external sources text samples ------------------------ 51
6.1
Method -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------51
6.2
Conclusions ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 57
Reference List-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 61
Appendix 1------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 65
Questionnaire-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------65
Appendix 2------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 67
Follow-up interview guidelines----------------------------------------------------------------------67
1
World of Warcraft: A setting for L2 use and development
Ingrid Fischer, 1531972
1
Introduction
Mulitplayer online games form complex semiotic environments that include game-generated
texts, player-to-player communication and collaboration, and associated websites that support
in-game play. This thesis describes an exploratory study of the massively multiplayer online
gaming environment (MMO) World of Warcraft (WoW), one of the most popular MMOs
currently available, as a setting for second language (L2) use and development. By charting
what WoW players report they actually do, finding out where and how they are exposed to
language, and by analysing the linguistic complexity of the language they are exposed to, this
study aims to assess the potential of a representative and widely played MMO as an
environment for L2 use and development. This thesis seeks to answer the following questions:
What do WoW players report that they actually do while playing the game? What is the
nature of the linguistic environment? What happens linguistically outside of the game?
To begin, a short overview of previous research on video games and (language)
learning will be given. This is followed by a description of the study and its methodology,
which in turn is followed by a discussion of the findings and a conclusion.
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2.1
Background
Video-game generation
There has been an extraordinary growth of Internet-users around the world. This demographic
phenomenon has occurred in tandem with the emergence of entirely new forms of social
interactions and communication that are Internet mediated (Purushotma, Thorne, & Wheatley,
2008; Thorne & Black, 2007). Internet-mediated communication, which used to be a
supplement to, or practice arena for, everyday life communication is now a form of human
interaction which has become part of people’s everyday lives (Purushotma et al., 2008). As a
result, today’s generation of learners, which Lee & Hoadley (2007) have labelled ‘the videogame generation’, place high demands on relevance and engagement. Many teenagers in their
social lives spend considerable volumes of time in virtual space exchanging instant messages,
communicating with friends through Facebook and Twitter, and interacting with real people
in virtual game worlds (Lee & Hoadley, 2007). Many researchers (e.g. Gee, 2003; Lee et al.,
2007) believe that this shift into virtual space should be taken into account in the classroom.
They argue that the pedagogy and complexity present in many video games might help
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educators better respond to the demand for greater educational relevance by the video-game
generation. As Simpson (2005) puts it: “Video games cross all cultural and ethnic boundaries.
Not recognizing that these shared experiences exist, public education has failed to provide for
the impact of that experience on students' learning” (p. 17). Researchers do not advocate
replacing traditional teaching methods with video games, they do however stress the need to
seriously consider the pedagogy and design principles of video games as a teaching tool to
keep up with these changing contexts of mediated language use (e.g. Gee, 2003; Lee et al.,
2007; Purushotma et al., 2008; Simpson, 2005; Thorne et al., 2007). This relates closely to
Gee’s (2005) notion of affinity spaces: a place where informal learning takes place. In an
affininty space, members of a community have common ground and common interests, which
bridge barriers such as age, race, class, and educational level. This allows both experts and
novices to be equally legitimate participants in the affinity space. As Gee (2005) points out,
affininty spaces can be very beneficial for learning, and they are very common in today’s
high-technology world. Nevertheless, classroom settings typically do not adhere to the
principles of affinity spaces, because common interests are often unclear and barriers such as
educational level are much harder or even impossible to bridge (Gee, 2005). Video games, on
the other hand, offer examples of affinity spaces which encourage collaboration, support peerto-peer teaching, and require coordinated team efforts to achieve commonly shared goals. In
these ways, many MMOs have been argued to demonstrate the possible benefits of video
games as learning environments.
2.2
Learning-potential video games
There has been extensive research on the potential of video gaming for developing general
learning skills (e.g. Gee, 2003; Lee et al., 2007; Sandford & Williamson, 2005). These studies
have demonstrated that video games are highly social, engaging and very suitable for
acquiring problem solving skills, eliciting creativity, and developing interpersonal skills such
as leadership and collaboration. There are several reasons why video games are considered
informative and instructive learning environments. Firstly, as Purushotma et al. point out
(2008), video game environments offer a contemporary arena for communication and
relationship building, which stimulates engagement because the students’ digital-literacy
expertise and/or gaming experience or interest is utilised. Secondly, video games provide a
risk-free environment for exploration and discovery, which has been argued to be a conducive
context for learning (Lee et al., 2007). Thirdly, videogames enable players to think from
alternative or multiple points of view, and to experience events situated in context, which
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promotes engagement and facilitates learning. (Lee et al., 2007). And finally, Lee & Hoadley
(2007) point out, when students have a direct investment in the learning experience, which is
the case in video games, they are more likely to embrace new knowledge as essential to their
own personal growth and development.
2.3
Educational video games
Considering these postulated merits of video games, attempts have been made to develop
educational video games that specifically cater to certain learning objectives. However, as
Gee (2003), Lee & Hoadley (2007) and Nardi, Ly & Harris (2007) point out, these have not
been very successful thus far because they are often repetitive, with superficial tasks in which
the learning objectives are often too obvious, which can make students feel patronised or
deceived. Since it is proving quite difficult and costly to develop educational video games that
are interesting and captivating (Purushotma et al., 2008), a logical step is to take a closer look
at commercial video games, which have been specifically developed to be highly engaging, to
see what they have to offer. Even though they are not explicitly educational in terms of their
content, commercially available video games are designed as learning environments within
which players begin at simpler levels and continue to progressively more challenging
problems and tasks. Gamer-participants are also often required to communicate and interact in
the virtual space, giving them ample opportunity to experience and learn new things with and
from one another (Lee et al., 2007). Contrary to popular belief, video games are not
exclusively a solo experience (Newman, 2008). Also, there is quite an extensive video game
culture of talk, discussion, and collaboration which indicates substantial opportunities for
learning (Newman, 2008). The question that arises, however, is which video game genres and
communication tools might be most suitable and productive as environments for, or
integration into, instructed second language (L2) curricula (Purushotma et al., 2008)?
2.4
Massively Multiplayer Online games
One genre of commercially available game, that of Massively Multiplayer Online (Role
Playing) Game, has been studied quite extensively for its pedagogical properties and how it
functions as a context for learning. The acronyms for massively multiplayer online games are
multiple (MMOs, MMOGs, MMORPGs), but following common convention, in this study
they will be referred to as MMOs. The emergence of MMOs started in the 1970s with early
theme-based adventure games such as multi-user dungeons (MUDs) (Peterson, 2010). MUDs
are fantasy games in which the user is immersed in text-based virtual realities. Players can
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connect simultaneously and engage in real-time communication, role-play, and character
customization in a shared environment (Carton, 1995). Successful completion of game tasks
usually depends on collaboration between players. This was later followed by object oriented
Muds (MOOs) which enable the users to create their own objects and locations. In
comparison to MUDs, MOOs also illustrate a transition from sometimes solitary ‘game
playing’ to online engagement for purposes of social interaction. In MOOs, many participants
focused exclusively on the social and communicative experience these online environments
support (Carton, 1995).
MMOs incorporate many of the features of MUDs and MOOs: “fantasy themes based
on character role-play, real-time communication with other players, interaction with nonplayer characters and progression in the game through the completion of tasks known as
quests” (Peterson, 2010, p. 430) and they require communication and teamwork between
players to complete required quests. Due to advances in computer technology, the use of text
chat as a primary means of communication has sometimes been supplemented by voice
communication tools, which enable players to use both visual and auditory channels in their
communication (Peterson, 2010). Another development influencing MMOs is the dramatic
expansion of the Internet, which enables very large numbers of players to interact within the
game world. As Peterson describes it: modern MMOs “are large-scale permanent virtual
worlds providing access to high-quality 3D graphic interfaces that are characterised by a high
degree of realism and immersion … [which] facilitate game play through the use of
customizable character avatars” (2010, pp. 430-431). The more popular MMOs can have
thousands of players interacting with each other in the same virtual world and at the same
time (Battlenet, 2011).
2.5
Studies on MMOs
For educators, an important question regarding commercial online gaming is how such
environments might support second language development. Second language acquisition
(SLA) theories stress the important role of interaction in language learning (Gass, 2000; Long,
1996). Peterson (2010) points out that according to the psycholinguistic literature on
interaction there are two specific types of interaction that facilitate SLA: negotiation of
meaning and focus on form (Doughty & Williams, 1998; Harley & Swain, 1984; Long, 1991;
Pica, 1994). Negotiation of meaning involves the way in which learners deal with
communicative difficulties during a task. While completing a task, learners make interactional
adjustments when they encounter difficulties, which can impel their conversational partners
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alter the input they are providing. The significance of negotiation of meaning is that it allows
for immediate feedback at the exact moment a problem occurs, which is probably when the
learner is most receptive (Pica, 1994). Negotiation of meaning is thought to have a positive
influence on new information being learned and internalised. Since the interaction is oriented
toward successful communication, information is provided on precisely those areas the
learner has difficulty with.
For its part, focus on form involves an emphasis on specific target language (TL)
forms and corrective feedback during the interaction which focuses attention on problems in
the linguistic output (Ellis, 2005; Peterson, 2010). Importantly, however, the primary focus is
on meaning rather than form, and focus on form should occur incidentally from attending to
communicative needs (Long, 1991). The cognitive restructuring involved in language
development is enhanced through real-time interaction in the target language. Other literature
on interaction emphasises the importance of the social rather than purely linguistic factors for
facilitating language learning in interaction. This approach to SLA claims that second
language learning is facilitated by the co-construction of meaning in the form of collaborative
dialog and by creating zones of proximal development (ZPD) (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006 in
Peterson, 2010). The notion of Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development approaches
learning as a social practice (Nardi, Ly, & Harris, 2007). The zone of proximal development
is defined as the difference between what a learner can do with and without the help of
teachers or peers (Nardi et al., 2007). Learning takes place in the zone of proximal
development when learners take on difficult challenges that require the use of resources
provided by teachers, more experienced peers, or other assistance (Nardi et al., 2007). As a
learner develops, she becomes more self-regulated and correspondingly less reliant on
external resources such as other people or supportive artifacts.
From these SLA perspectives, MMOs appear to present suitable environments for
language learning: there is exposure to the TL in an authentic and event-driven
communication context, the communication tools provide plentiful opportunities for real-time
interaction involving TL use and reuse, and the international nature of MMOs provides access
to people from different nationalities, including native speakers, which provides opportunities
to develop communicative competence (Peterson, 2010). Also, the presence of native
speakers creates the possibility to negotiate meaning. Furthermore, there is real time feedback
in the form of text and voice chat, and the written language in the environment facilitates
monitoring and focus on form (Peterson, 2010).
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Studies on MMOs have shown that they are designed to facilitate social
communication and teamwork, and users often form communities with whom they frequently
interact and play together (Nardi & Harris, 2006 in Peterson, 2010). Additionally, MMOs
generally have a friendly and non-threatening atmosphere which indicates enjoyment and
reduced inhibition that may be conducive for risk-taking (Bryant, 2006 in Peterson, 2010).
Furthermore, there tends to be a great deal of game-related interaction which supports the
development of interpersonal relationships, which according to Rankin, Gold, & Gooch
(2006) involve a high degree of collaboration and social cohesion and the creation of ZPDs,
which in turn have the potential to facilitate language learning. Furthermore, the game-related
interaction revolves around a common goal, and the players have common grounds and
common interests. This indicates that MMOs also adhere to Gee’s (2005) notion of affinity
spaces.
Research that articulates some of these points include Lee & Hoadley (2007), who
conducted a case study that examined the possible identity positions high school students
developed in MMOs. The study demonstrated a high degree of engagement and motivation to
learn. The possible reasons for this, Lee & Hoadley point out, is that MMOs provide realistic
scenarios in a safe space where players are free to test and explore without severe
consequences. Additionally, because of the use of an online character in a virtual world,
players can communicate, behave, and be similar to or different from who they present
themselves to be in the real world. A player can control a great deal of the aesthetic
characteristics and behaviour of their online character, and other players in the game are never
really sure who the player is offline. In short, Lee & Hoadley (2007) claim that the ability to
create different identities, and the enactment and role play in MMOs, is what motivates and
engages students, which in turn promotes learning.
As Peterson (2010) points out in a review article on the topic of gaming and language
learning, MMOs provide opportunities for different forms of communication, situated
learning in event-driven and problem-based scenarios, social interaction with other players,
and more generally generate high levels of interest and motivation. These attributes appear to
provide a beneficial context for language learning and one which in some ways challenges
traditional language teaching practices and classroom activities.
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2.6
Introduction to an MMO: World of Warcraft
Figure 1: Print screen of the WoW log on screen
One of the most popular MMOs today is World of Warcraft (WoW). According to recent
figures provided by Blizzard Enterainment (2010), in 2010 WoW has over 12 million players
worldwide. According to the WoW beginner’s guide on Battlenet, “World of Warcraft is an
online game where players from around the world assume the roles of heroic fantasy
characters and explore a virtual world full of mystery, magic, and endless adventure” (2011).
Warcraft is a franchise of video games and novels created by Blizzard Entertainment
(Blizzard Entertainment, 2011). The Warcraft Universe, in which WoW is embedded, now
includes a number of games and was first introduced in 1994. WoW itself was released on
November 23, 2004 (Blizzard Entertainment, 2011). Since its release there have been three
expansions to the game: in 2007 the Burning Crusade was released, in 2008 the Wrath of the
Lich King was released, and in 2010 Cataclysm was released (Blizzard Entertainment, 2011).
Each expansion added new levels to the game, and also new races and player classes, so that
players now have 12 different races to choose among.
Before a new player can begin playing the game, they first have to create their online
character, which immediately leads to having to make two important decisions. As pointed
out in the WoW beginner’s guide (2011) these decisions have a major effect on how you will
play the game. First players will have to choose the race that they want to play. Race
determines the overall look of your character and the faction you will belong to (Alliance or
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Horde, see figure 2, upper left corner). Choosing a faction is important, because only
characters from the same faction can communicate and cooperate with each other. Therefore,
choosing a race is mostly a social decision. There are 6 races you can choose from in the
Alliance faction and 6 races in the Horde faction (see figure 2, upper left corner). Secondly,
players will have to choose a class. Class determines what one’s character can and cannot do.
There are 10 classes to choose from, and each class offers a different gaming experience, so
class is mostly a game play choice. When you click on a class, the general characteristics of
that class are explained (see figure 2, bottom-right). However, to find out which class suits a
particular player best, the WoW beginner’s guide (2011) recommends that players create a
few different characters and try out the different classes. Currently up to 50 characters can be
created within one account (see figure 3). Once race and class have been chosen, the
appearance of the character can be customised to suit the player’s wishes (see figure 2,
bottom-left).
Figure 2: Start screen when you log on to WoW for the very first time
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Figure 3: Example of one WoW player’s overview of different characters
In World of Warcraft as well as most other MMOs, each player’s character has a
specific set of skills and abilities depending on the class they have chosen. Mages, for
example, are powerful spell casters who can attack enemies from afar, inflicting damage using
magic, but they can wear only light armor and so are very vulnerable to attacks (Beginner's
Guide, 2011). These traits define the role of the mage: attack from afar, do a lot of damage
quickly, and hopefully kill the foes before they are able to reach you.
Much of the content in the game is developed for players working together in groups
to explore dangerous dungeons and defeat powerful monsters (Blizzard Entertainment, 2010).
In a group, there are three main roles to fulfil: tank, damage dealer, and healer. Tanks are very
resilient, and they are supposed to draw the attention of the enemy away from the more
vulnerable members of the group. Damage dealers bring down the target and healers keep
party members alive with healing magic (Beginner's Guide, 2011). Not all classes can fulfil
every role: classes such as warlocks and rogues for instance are strictly damage dealers, while
other classes, such as the druid, can fulfill all three roles (Beginner's Guide, 2011).
WoW is a role-playing game, which means that you play the role of a character living
in the game’s fantasy world (Beginner's Guide, 2011). You can choose how much or how
little you role-play; some players construct complete background histories for their character
and are always ‘in character’ when they play, and other players do not role-play at all. The
kind of role-play where you immerse yourself completely in the fantasy is optional, and there
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are separate role-playing realms for those who prefer to play in an immersive world
(Beginner's Guide, 2011). You play the role of a fantasy hero who braves thousands of quests,
progressing and getting stronger as you gain experience, new skills, and more powerful items
and equipment (Beginner's Guide, 2011).
In essence, World of Warcraft revolves around fighting monsters and completing
quests. Most quests can be completed alone, however the many dungeons and raids in the
game have to be completed in groups working together as a team (Beginner's Guide, 2011).
Dungeons are places where groups of up to 5 players take on monsters that are much stronger
and much smarter, and thus are a lot more difficult to kill than in the regular quests. On
average, they take about 30 to 90 minutes to complete, and the rewards found are of a higher
quality, though usually not as valuable or powerful as the loot from raids (Beginner's Guide,
2011). Raids are similar to dungeons but even more challenging, present a much larger area to
explore, take longer to complete, and require bigger groups of usually of 10 to 25 players. It is
in raids where the game’s most powerful items can be found.
A key tension in lore and narrative construction of the WoW gaming world is the
constant struggle between the Alliance and the Horde factions. Currently there are no all-out
wars, but players from both sides regularly fight each other, which is called player-versusplayer combat (PvP) (Beginner's Guide, 2011). There are various platforms for PvP: Open
world PvP, Battlegrounds and Arenas. Open-world PvP can happen anywhere where players
of opposing factions meet, and are usually small one-on-one confrontations, which can
escalate to massive proportions if groups of players decide to organise (Beginner's Guide,
2011). Battlegrounds are PvP battlefields where the two factions are in constant battle over
strategic targets. Two teams battle against each other and have to achieve certain objectives to
win. Powerful weapons and armour can be earned by participating in these battles (Beginner's
Guide, 2011). Arenas are slightly different PvP settings, because they are more formal and
organised, and teams of 2, 3, or 5 players fight until every last member of the opposing team
is defeated (Beginner's Guide, 2011). Participating in arena can provide unique equipment
that offers benefits for PvP game play (Beginner's Guide, 2011).
2.7
Studies on WoW
There has been quite considerable research on the potential learning benefits of WoW (e.g.
Gee, 2003; Nardi et al., 2007; Peterson, 2010; Steinkuehler & Duncan, 2008). These studies,
in line with the previously discussed studies on MMOs in general, demonstrate that WoW is a
developmentally rich environment for learning. Peterson (2010), for example, points out that
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WoW offers a very motivating context that elicits engagement in interaction. In his analysis,
Peterson found that the interaction that takes place in WoW facilitates situated learning, and it
involves collaborative dialogue, negotiation, and self-repair. Furthermore, Peterson found that
communication about game play reduces inhibition, which in turn has positive effects for
enjoyment and motivation.
Nardi, Ly & Harris (2007) point out that players learn very detailed content in Wow
about fact finding, tactics and strategy, and game ethos. Nardi et al. have demonstrated that
play in WoW is complex and therefore requires the development of strategy. Their study
suggests that the key means of learning in WoW is through chat conversations, which means
learning is erratic, spontaneous, contextual, and driven by small events (discovering simple
facts). Conversations in WoW involve a lot of reflecting and reasoning, because players need
to understand how to play their character at a deeper level. Nardi et al. (2007) also observed
that learners accomplish more with the help of experienced peers than on their own.
Additionally, they found that learners who are at the same level discover new knowledge
jointly through conversation. The stakes are also very high, especially in combat situations
because there is the possibility of death of a character, or even every character in the team
dying, which is known as a ‘wipe’ (Nardi et al., 2007).This is a situation in which players
might tell other players how to play, and not always in the most polite terms. However,
learning through conversations is not the only means to learn, players also use WoW related
websites on the such as forums, FAQs, guides, and commentaries to learn about the game
(Nardi et al., 2007). Additionally, players learn from observing other players’ successes and
failures. A final observation provided by Nardi et al. is about a social aspect of the game:
questions are almost always answered promptly and courteously, particularly in guild chat,
but even in the general chat where players often do not know each other, answers are supplied
promptly and courteously.
Steinkuehler & Duncan (2008) have demonstrated that the WoW environment fosters
scientific habits of mind. Analyses of forum posts demonstrated that the majority of entries
displayed ‘social knowledge construction’, there was ample evidence of systems based
reasoning, and more than half the posts treated knowledge “as an open-ended process of
evaluation and argument” (Steinkuehler et al., 2008, p. 539). In contradiction to the negative
views of virtual worlds by non-gaming generations, Steinkuehler & Duncan (2008)
demonstrated that WoW is an environment with an active community, and it might be a
worthy tool for intellectual and academic play.
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These studies on MMOs in general and WoW in particular demonstrate that there is a
need to consider the role of commercial MMOs in education. However, as Thorne (2010)
points out, little research has focused on the issue of L2 learning and only a few studies have
been carried out. Thorne (2008), for example, conducted a brief but detailed case study of an
in-game intercultural conversation between two gamers, in which he noticed that there is
frequent, complex, and highly meaningful communicative activity among participants in the
game, suggesting a beneficial context for L2 learning. Another study by Sykes, Oskoz &
Thorne (2008) underscores that WoW offers numerous potential benefits for the development
of complex communicative skills, such as pragmatics, in a second language. This is supported
by Sykes, Reinhardt & Thorne (2010) who state that because of all the in-game human
interaction and collaboration there is a lot of potential for language learning in the game.
Additionally, in a recent study by Thorne (2010), WoW players reported that they learned or
improved a foreign language by playing World of Warcraft. These self-assessments also
indicate that WoW might be a beneficial environment for second language learning. Despite
the fact that these studies describe MMOs as potentially conducive environments for second
language learning, they all emphasise the need for continued research in this area.
To sum up, there is ample empirical evidence that MMOs, and WoW in particular,
have great potential as learning environments. As an affinity space with many possibilities for
various forms of interaction, WoW has proven to be an environment that is beneficial for fact
finding, learning tactics and strategy, game ethos, and for fostering scientific habits of mind.
There have also been a few exploratory studies into the language learning potential of WoW,
indicating that there might also be some potential for language learning. However, there are
still many unanswered and un-addressed questions regarding the language learning potential
of MMOs, because research to date has not yet answered the question of what exactly WoW
has to offer linguistically, and how gamers make use of this linguistic environment. It seems
clear that what is needed is a study that descriptively assesses the linguistic properties of
WoW and everyday communicative practices of players. To more concisely explore these
issues, I have formulated the following research questions:
RQ 1: What do WoW players report that they actually do while playing the game?
RQ 2: What is the nature of the linguistic environment?
RQ 3: What sorts of resources are used outside of the game in order to proceed in the
game?
To answer these research questions we developed a questionnaire, conducted follow-up
interviews and did a linguistic complexity analysis of text samples of in-game quest texts and
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some text samples of the most frequently used external websites, which will all be discussed
in the following sections.
3
3.1
Questionnaire
Method
In consultation with my thesis advisor we developed a questionnaire to find out what WoW
players report that they actually do while playing the game. The aim of the questionnaire was
to find out how players come into contact with language and communication, and in what
ways. Additionally, I wanted to find out if players use external websites and if so, when and
how they use them. The questionnaire consisted of 40 questions, which started with inquiries
about demographics and background (e.g. age, gender, education, nationality), frequency of
play, use of external resources, nature of the WoW environment (e.g. official language realm,
member of a guild) and communication. See Appendix 1 for the complete questionnaire.
Since I wanted to reach as many participants as I could, Dutch and English versions of the
questionnaire were made available. I made the questionnaire in googledocs 1 and it was
accessible online. To gather participants I posted a link to the questionnaire on my Facebook
page2 and on Linkedin3. Additionally, I e-mailed the link to the questionnaire to people I
knew who played the game with the request to forward it to other players, and my thesis
advisor also e-mailed it to people he knew who played the game with the same request. This
resulted in 32 Dutch participants and 32 American participants. See table 1 for a general
overview of the participants.
1
https://docs.google.com/
http://www.facebook.com/
3
http://www.linkedin.com/
2
14
Dutch Participants
American Participants
32 on European server
32 on North American server
16 female, 16 male
11 female, 21 male
Ages: 17-53, Mean = 26.4
Ages: 20-59, Mean = 34
Education high:
Education high:
25% VWO, 31% HBO, 31% WO
47% Bachelor, 16% Master, 31% PhD
L1 Dutch, L2 English
L1 English, L2 very diverse
Advanced players: 81% more than 3 years, 56% Advanced players: 90% more than 3 years 60%
more than 5 years
more than 5 years
Frequent players:
Frequent players:
59% 1-3 times a week , 34% 4 times a week or
38% 1-3 times a week, 53% 4 times a week or
more for an average of 3 hours at a time
more for an average of 3 hours at a time
Table 1: Overview of the participants divided by nationality
3.2
Results and discussion
Both the Dutch and the American group have an equal number of 32 participants. Seven more
people responded to the questionnaire, however, over time the two equally large groups of
Dutch and American participants formed, which made me decide to exclude these other
participants. These participants were from France, Canada, Brasil and the United Kingdom.
The division of men and women is not the same in both groups. Among the Dutch
participants there are 16 men and 16 women, whereas in the American group there are 21 men
and 11 women, see figure 4.
Dutch participants
American participants
female
female
male
male
Figure 4: These pie charts represent the Dutch and American participants divided by gender
An Independent-Samples T test showed there was a significant age difference between
the Dutch and the American participants. On average, the Dutch participants are younger
15
(M=26.6, SD=8.9) than the American participants (M=33.1, SD=9.2). This difference was
significant (t(62)=-2.9; p<0.05).
In both groups, the educational background is quite high, see figure 5. Of the Dutch
participants 25% have finished VWO, which is the highest level in Dutch high school, 31%
have HBO, which correlates to a university Bachelor’s degree, and 31% have WO, which
equates to a Master’s degree. The American participants had an even higher educational
background. Of the American participants, 46% has Bachelor’s degree, 15% a Master’s
degree, and 31% possessed a PhD. The difference in educational level is most likely due to
the age differences between the groups.
Dutch participants
American Participants
VMBO
HAVO
VWO
MBO
HBO
WO
GED
J.D.
BA
MA
PhD
Figure 5: These pie charts represent the Dutch and American participants divided by education
The demographics clearly show some differences between the Dutch participants and
the American participants, concerning age gender and educational background. The Dutch
participants are quite young, there is an equal split between men and women, and they are
quite highly educated. The American participants are older than the Dutch participants,
predominantly male and very highly educated. The question is, are these differences
representative for the entire Dutch and American WoW population? It is very probable that,
because the Dutch participants were found through my social network and the American
participants through my thesis advisor’s social network that the differences between the
groups are representative of the differences between our respective social networks and not
the difference between WoW communities. Unfortunately, there are no figures available on
the current demographics of WoW. Nick Yee, a researcher at the Palo Alto Research center
(PARC), has been collecting data on gamers for many years with online surveys. This started
as the Daedalus Project, turned into PlayOn 1.0, and is now PlayOn 2.0. As Yee points out,
they collected and analysed a lot of interesting data at the character and guild level, but they
were not able to connect these in-game figures with real-world demographics (Poisso, 2010).
They are trying to change that now with PlayOn 2.0, and they also want to include cross-
16
cultural data. Hopefully, the data will also include specific demographics for European and
North American servers, because it would be very interesting to see if the demographics of
the participants in this study match the real-world demographics.
All of the Dutch participants speak Dutch as L1 and English as L2, of which 93%
indicated they speak English at an advanced level. Additionally, German (75%) and French
(53%) were also spoken by many of the participants. All but one of the American participants
speak English as an L1. One participant indicated his L1 was Mandarin although this was not
the participant’s strongest language, which is English. As for the L2, contrary to the Dutch
participants, the American participants do not have one L2 that is spoken by everyone. The
languages that come closest are Spanish, which 40% speak, and French, which 28 % speak.
However, both in the case of Spanish and French, the majority are at a beginner’s level. See
figure 6 and figure 7 for a representation of both group’s L2s, and table 2 for an explanation
of the abbreviations used. What is interesting is that most of the Dutch participants speak the
same L2s, whereas the American participants have no shared L2.
Dutch participants
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Eng
DE
FR
PT
SE
Cat
IT
NO
ES
Figure 6: This bar chart represents the Dutch participants' L2s4 and the number of people that speak the
L2
4
see table 2 for an explanation of the abbreviations
17
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
ES FR JP Man DE Urd RU NO Lat
IT
Hin Heb NL Ara
Figure 7: This bar chart represents the American participants' L2s5 and the number of people that speak
the L2
Abbreviations
Ara Arabic
Heb Hebrew
NL Dutch
Cat Catalan
Hin Hindi
NO Norwegian
DE German
IT
Italian
PT Portuguese
Eng English
JP
Japanese
RU Russian
ES Spanish
Lat Latin
SE
FR French
Man Mandarin
Urd Urdu
Swedish
Table 2: Overview of the abbreviations used in figures 6 and 7
The Dutch and American groups were equally experienced in playing MMOs, an
Independent-Samples T test showed there was no significant difference between the groups
(t(62)=-1.3; p>0.05). On a scale of 1-5, the Dutch had an average score of 4.3 (SD= .99) and
the American participants an average score of 4.6 (SD= .71). Additionally, in both groups
most participants have been playing for over 3 years, see figure 8, between 1 and 4 times a
month, see figure 9, for an average of 3 hours at a time, see figure 10. In sum, there is no
significant difference in experience between the groups, so both groups are experienced WoW
players.
5
see table 2 for an explanation of the abbreviations
18
How long have you been playing WoW
50%
40%
30%
Dutch
20%
Americans
10%
0%
1-5
months
1-2
years
5-6
years
Figure 8: This bar chart represents how long the participants have been playing WoW, divided by Dutch
and American participants
How often do you play
60%
50%
40%
30%
Dutch
20%
Americans
10%
0%
less than 1-3 times a1-3 times a 4 times a
once a
month
week
week or
month
more
Figure 9: This bar chart represents how often the participants have been playing WoW, divided by Dutch
and American participants
19
How many hours at a time do you play
60%
50%
40%
30%
Dutch
20%
Americans
10%
0%
less than 1-2 ours
3-4
1 hour
hours
5-6
hours
more
than 6
hours
Figure 10: This bar chart represents how many hours at a time the participants play WoW, divided by
Dutch and American participants
Both groups generally agreed on what they liked most about the game. In both the
Dutch and the American groups most participants indicated that they liked the social aspect of
the game most, the fact that you can play together with other people. In the Dutch group, 78%
gave that answer and in the American group, 75%. To illustrate, one of the Dutch participants
said what they liked best is:
“discovering and conquering the tremendous worlds and dungeons (together with
people you already know)” [translated from Dutch].
And one of the American participants said:
“I like the interaction with friends. My spouse and I are in a guild where everyone
knows someone else in real life, stemming from a small group of college friends - we
use the game as an excuse to still hang out from a wide variety of post-graduation
locations.”
There were a variety of responses to this question, but only the social aspect was pointed out
by the majority of the participants. See table 3 for a complete overview of all the various
answers that were given by the participants together with the number and the percentage of
participants that gave the same answer.
20
Dutch participants
What do you like most about WoW Number
Percentage
Number
Percentage
Social aspect, playing together
25
78%
24
75%
Diversity/variation in the game
7
21.8%
7
21.8%
Levelling up
3
9.4%
3
9.4%
Improving your character
3
9.4%
-
-
Exploration
-
-
5
15.6%
Acquiring new gear
2
6.3%
-
-
The challenge of the game
2
6.3%
1
3.1%
Arenas
2
6.3%
-
-
Raiding
2
6.3%
10
31.3%
Questing
1
3.1%
5
15.6%
Having a goal
1
3.1%
2
6.3%
The story behind the game
1
3.1%
2
6.3%
The beauty of the world
1
3.1%
1
3.1%
Making money at the auction house
1
3.1%
1
3.1%
Dungeons
1
3.1%
1
3.1%
Battlegrounds
1
3.1%
1
3.1%
Being someone else
1
3.1%
-
-
The accessibility, it is easy
1
3.1%
-
-
The freedom
1
3.1%
-
-
Sense of accomplishment
-
-
1
3.1%
It gives you something to do
-
-
1
3.1%
Table 3: overview of what the particpants like best about playing. Note: several participants gave more
than 1 answer to this question, that is why the combined percentages reported here exceed 100%
21
The Dutch participants play on a European server and the American group on a North
American server. On the European server WoW is available in the languages English,
German, French, Spanish, and Russian, whereas on the North American server the languages
are English or Spanish. Nevertheless, in both groups all participants reported that the official
language of their realm is English.
The Dutch participants reported encountering many languages other than English, and
that this happened with great frequency. Here is a list of the main languages that were
mentioned by the Dutch participants: Dutch, Swedish, Italian, German, Norwegian, Finnish,
Danish, French, Russian, Polish, Greek, Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese, Bulgarian, and
Croatian. Only languages that were mentioned more than once have been noted in this list. An
addition of 8 languages were mentioned by only one participant, see table 4 for an overview.
The Americans encountered fewer non-English languages and with much less frequency than
their Dutch counterparts playing on European Union servers. Here is a list of the main
languages that were mentioned by the American participants: Spanish, French, German,
Internet/l33t speak, Portuguese. Multiple American participants answered ´none´ to this
question, and as with the Dutch informants, a number of languages (5) were only mentioned
once. See table 4 for a complete overview of all the various languages the participants
encounter together with the number and the percentage of participants that gave the same
answer. This survey result definitely shows that the Dutch participants encounter many more
languages than the American participants and do so a great deal more frequently. For the
Dutch participants it is normal to see other languages used, and for the American participants
it is an exception.
We also asked the participants which languages they used while playing the game. The
Dutch participants all used English and 78% also reported using Dutch, but no other
languages were used by more than one participant. See table 5 for an overview of the
languages used. This was surprising, because considering the many different languages the
Dutch reported encountering, you would expect there would be some communication in a few
of these other languages. The majority of the American participants used English only (by
more than one participant). Three participants also reported speaking Spanish, but that
represents only 9% of the participants.
22
Dutch participants
Language
Number
Percentage
Language
Number
Percentage
Dutch
24
75%
Spanish
11
34.4%
Swedish
16
50%
French
11
34.4%
Italian
11
34.4%
None
9
28.1%
German
9
28.1%
German
4
12.5%
Norwegian
8
25%
Internet/l33t
3
9.4%
Finnish
8
25%
Portuguese
2
6.3%
Danish
6
18.8%
Pig Latin
1
3.1%
Scandinavian
5
15.6%
Korean
1
3.1%
French
4
12.5%
Japanese
1
3.1%
Russian
4
12.5%
Russian
1
3.1%
Polish
4
12.5%
Mandarin
1
3.1%
Greek
3
9.4%
Spanish
2
6.3%
Turkish
2
6.3%
Portuguese
2
6.3%
Bulgarian
2
6.3%
Croatian
2
6.3%
Serbo-Croation
1
3.1%
Serbian
1
3.1%
Asian
1
3.1%
Czech
1
3.1%
Hungarian
1
3.1%
Macedonian
1
3.1%
Ukrainian
1
3.1%
Romanian
1
3.1%
Table 4: overview of foreign languages encountered while playing by the Dutch and American
participants. Note: several participants gave more than 1 answer to this question, that is why the
combined percentages reported here exceed 100%
23
Dutch participants
Language
Number
Percentage
Language
Number
Percentage
English
32
100%
English
32
100%
Dutch
25
78%
Spanish
3
9.4%
Swedish
2
6.3%
French
1
3.1%
German
1
3.1%
Internet/l33t
1
3.1%
Norwegian
1
3.1%
French
1
3.1%
Portuguese
1
3.1%
Table 5: overview of foreign languages used while playing by the Dutch and American participants. Note:
several participants gave more than 1 answer to this question, that is why the combined percentages
reported here exceed 100%
78% of the Dutch participants reported being a member of a guild, and 96% of the
American participants reported being in a guild, see figure 11. Even though both of these
numbers are very high, the American participants appear to be considerably more guild
oriented than the Dutch. Fewer of the Dutch participants are in a guild in comparison to the
American participants. This might indicate that some of the Dutch participants prefer to play
the game alone or in more loosely structured groups. Of the Dutch participants who are in a
guild, 72 % are in an English speaking guild, 28 % is in a guild where Dutch is the main
language, and 28% are in a guild where a mixture of Dutch and English is spoken. See table 6
for an overview of the languages spoken in the guilds. Of the American participants, all of
them are in an English speaking guild. Additionally, 22.6% of the American participants
report the use of French in their guild. This is mainly as a result of Canadian guild members.
See table 6 for an overview. (Note: several participants were members of more than 1 guild,
that is why the combined percentages reported here exceed 100%).
24
Dutch participants in a guild
American participants in a guild
Yes
Yes
No
No
Figure 11: These pie charts represent the number of participants that are in a guild, divided by Dutch and
Dutch participants
Language
Number
Percentage
Language
Number
Percentage
English
18
72%
English
31
100%
Dutch
7
28%
French
7
22.6%
English and
7
28%
Spanish
2
6.5%
4
16%
German
1
3.2%
2
8%
Russian
1
3.2%
1
4%
1
4%
1
4%
Dutch
English and
Swedish
English and
Finnish
English and
Danish
English and
Norwegian
English and
Czech
Table 6: overview of languages used in guilds by the Dutch and American participants. Note: several
participants were members of more than 1 guild, that is why the combined percentages reported here
exceed 100%
When we asked how important it is to be able to communicate in the official language
of the realm you are playing on, the consensus in both groups was that it is very important.
The Dutch participants gave it a mean score of 4.3 (SD= .93) on a 5-point scale, and the
25
American participants gave it a mean score of 4.4 (SD= .79), see figure 12. An IndependentSamples T test showed there was no significant difference (t(62)=-.29; p>0.05).
Importance communicating in official language
realm
5
4
3
2
1
Dutch
Americans
Figure 12: This bar chart represents the scores indicating the importance of communicating in the official
language of the realm on a scale of 1-5, divided by Dutch and American participants
Surprisingly, when we asked how important it was to be able to communicate in any
of the other languages encountered on the realm, the Dutch participants scored lower
(M=1.72, SD=1.05) than the American participants (M=2.8, SD=1.42), see figure 13. An
Independent-Samples T test showed this was a significant difference (t(62)=-3.6; p<0.05).
Especially given that the Americans hardly encounter other languages while playing, this was
a surprising answer. The follow-up interviews revealed that this relatively high score was
most likely based on ideas about how it would be if you played on a European server more
than actual experience. They expect that on a European server you get exposed to many
different languages, which they believe would make it important to be able to speak some of
those foreign languages.
When we asked the participants how important it is to completely understand the quest
texts in order to complete the quests, answers showed considerable dispersion. Some do not
consider it important at all, and others rate the importance very high. This was the case for
both the Dutch and the American groups. This resulted in a mean score of 2.9 (SD= 1.01) out
of five for the Dutch participants and a mean score of 3.1 (SD= 1.25) for the American
participants, see figure 14. An Independent-Samples T test showed this was not a significant
difference (t(62)=-.77; p>0.05).
26
Importance communicating in other languages
encountered on realm
5
4
3
2
1
Dutch
Americans
Figure 13: This bar chart represents the scores indicating the importance of communicating in the other
languages encountered on the realm on a scale of 1-5, divided by Dutch and American participants
Importance completely understanding the quest
texts
5
4
3
2
1
Dutch
Americans
Figure 14: This bar chart represents the scores indicating the importance of completely understanding the
quest texts in order to complete the quest on a scale of 1-5, divided by Dutch and American participants
These mixed responses are probably due to the fact that over the years the game has changed
quite considerably, which has had a major effect on the role and the importance of quest texts.
One of the major changes has been the integration of several tracking options into the user
interface, which has made it much easier to determine what the purpose and the location of
the quest is even without reading the text. For example, there is a ‘Show Map’ feature that
pulls up the map for the area where the quest objectives are located. Furthermore, all active
quests in the same zone are listed by name and represented by number, and these numbers are
27
placed on the map highlighting the areas of interest for those quests. Additionally, if the area
of interest of a selected quest is very large, that entire area of interest is shaded blue on the
map. And finally, if the quest objectives are distributed over multiple areas in different
locations, the map automatically displays the nearest area of interest. (MMO-Champion,
2009).
Considering that WoW is a quite a social game where cooperation and interaction is
expected, we asked the participants whether they usually played in the company of others or
alone. 81% of the Dutch participants answered they preferred playing together and only 6%
preferred playing alone, while 13% preferred a mixture of solo and group play. However, only
69% of the American participants indicated they preferred playing together, 25% preferred
playing alone, and 6% preferred a mixture. See figure 15 for an overview. So the majority of
players on both continents prefer playing with others, but there is some indication, that
playing alone is also a way of playing the game which is sometimes even preferred by some
players.
Dutch participants
Together
Together
Alone
Alone
Both
Both
Figure 15: These pie charts represent the usual way the participants play the game, divided by Dutch and
We also asked who they talked to most while playing, and 87.5% of the Dutch
participants reported that they mainly talked to their friends and guild members, and only 31%
reported talking regularly to strangers. See figure 16. Similarly, 78% of the American
participants reported that they mainly talked to their friends and guild members, and only 28%
reported also talking to strangers, see figure 17. For the Dutch participants, most
communication with friends is in Dutch, whereas most communication with guild members
and strangers is in English. For the American participants, however, all communication is in
English. This indicated for the Dutch participants that interaction in the game is not
necessarily always in the L2. And it could also mean that there are fewer opportunities for
28
Dutch players to speak in an L2 than we might expect. This is mainly due to the fact that most
participants prefer communicating with people they know rather than with strangers. So it
seems that a lot of the communication also takes place in the L1 for the Dutch respondents to
the questionnaire. Similar to the Dutch, the American participants also preferred talking to
people they know, and all of their communication is in the L1. But this is not surprising given
that, contrary to the Dutch participants, the entire gaming environment is in their L1.
Who do you talk to most
30
25
20
Dutch
15
Americans
10
5
0
Friends
Guild
Strangers
Figure 16: This bar chart represents the number of participants and who they talk to most when playing
the game, divided by Dutch and American participants
Which languages do the Dutch participants use
100%
80%
60%
Dutch
English
40%
20%
0%
Friends
Guild
Strangers
Figure 17: This bar chart represents the percentages for the languages used when talking to different
people in the game for the Dutch participants
29
As for communication tools and methods by which players communicate with one
another, the results demonstrate that a similar set of communication instruments are used
frequently and by almost everyone. Of the Dutch participants, 72% use some type of voice
over Internet Protocol (VOIP) tool, Ventrillo or Teamspeak were mentioned most frequently,
and 65% of the Dutch participants use the in-game text chat function. Of the Americans 84%
reported using VOIP, again mostly Ventrillo or Teamspeak, and 93% using the in-game chat
function. Interestingly, 15.6% of the Dutch sample reported using no communication tools at
all, but face-to-face communication with co-present players instead. See figure 18 for an
overview. These five reports of face-to-face communication came from people who are in a
relationship and who play WoW together. So when they play together they can talk to each
other in the same room without the aid of any communication tools. Among the American
sample, there was only one report of co-present play. Even though these percentages are quite
low, it would be interesting to explore the question of whether co-present play leads to
significantly different play styles and ways of communicating, but unfortunately that is
beyond the scope of this study.
Communication tools
30
25
20
Dutch
15
Americans
10
5
0
VOIP
CHAT
None
Figure 18: This bar chart represents the number of participants using communication tools, divided by
Dutch and American participants
30
When we asked the participants if they often seek out other players for help or advice, the
majority said no in both groups. Considering the large social aspect of the game, this was a
surprising result. Of the Dutch participants 78% said no, and of the American participants
69% said no, see figure 19.
Do you seek out other players for help or advice
100%
80%
60%
Dutch
Americans
40%
20%
0%
Yes
No
Figure 19: This bar chart represents the percentage of participants who seek out other players for help or
advice, divided by Dutch and American participants
Another surprising result was the answer the Dutch participants gave to the question of
whether or not the participants had learnt or improved a foreign language from playing WoW.
Only 28% reported learning or improving a language. This is quite contrary to the player
reports as described in Thorne (2010). Not so surprising is that 93% of the American
participants did not learn or improve a language. However, the question arises as to whether
or not Internet language, also referred to as l33t speak (an alphanumeric system of writing that
uses a mix of letters and numbers), could be considered a language, and whether or not, if we
were to include it in the question of having learnt or improved a language, that it would
generate a different outcome. See figure 20 for an overview of the percentage of the
participants who learnt or improved a foreign language, and see table 7 for an overview of the
languages they improved.
31
Have you learnt or improved a foreign language?
100%
80%
60%
Dutch
Americans
40%
20%
0%
Yes
No
Figure 20: This bar chart represents the percentage of participants who learnt or improved a foreign
language, divided by Dutch and American participants
Dutch participants
Language
Number
Percentage
Language
Number
Percentage
English
4
12.5%
Spanish
1
3.1%
Swedish
3
9.4%
French
1
3.1%
Chinese
1
3.1%
Spanish
1
3.1%
Table 7: overview of languages learnt or improved while playing WoW by the Dutch and American
participants.
Interestingly, in both the Dutch group and the American group, external sites having to
do with WoW are used often and by almost everyone. Since the external sites used and
reasons for using them were largely the same for both the Dutch and the American group, the
results will be presented together. The results demonstrate that WoW players look up
information on how to find certain items, how to complete certain quests, information on the
different player classes, strategy issues, and Lore just to name the most frequently mentioned
reasons. For the complete overview, see table 8.
32
Reasons for using external resources
Find items
Help with quests when you get stuck
Find information about the different classes
Find information on strategy: look up effective boss and raid strategies and tactics
Find information about Lore
Figure out the best way to allocate points in the talent-tree
Prepare for instances, dungeons and raids
Find gear
Find loot
Find NPCs (Non-player characters, non-human computer-generated in-game characters)
Find mounts (a horse or animal used for transportation)
Find information on how to improve the damage per second output
Find information on tanking (playing as a tank in a group)
Find good grinding (repeatedly killing creatures to gain experience points, money or certain
items) or mining (retrieve certain recourses) spots
Find levelling guides
Find information about different guilds
Find auction house pricing information
Latest news about new patches
Look up information on achievements
Look up information on how to optimise your character
Look up effective arena strategies, tactics and specs
Analyse play data
Check out other players’ characters and gear
Download add-ons
Optimise play style
Read class and guild specific blogs
Read class and guild specific forums
Read general WoW news updates
Read general WoW blogs and forums
Social networking
Study strategy videos of raids and bosses
Theory crafting
Watch machinima
Table 8: overview of reasons for using external resources
These sites used to find this information are used frequently and by almost everyone and all
the sites that were mentioned are in English. This is worth mentioning, because numerous
WoW-related websites and online communities exist in a large number of languages. For
example, wowwiki.com is available in 26 different languages, one of which is Dutch, and
wowhead.com is available in German, English, Spanish, French and Russian. So despite the
possibility of looking up information in many different languages, all participants use the
English versions. There were three sites that were used by almost everyone. The most
33
frequently used site is wowhead.com, where people look up information on items and on gear.
The second most used site is wowwiki.com, which is used mainly to look up information
regarding lore, background and history related to World of Warcraft. The third most
frequently used site is elitistjerks.com, which is used mainly for information regarding game
strategy. For a complete overview of all the external resources, see table 9.
External resources
http://wowhead.com/
http://www.wowwiki.com/Portal:Main
http://elitistjerks.com/
http://www.curse.com/
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/:
http://thottbot.com/
http://wowpedia.org/
http://www.google.com/
http://tankspot.com/
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/
http://wow.joystiq.com/
http://wow.allakhazam.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://rawr.codeplex.com/
http://www.shadowpriest.com/
http://worldoflogs.com/:
http://www.arenajunkies.com/
http://wowprofessions.com/
http://maxdps.com/
http://www.wowprogress.com/
http://eu.battle.net/en/
http://www.goblinworkshop.com/
http://www.lootables.com/
http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/
http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow
http://bosskillers.com/
http://learntoraid.com/
http://www.gamepressure.com/
http://plusheal.com/
http://shadowpanther.net/
http://sonofalich.com/
http://theunderminejournal.com/
http://totemspot.com/
http://wow-heroes.com/
Table 9: overview of External resources
34
4
4.1
Follow-up interview
Method
In addition to the questionnaire, I did follow-up interviews with 10 of the participants who
filled out the questionnaire. I interviewed six of the Dutch and four of the American
participants. The reason for doing the follow-up interview was to get more in-depth
information about how they played the game and how they used external resources. The
framework for the follow-up interviews is interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as
described by Smith & Osborn (2003). IPA is a phenomenological approach aimed at
exploring participants’ perceptions and personal experiences. There is an emphasis on the
interview as a dynamic process in which the researcher plays an active role, trying to
understand what the situation under investigation is like from the participant’s point of view.
Meaning is central in IPA, and the aim is to understand the content and complexity of the
results rather than measure frequency.
To allow for this dynamic process, the form of the interview was semi-structured.
Some initial questions were formulated, which were based on the answers given by the
participant on the questionnaire. These were mostly aimed at eliciting more elaborate
answers. Then during the dialogue with the participant, these initial questions were modified
based on the participant’s responses. This allowed for the probing of interesting and important
or new topics that arose. Although it is time-consuming, hard to analyse, and there is less
control by the researcher, this type of interview facilitates empathy, allows for flexibility, and
the possibility of discovering and discussing new areas thereby giving the participant
maximum opportunity to tell their own story (Smith & Osborn, 2003).
The participants were scattered all over the Netherlands and the United States,
therefore Skype6 was used to do most of the interviews (one interview was done face-to-face).
The interviews were all recorded using MP3 Skype Recorder7. The interviews were all
transcribed at the lexical level, meaning that all the word that were spoken were written down,
including false starts, significant pauses and laughs.
The interviews were analysed thematically. This means the transcripts have to be read
and re-read thoroughly while noting down comments. These comments contain thoughts,
observations and reflections on recurring themes, interesting topics, emotions, and language
6
Skype is a software application, a voice over Internet Protocol, with which you can make voice and video calls
via the Internet. See http://www.skype.com/ for more information
7
MP3 Skype recorder is freeware that you can use to record and save your Skype conversations. See
http://voipcallrecording.com/ for more information
35
use. Then, the themes, topics and emotions that best capture the interview are identified, and
finally, these themes are related into clusters based on their connections (Smith et al., 2003).
This process is repeated for each interview resulting in all transcriptions being coded for core
themes. These commonly referenced themes are reported on below.
4.2
The interviews revealed a few themes that recurred throughout all 10 interviews (with the
exception of theme 5, which only occurred in 3 of the interviews with the American
participants), see table 10.
Core theme
Description
Occurs in interview
Theme 1
Learning foreign language
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
- interaction in foreign languages
- learning/improving English
- learning Internet/chat language
Theme 2
Communication
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
- communication with friends or strangers
- communication during battle situations
- face-to-face communication
Theme 3
Interaction
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
- playing alone or playing together
Theme 4
Role of quest text
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
- the importance of reading quest texts
Theme 5
Expectations about European servers
8, 9, 108
- the American participants’ view on the
role of foreign languages on the European
server
Theme 6
Use external sites
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
- how and when WoW players use external
sites
Table 10: Overview of the recurring themes in the follow-up interviews
8
These are interviews with American participants only
36
Theme 1, learning or improving a foreign language, includes three different subjects:
foreign languages encountered while playing, learning or improving English and learning or
improving Internet language (also referred to by the participants as Internet slang, chat
language, abbreviations, and l33t speak). The interviews with the Dutch participants
underscored that even though they see many languages used, they do not necessarily interact
in these languages. Most of the participants speak to strangers in the official language of the
server, which in this case is English, or to their friends in their L1. So almost all of the Dutch
participants communicate in English or Dutch, and do not use any other language:
Daeran9:
“You know, you see a lot of different languages in passing, but most of the
time it is English, or bad English. So that is the most important language that
you need to use.” [translated from Dutch]
Lith-Dor:
“Actually, you will encounter everything that does not have its own server
language … Here and there you will see some Swedish and now and then some
Italian, but in reality, everyone tries to talk in English.” [translated from Dutch]
On the questionnaire, 28% of the Dutch participants indicated learning or improving a foreign
language. In the interviews, however, Dutch participants indicated that playing the game has
made it a lot easier for them to communicate in English, so there may have been more L2
learning than reported in the questionnaire:
Moonpunisher:
“I hadn’t really thought of that, but I guess it has become a lot easier to speak
English. My speaking in English has improved a lot, not my writing though.
Everyone you meet is usually non-native, so a lot of the writing is really bad.”
[translated from Dutch]
Glakela:
“Yes the game has improved my English. I mean, you speak it daily. If you
have to communicate daily with someone over chat, then you will begin to
write a lot faster. So I do believe I improved that. I basically think I
communicate a lot faster in English than I did seven years ago.” [translated
from Dutch]
9
For reasons of confidentiality, all the names used in this study are fictional and do not refer to any existing
people or actual WoW characters. Using the name generator on http://wow.stratics.com/content/features/name/
all participants have been appointed fictional names, that cannot be traced back to them.
37
There were also some reports of learning Internet language (also referred to as Internet slang,
chat language, abbreviations, and l33t speak):
Gláwen:
“I gotta say that I have become a lot better at using Internet slang. I never used
it before I started playing WoW” [translated from Dutch]
Nrünona:
“You become a lot more skilful with abbreviations, you know, chat language
… I mean, you already know a few, but you definitely learn a lot more,
especially abbreviations and what things mean in WoW. But that is not really a
language, but more of a skill you pick up in this world” [translated from Dutch]
This raises the issue of what counts as a ‘foreign language’ and what counts as ‘language
learning’. Players do not seem to consider being able to communicate faster or easier to be
language learning, nor do they seem to consider Internet language, gaming language or l33t
speak, or as they put it Internet slang to be ‘languages’. In future studies on video games and
language learning, this should be taken into account. It is necessary to clearly define what
counts as learning or improving a language, and to clearly define what counts as a language in
a video game context.
Theme 2, communication, also includes three different subjects: communication with
friends or with strangers, communication during battle, and face-to-face communication. Most
people only talk to friends and people they know, so much of the communication is in the L1.
But, because of the international characteristic of the European server, the Dutch also do a lot
of their communication in English. The interviews revealed that the participants preferred to
communicate with people they know. They do not regularly interact with strangers:
GhoulHairtamer:
“Most of the time I'm raiding with my friends from real life, my college friends
and we tend to just talk to each other.”
Bearear:
“I occasionally would speak up in the citywide trade chats. But not too often.
That particular conversation, it was often very shallow and juvenile and just
not something I would want to engage in. But the guild that I was a part of, a
lot of academics in the group. So these were pretty enjoyable conversations.”
Some studies have reported that especially in high-risk battle situations, such as dungeons,
communication is very abundant. The interviews have demonstrated, however, that in some
cases, there is not that much communication going on before, during or after raids because
38
everyone knows what their specific role is and consequently what they are supposed to do. It
is only when things go dramatically wrong that the need for communication arises. This
seemed to occur mainly in what the participants called hard core guilds, made up of very
fanatic players. Nevertheless, this indicates that even though the environment is extremely
suitable for intense interaction, it does not always take place once players are at highly
advanced levels:
Daeran:
“You know, when I am going to do a boss, I will look up on the Internet what
he does exactly. So, in theory I know what he will do. So usually, when I am
playing with really good players, we just hit him until he’s dead. So there’s not
a lot of discussion or talking.” [translated from Dutch]
Elildur:
“in the third guild … the one that was the most competent…once they had
settled on what they thought was a particularly useful or effective strategy then
they weren’t really interested in soliciting further input. In other words once
they found something that worked they went with it.”
Lith-dor
“Nowadays everyone runs so fast through a dungeon that you hardly have time
to say hello at the start and bye at the finish. So no, there’s not a lot of
communication anymore.” [translated from Dutch]
There were some instances where communication took place outside of the game. Several
participants reported they played the game together with a friend or partner, either in the same
room at the same time, or giving or receiving help over the phone:
Toclya:
“[my husband and I] we’d end up playing a lot just the two of us. But mostly,
in that case we talked not via the game, we just sat at the same table and
played: hey go over here, go over here”
Nrürona:
“I have the benefit of having a ‘live helpdesk’ sitting next to me. You know, I
never really have to figure stuff out alone, because everything I don’t know he
knows and the other way around. So that is very convenient ... I know more
people who are boyfriend and girlfriend who live together and play WoW
together sitting next to each other.” [translated from Dutch]
39
Theme 3, interaction, includes one subject: playing alone or playing together. Many
studies so far have demonstrated that WoW is a very social game that involves a lot of
interaction and playing together, however from the questionnaire and the interviews it
becomes clear that another side of the game is also quite solitary and without interaction with
other players: questing, or levelling up is often done alone, and you need to prepare for raids,
dungeons, arenas, etc. (get the right equipment and spells etc.) which is mainly done alone:
Daeran:
“I guess the thing that I have done most is levelling, very boring! So I log on
and I go questing … to get my gear at the highest levels.” [translated from
Dutch]
Lith-Dor:
“you have to prepare things, gather some food, and potions and things, to make
sure you are prepared for a dungeon… And it is standard that you take about an
hour to work on your profession, do some crafting and finish up some other
things.” [translated from Dutch]
Nrürona:
“And you know, you don’t really have to talk to people. You can go through
life solo for a very long time, so to speak” [translated from Dutch]
Elildur:
“I would log on and wouldn’t contact anyone ‘cause the friends that I have in
real life as it were who play the game are not on my server and are generally
not the same faction so now you log on and I would usually do one or two of
the easier daily quests. So then I would queue up for a heroic and I would play
one or two of those … It’s really sort of oddly solitary I think right now.”
That is why it is important to look at the complete linguistic environment WoW has to offer,
and not only at the opportunities for collaboration and interaction, because even though the
opportunities are there, they are not always used by everyone every time they play the game.
Theme 4, role of quest texts, includes one subject: the importance of reading the quest
texts. As discussed in the results of the questionnaire, quest texts do not have to be read that
thoroughly anymore because of the integration of several tracking options into the user
interface. It has become a lot easier to determine the purpose and location of the quest based
on semiotic clues. This is confirmed by the interviews:
40
Toclya:
“You really only have to know the names of places you’re going and who
you’re looking for and then you have all these other resources right so you
have the map feature ... I think that the actual texts of the quest itself I mean
you need to read it sort of you have to understand the important points so you
have to be able to pull that out, but in terms of understanding everything, I
don’t think it’s that critical.”
And sometimes, even with all these changes to the interface it can still happen that it is not
entirely clear what the purpose of the quest is, and then you have to read it more thoroughly:
Gláwen:
“sometimes I get stuck on a quest, even with those huge helping functions
they’ve incorporated now. Even now it happens that there is something that
you just cannot find. So normally I actually hardly read the quest texts, only the
top and the bottom part. It is only when problems arise, so when I am
somewhere and I cannot figure it out, then I start reading the text, because then
it has information I apparently needed to know” [translated from Dutch]
Glakela:
“Sometimes you just read too quickly, and then you end up endlessly looking
for something. This happened to me yesterday, and I had just not read the quest
text well enough. It turns out I forgot to read one line in the quest text and I
was supposed to be one floor up. So yeah, it is most definitely important to
read your quests well.” [translated from Dutch]
Even though all the changes in the interface have made the quest texts less important, for
some they still have value for enjoyment of the story, and following the general story line in
the game:
GhoulHairtamer:
“most people I know don’t read the quest text. I do, because I’ve been going
through the Lore and I like to know what the story is. Everyone just looks at
the very bottom part where it says you know kill six boars and that’s what they
do. And since they’ve changed the UI now you go to your map and it tells you
exactly where you need to go…It’s very helpful to the point that you probably
don’t really need to read the quest texts, but I prefer to.”
Theme 5, expectations about European server, includes one subject: the high ratings
the American participants gave for the ability to speak other languages. Therefore, this theme
41
was found only among the American participants. It was surprising that even though they
hardly encounter any languages other than English, the American participants gave quite a
high rating to the importance of being able to communicate in these other languages. The
interviews revealed that this is probably due to the expectations they have of how it would be
if they played on a European server:
Bearear:
“It's interesting, I mean, I'm aware that the European servers are multilingual
and that it's common to see different languages. At least the American
experience is frequently that we think of servers as being monolingual … It
would be interesting to see the European experience, and see a very
multilingual experience in that setting.”
GhoulHairtamer:
“I do think that it would be a really good idea [to play on a European server]. It
would be relatively cheap and a location independent way to get immersed in
an environment … I can hop online and find myself in a virtual world that has
an immersive, a unified language that I would be learning. But I really think it
could be very useful. I think the immersive environment and having to work
together with people and having to speak and communicate in order to
complete tasks, I think that would be very helpful”
Theme 6, use of external sites, includes one subject: how and when WoW players use
external sites. The importance of external sites was underscored by the interviewees. All of
the interviewees reported that they always use some external source before, during or after the
gaming session. So I propose that external sites are an integral part of the WoW gaming
experience:
Elildur:
“There is certainly some value, especially on items that have more than say ten
comments, to reading comments and seeing what people have to say about
something. I think that the format of the content would make it so that it is not
very edifying to keep it open in another window while you play. Simply
because a lot of the decisions that you’re making are not sort of play level
decisions, right. So there’s play level decisions, what spell do you use, then
there’s the item levels and then there’s the talents, and really elitistjerks is
about the top two portions of those tiers. And I think I would keep wowhead
open in another window while I was playing certainly.”
42
Toclya:
“I really don’t like to search for things. So if there is a mob boss that I can’t
find after like an hour I’m like I am done, I don’t wanna search for this
anymore. I like to do everything else, but I’m just not a big fan of sort of the
hide-and-seek type especially when you know it’s very very hidden. And so
either my husband would search for it and then come get me or we’d just look
it up. Usually we would look it up either on a phone, like a smart phone, I
would just look it up on my I-phone, or just go, yeah back and forth between
two windows for sure. Yeah I would basically just type in the quest title and
then it would come up whatever I found to be sort of the best one is the one
that I would use so.”
Moonpunisher:
“I use quite a few external sites, and I have all of them open while I am playing
the game, so that when I need to I can immediately look stuff up.” [translated
from Dutch]
Glakela:
“I never play full screen, I always play in a way so that I can just reach my
desktop and can immediately access my browser. I will just put myself in a
safe town, so nothing can happen and then I will calmly start reading and
looking up things.” [translated from Dutch]
Based on the interviews it became clear that using external sites was not only a preparatory or
evaluative issue, but it is actually often part of the ongoing gaming experience.
5
5.1
Linguistic complexity analysis of in-game text samples
Method
A big part of the written text that players come into contact with while playing WoW comes
in the form of quest texts. A quest is a task which is mostly given to a player by a non-player
character (or NPC, which refers to non-human computer-generated in-game characters) for
which the player receives a reward in the form of money, items, reputation, and/or experience
when the quest is completed. However, quests can also come from wanted posters, certain
scrolls or documents, containers, looted items, or from completing a previous quest
(WoWWiki, 2011).There are currently more than 9500 quests in WoW. Most standard quests
are aimed at one of the following:
43
-
Find a certain amount of items or resources.
-
Kill a certain number of creatures (and sometimes loot quest items from them).
-
Deliver an item (e.g. a letter or a package) to another NPC.
-
Use a profession to acquire or make items.
-
Escort an NPC to another place, which usually involves travelling through a dangerous
area.
-
Find and speak to an NPC.
-
Build and/or maintain a level of reputation with a specific faction.
-
Find and loot a container item which will provide a follow-up quest.
-
Explore a certain region or area (WoWWiki, 2011).
While there are many different kinds of quests, not all quests have to or can be played by
everyone. To make sure the sample for the analysis contains typical quests that are likely to be
seen by all players, regardless of faction, race or class, we randomly collected quest chains.
Quest chains are series of quests that are linked together in a successive chain. Quest chains
are quite salient in the game, and therefore, it is more than likely that all players will have
done a number of quest chains. Additionally, we collected class specific quests for each of the
10 classes. Class specific quests are quests that have been designed for a particular class,
which typically revolves around gaining important skills, which means that every player has
to do these quests in order to progress their character.
The quest chains were selected randomly, with one for every letter of the alphabet
(based on the first non-article word in title). This resulted in 22 quest chains, because there
were no quest chains beginning with the letters J, Q, X, or Z, which amounted to a total of 178
individual quests comprising 18,538 words. All of the quest texts were obtained from the
website wowwiki.com10. See table 11 for an overview.
The class specific quest texts were selected because these contain quests that are
necessary and have to be completed in order to advance one’s character. Class specific quests
revolve around learning new abilities, gaining class specific items, spells, or armour.
Therefore it is safe to say that regardless of faction or race, everyone in the same class will
have done the same class specific quests. There are 10 classes, and we collected 20 quests per
10
http://www.wowwiki.com/Category:Quest_chains
44
class, with the exception of the Death Knight class, which is a special hero class that can only
be played at higher levels (starting at 55), for which we collected 5 quests. This resulted in
185 individual quests, comprising 18,318 words, see table 11.
Quest type
Number of quests Number of words
Quest chains
178
18,538
Class specific
185
18,318
Table 11: overview of the collection of quests
For the class specific quests we were able to also take the different levels into account.
There were more class specific quests on the lower levels, because that is when you have to
learn most of your skills, that is why, for every class we collected a bit more lower level
quests than high level quests. This resulted in the following division of the levels: 4 quests
between level 0-5, 4 quests between level 5-10, 4 quests between level 10-30, 4 quests
between level 30-50, and 4 quests between level 50-85, see table 12. All of the quest texts
were taken from wowwiki.com11.
Class specific quests
Level
Number of quests Death knight class
Number of quests
0-5
4
-
5-10
4
-
10-30
4
-
30-50
4
-
50-85
4
5
Table 12: overview of the division of levels for the class specific quests
All of these quest texts were analysed for linguistic complexity, according to the
methodological framework as presented by Lu, Thorne & Gamson (in preparation, 2011). As
Lu et al. point out, precise measurement of linguistic complexity is very challenging. Many
and diverse formal measurements have been developed over time but not all have been able to
successfully assess complexity of texts. In light of that, Lu et al. tested a variety of formulas
and tools to identify the most consistent and accurate measurement for linguistic complexity
of reading texts. They evaluated several readability measures and several linguistic
examinations related to complexity/difficulty to come to valid computational measures of
11
http://www.wowwiki.com/Category:Quests_by_class
45
readability and linguistic complexity. They analysed a corpus of grade-level specific thirdgrade and sixth-grade textbooks to determine which measures of linguistic complexity could
successfully determine a difference in the level of these reading materials. Based on the
assumption that sixth-grade books have a higher degree of linguistic complexity, they found
four factors useful for discerning levels of linguistic complexity: readability, lexical
sophistication, lexical diversity, and syntactic complexity, and four measures that correlate
most strongly with these four factors: Coleman-Liau Index (CLI), Lexical sophistication
(LS1), Mean Segmental Type-Token Ratio (MSTTR), and the Mean Length of Sentence
(MLS). Based on these results, in this study we will use these four measures to determine the
linguistic complexity of the different text samples. See table 13 for an overview.
Measures Linguistic complexity
Factor
measure
Readability
CLI
Lexical sophistication
LS1
Lexical diversity
MSTTR
Syntactic complexity
MLS
Table 13: overview of the measures chosen to determine the linguistic complexity of the text samples uner
investigation
The measure used for readability is the Coleman-Liau Index (CLI), which was
designed by Coleman and Liau (1975). The CLI output represents the US grade level that
would be necessary to comprehend the analysed text. The formula to calculate CLI,
incorporates characters instead of syllables per word, which makes it very suitable for
computational analysis, since it only looks at length in characters, not at character content of
the words. The formula, in which C, W, and S stands for the total number of characters, words
and sentences is: 5.89 * C / W – 30 * S / W - 15.8 (Lu, Thorne, & Gamson, 2011).
To determine Lexical Sophistication (LS1), the proportion of sophisticated words in a
text is measured (Lu et al., 2011). Lu et al. define lexical sophistication according to
frequency-based principles, and consider a word sophisticated if it is on the list of the 2,000
most frequent words in the American National Corpus (ANC). The formula for calculating
lexical sophistication is the number of sophisticated lexical words (Nslex) divided by the
number of lexical words (Nlex).
The measure used for Lexical diversity is the Mean Segmental Type-Token Ratio
(MSTTR) (Lu et al., 2011). Lexical diversity measures the range of vocabulary displayed in a
46
text. Type-token ratio, which stands for the ratio of word types to word tokens, is a widely
used measure for lexical diversity, but has shown to decrease when the length of a text
increases. Therefore, Lu et al. suggest using the MSTTR to correct for this phenomenon.
MSTTR is calculated by dividing the text into segments of 50 words and then calculating the
average TTR for each segment. The formula for TTR is:
(Lu et al., 2011)
The measure used for Syntactic Complexity is the Mean Length of Sentence (MLS)
(Lu et al., 2011).This formula for syntactic complexity is based on average words per
sentence, which is one of the most used measures for syntactic complexity. MLS is calculated
by dividing the total number of words by the total number of sentences.
5.2
The analysis of the quest texts (the quest chains and the class specific quests) revealed that
both files are closely comparable for all measures used, see table 14 for an overview of the
Linguistic analysis. This suggests that all the quest texts, regardless of being part or a chain or
being class specific or level, are all very similar in terms of complexity and readability. This
means that we can assume that the sample texts in this analysis are representative for all the
quest texts in WoW.
Text sample
CLI
LS1
MSTTR
MLS
Quest chains
7.0
.64
.78
13.0
7.8
.66
.78
13.4
Table 14: overview results linguistic complexity analysis of quest texts
The readability measures, which are based on sentence length and word length,
demonstrate that in both text samples the readability level is fairly low: CLI is 7.0 for the
quest chains and 7.8 for the class specific quests. This means the text samples are between
7th-8th US grade level, which is middle school level. This indicates that quest texts are
suitable for children between the ages 12-14. There is, however, a high degree of lexical
sophistication for both text samples: the ratio of sophisticated lexical word types were greater
than .60 for both texts. The analysis also showed that there is a high degree of lexical diversity
for both texts, because the MSTTR for both text samples was high at .78. And finally, the
syntactic complexity analysis revealed a high level of complexity: MLS was between 13.0
and 13.4.
47
To sum up, the analysis of the quest texts revealed that for all measures used these two
corpora of texts were all closely comparable, which strongly suggests that all quest texts are
similar in linguistic complexity. Furthermore, quest texts show a high degree of lexical
sophistication, lexical diversity, and are also quite sophisticated in terms of lexical and
syntactic complexity. However, the readability level as measured by CLI was quite low,
which seems to indicate simple texts, which is contrary to the syntactic complexity measures
that point toward quite complex texts. That is why we decided to look more closely at the
linguistic complexity of the texts using another measure, the Developmental Level (D-Level)
scale (Covington, He, Brown, Naçi, & Brown, 2006; Rosenberg & Abbeduto, 1987; Lu,
2009). This syntactic complexity measure uses sentences as a unit of analysis and then assigns
individual sentences to one of eight development levels that ascend in complexity from 0 to 7.
The D-Level scale was developed using child language acquisition research and corpora
(specifically the CHILDES database, see MacWhinney, 2000) and aims to measure syntactic
and structural complexity, and not merely proxy measures such as sentence length or word
length. Examples of different D-Level sentence types that come from our text samples are
presented below (see table 17).
Looking closer at this measure might provide more insight into the relatively low
readability outcome. There are seven D-levels, d-0 to d-7, going from most simple sentences
with very few words including questions; sentences with auxiliaries and semi-auxiliaries;
simple elliptical (incomplete) sentences (d-0) to most complex sentences with very many
words, and contain more than one structure from levels 1-6 (d-7). The average D-Level is the
ratio of levels 1-7 sentences among all sentences. See table 15 for the average D-Levels of the
quest texts
Text sample
D-Level
Quest chains
4.4
4.4
Table 15: Average D-Level of the quest texts
These means show that the texts are syntactically of intermediate complexity, but a closer
look at the D-Levels show that there are significant numbers of difficult sentences, as
described in table 16.
48
Text sample
d-0
d-1
d-2
d-3
d-4
d-5
d-6
d-7
Quest chains
313
18
68
64
26
61
16
628
Class specific quests 312
14
87
63
32
48
11
651
Table 16: D-Levels of the quest texts
Represented in a graph, a clear U-shape pattern is revealed, see figure 21.
Quest chains
Class specific Quests
700
700
600
600
500
500
400
400
300
300
200
200
100
100
0
d-0
d-1
d-2
d-3
d-4
d-5
d-6
d-7
0
d-0
d-1
d-2
d-3
d-4
d-5
d-6
d-7
Figure 21: These graphs represent the D-Levels (d-0 - d-7) of the quest texts, divided by quest chains and
class specific quests
As becomes clear from figure 21, the scores for both the d-0 level and the d-7 level are quite
high, showing a strong polarisation between simple and difficult sentences, which indicates
that there is considerable variability in sentence complexity levels within the texts. However,
from figure 21 it becomes clear that the most complex level of sentences (d-7) occur with
greatest frequency. This demonstrates that in terms of readability, mean scores are not very
telling, and in this case can be seen to give a skewed view of the actual situation as a result of
internal variability. Therefore, taking a closer look at the actual occurrences of the sentences’
various complexity levels has provided a more accurate description of proportion of complex
sentences and the specific syntactic features of those that are more complex (see table 17, for
examples).
49
Text sample
Quest chains
d-0
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Class specific quests 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
d-7 (with description of syntactic structures present)
Hurry!
Their beliefs are similar to ours and so killing them
is somewhat distasteful, but if they lack the
strength to resist us, then they do not deserve their
lives. [sentences joined by subordinating and
coordinating conjunctions]
There we go.
If you are brave enough, then enter Skull Rock to
the east of Orgrimmar, find a lieutenant’s insignia
off one of the Burning Blade there, and return to
me. [sentences joined by subordinating
conjunction; conjoined verbal construction]
Trust me!
The sprites and satyrs that have taken up residence
in the area feed upon the magical energies of the
area, their powers growing from continued
exposure. [conjoined noun phrase in subject
position; relative clause modifying subject of main
verb; nonfinite clause in adjunct position]
Will you rescue him?
You may be familiar with its properties, as I do
believe it is what brought you to us in the first
place. [sentences joined by subordinating
conjunction; finite clause as object of main verb]
The keg frizzles slightly My hatred form the elves burns, but I do not wish
ill upon their children, so we must police our own.
[nominalization in subject position; sentences
joined by coordinating and subordinating
conjunctions]
Be warned!
You can manage the flows of magic, yes, but being
a warlock is much more than that. [coordinated
sentence; comparative with object of comparison]
Kill them!
Considering the power you already wield as a
warlock, I can only assume you know the satyrs of
Felwood carry this felcloth. [non-finite clause in
adjunct position; finite clause of object of main
verb]
Remember that!
A Doomguard is a cunning and lethal adversary
and will seek to destroy you as you begin the ritual
of imprisonment. [conjoined adjectival and verb
constructions; infinitive complement; sentences
joined by subordinated conjuction]
What are they?
Bring me the bindings worn by the highest Qiraji
leaders and I shall shape them into a set of
pauldrons more dreadful than even the wings of
Nefarian himself. [coordinated sentences;
comparative with object of comparison]
Take this vessel.
If we are to create a toxin of high enough potency,
you must venture to the bottom of the Temple of
Atal’Hakkar, unlock the secrets of the altar and
recover a putrid vine from the guardian there.
[sentences joined by a subordinating conjunction;
conjoined verbal construction]
Table 17: examples of the most simple (d-0) and most complex sentences (d-7) present in the class specific
quest text samples
50
In sum, triangulating among these various measures of lexical sophistication, lexical
diversity, syntactic complexity, and the readability measure combined with D-Level, we can
conclude that as far as the quest texts are concerned, WoW presents a linguistic environment
that includes a substantial volume of highly complex language use.
6
Linguistic complexity analysis of external sources text samples
6.1
Method
Based on the results from the questionnaire and the follow-up interviews, it became clear that
there were several external sources that were used very frequently, by almost all respondents,
and for the same kind of purposes and information. Since that was the case, we collected text
samples from these sites in order to carry out linguistic complexity analyses on their contents.
The sites we collected text samples from are:
•
http://www.wowhead.com: Topics include help with quests and information on items
in the game (armor, weapons, etc).
•
http://www.wowwiki.com/Portal:Main: Lore, Class information
•
http://elitistjerks.com/: Strategy
As indicated on the questionnaire and in the follow-up interviews, wowhead.com is used
most, and by nearly all respondents, to look up information about items in the game and to
look for help and advice in order to complete difficult quests. The text sample with item
information contained a total of 16,706 words, and the quest help information contained a
total of 11,662 words. Wowwiki.com is used mainly to look up information about lore and the
history of Word of Warcraft and information about the different classes. The text sample with
lore information contained a total of 21,187 words, and the text sample with class information
contained a total of 32,959 words. Elitistjerks.com is used mainly to find information about
strategy. The text sample with strategy information contained a total of 14,682 words, see
table 18 for an overview.
51
External source Type of information
wowhead.com
wowwiki.com
elitistjerks.com
Number of words
Quest help
16,7406
Items
11,662
Lore
21,187
Class information
32,959
Strategy
14,682
Table 18: overview of the collection of text samples from external sources
We used the same computational assessment of linguistic complexity developed by Lu,
Thorne & Gamson (in preparation, 2011) for these text samples as we did for the in-game text
samples. So these text samples will also be analysed based on Readability, Lexical
sophistication, Lexical diversity, and Syntactic complexity
6.2
For the linguistic complexity analysis of the most used external resources, the results were
also quite closely comparable for all measures used, see table 19 for an overview. This
suggests that, like the quest texts, the different external sites are also very similar in terms of
their linguistic complexity. Contrary to the quest texts, we cannot assume that these sample
texts are representative for all external resources. We can assume, however, that these text
samples are representative for the rest of the site the sample was taken from.
Text sample
CLI
LS1
MSTTR
MLS
wowhead: items
6.7
.61
.78
15.4
wowhead: quests
7.6
.60
.77
12.
wowwiki: class info
10.8
.70
.78
18.5
wowwiki: lore
11.1
.70
.76
19.5
elitistjerks: strategy
9.1
.63
.79
13.7
Table 19: overview results linguistic complexity analysis of external websites
The readability measures demonstrate that there is a small difference between the
wowhead items and quests text samples and the other text samples whose results are very
close. The text sample regarding items from wowhead has quite a low CLI of 6.7, and the
sample about quests has a CLI of 7.6, which indicates the text sample is between 6th-8th US
grade level, which indicates that quest texts are suitable for children between the ages 12-14.
The other samples are ranked as more complex and range between 9th-11th US grade levels
52
which indicates that quest texts are suitable for children between the ages 14-17. There is,
however, a high degree of lexical sophistication for all text samples: the ratio of sophisticated
lexical word types were greater than .60 for all texts. The analysis also showed that there is a
high degree of lexical diversity for all texts because the MSTTR for all text samples is quite
high, varying between .76 and .79. And finally, the MLS analysis revealed a relatively high
level of complexity for all texts, ranging between 12.25 and 19.81.
As was the case with the quest texts, the readability outcome for the external sites is
also quite low, indicating simple texts, a finding which is contrary to the syntactic and
linguistic complexity measure outcomes. So again, we take a closer look at readability in
terms of the D-Level. See table 20 for the average D-Levels of the quest texts.
Text sample
D-Level
wowhead: items
6.3
wowhead: quests
3.6
wowwiki: class info
6.6
wowwiki: lore
6.4
6.1
Table 20: Average D-Level of the external site text samples
These means show that the texts are more complex than the quest texts as indicated by the
average D-Level, except for wowhead’s quest texts, which has a much lower score. A closer
look at the D-Levels show that in this case too there is a lot less intratext variability, with the
exception of wowhead’s quest text sample which has a lot of variability, see table 21.
Text sample
d-0
d-1
d-2
d-3
d-4
d-5
d-6
d-7
wowhead: items
68
0
16
18
4
15
4
857
wowhead: quests
365
6
22
28
6
35
5
380
wowwiki: class info 61
4
17
16
6
17
3
1671
wowwiki: lore
59
3
25
9
3
24
1
966
120
2
12
12
6
22
1
910
Table 21: D-Levels of the external site text samples
Represented in a graph, wowhead’s items text sample shows a right-skewed peak at the d-7
level only, whereas a clear U-shape pattern is revealed for the quests text sample, see figure
22.
53
Quests
Items
1000
400
800
300
600
200
400
100
200
0
d-0
d-1
d-2
d-3
d-4
d-5
d-6
d-7
0
d-0
d-1
d-2
d-3
d-4
d-5
d-6
d-7
Figure 22: These graphs represent the D-Levels (d-0 - d-7) of the text samples from wowhead, divided by
items and quests
The strong polarisation in the quest text sample indicates there is a lot of internal variability in
level (see table 22 for examples), which is not the case in the items text sample.
Text sample
Wowhead quest text
samples
d-0
d-7(with description of syntactic structures present)
1.
Just an FYI.
2.
Great guide!
3.
Grab a complementary
stein.
4.
Dark days loom ahead.
5.
Prepare the mortal
races.
If you do Northrend and Outlands – the only places
you can currently fly --, it should take about an
hour to get around to all 30 bonfire. [sentences
joined by subordinating conjunction; appositional
clause modifying object of main verb]
Blackrock Depths has long been home to our
enemies, but now the Shattered Hand has
discovered that the Dark Irons and Twilight’s
Hammer are increasing their collaboration.
[sentences joined by coordinating conjunction;
finite clause as object of main verb]
Ignoring raid activity, when BC was released the
story became that kazzak was stranded and looking
for a way to reopen the dark portal, and when he
succeeded he went back through it. [nonfinite
clause in adjunct position; sentences joined by
subordinating conjunction; finite clauses as object
of main verb; conjoined verbal construction]
Bring a raid with you when you return with the
required items to Demitrian, because he will
promptly summon Thunderaan, whom is not the
least bit happy that he was locked away for so
long. [sentences joined by subordinating
conjunction; relative clause modifying object of
main verb]
To minimise your chance at getting ganked if you
are not already flagged when desecrating a fire,
you can start summoning your mount befefore
clicking “Complete Quest”. [nonfinite clause in
adjunct position; sentences joined by subordinating
conjunction; infinitve –ing complement with same
subject as main clause]
Table 22: examples of the most simple (d-0) and most complex sentences (d-7) present in wowhead’s quest
text sample
54
Figures 23 and 24 show that the text samples from wowwiki and elitistjerk, are very similar to
the wowhead items sample, because they all also show a right-skewed peak at the d-7 level.
Lore
Class
1000
2000
800
1500
600
1000
400
500
200
0
d-0
d-1
d-2
d-3
d-4
d-5
d-6
d-7
0
d-0
d-1
d-2
d-3
d-4
d-5
d-6
d-7
Figure 23: These graphs represent the D-Levels (d-0 - d-7) of the text samples from wowwiki, divided by
class and lore
Strategy
1000
800
600
400
200
0
d-0
d-1
d-2
d-3
d-4
d-5
d-6
d-7
Figure 24: This graphs represents the D-Levels (d-0 - d-7) of the text sample from elitistjerks
As figures 22, 23, and 24 indicate, all text samples, with the exception of wowhead’s quest
text sample, are right-skewed toward d-7, with the remaining sentences distributed over the
other d-levels. So there less internal variability in these texts, which indicates that these text
samples are more uniformly complex. As for wowhead’s quests text sample, exactly like the
in-game quest text samples, there is a massive polarisation between simple and difficult
sentences, however, from figure 22 it becomes clear that the most complex sentences ( d-7)
occur at least as often as the least complex sentences (d-0), indicating that the text sample is
intra-textually variable, but includes a significant proportion of highly complex sentences, a
fact that is hidden when one only looks at the mean D-Level score.
The difference between the quest texts and wowhead’s quest text sample on the one
hand, and wowhead’s item text sample and the text samples from wowwiki and elitistjerks on
the other hand, might be due to the fact that the former are cases of interpersonal texts (e.g.,
many sentences using 2nd person address forms) and the latter are cases of expository or
informational texts. In the case of the quest texts, they are written as if the NPC and the player
55
are talking to each other. The quest text sample from wowhead is made up from actual players
talking with one another, in the form of forum entries where questions and answers are posted
about completing quests. This is a different genre from the expository and purely
informational text samples from wowhead (items), wowwiki and elitisjerks. The interpersonal
texts contain a high proportion of short and simple sentences typical in interactive
conversation, such as exclamations, comprehension checks, and greetings (see table 23 for
examples), combined with more complex sentences. In contrast, the expository and
informational texts, which do not contain conversational expressions common to interactive
discourse, are primarily made up from complex sentences (see table 24 for examples). Even
though the examples confirm this difference of interpersonal versus expository or
informational texts, the issue of genre and its relationship with complexity would benefit from
further study, which is beyond the scope of this research.
To sum up, in a similar fashion to the quest texts, the analysis of the text samples from
the external websites revealed a high degree of lexical sophistication, lexical diversity, and
syntactic complexity, and based on the D-level scores, a significant proportion of syntactically
and structurally complex sentences. Based on these analyses, we can conclude that the most
popular external WoW sources also offer quite a challenging and sophisticated linguistic
environment.
Interpersonal texts illustrating phatic and interactive discourse features
Quest chains
Wowhead: quests
Ready to go, <name>?
Hey there! You look like you can handle your brew. But can you handle
your brew mug?
I want to teach you a basic healing technique, <name>.
Your garment is ready!
God I am bored to be finding all of these!
Can I desecrate a fire after someone from the opposite side reignites it or
can I only do it once?
Table 23: examples of the conversational simple sentences in the interpersonal text samples
56
Expository and informational texts
Wowhead : items
Wowwiki: class info
The Twin Blades of Azzinoth are a set of weapons wielded by the Lord of
Outland, Illidan Stormrage.
The extra spell hit will help prevent SW:P from getting resisted which does
cost a lot of mana for an instant cast spell, but more importantly it will help
prevent your VE, VT, Shadow Weaving, and Misery from getting resisted,
which is very useful in a raiding situation, particularly one in which your
raid dmg is comprised primarily of caster DPS.
Blood is considered the tree for soloing and should be given a thought when
it comes time to level your Death Knight.
Notably, death knights can tank or deal damage regardless in which talent tree
they specialize, although a careful talent selection is still required to bolster their
preferred role.
Wowwiki: lore
Elitistjerks: strategy
In the midst of the ensuing battle the Elder Shaman Ner'zhul attempted to
allow the remaining orcs on Draenor to escape to other worlds by opening
other dimensional portals; however the presence of so many portals tore the
planet apart, leaving only torn fragments of the former world floating in the
Nether, and the barely-habitable remnants were renamed Outland.
The origins of necromancy date back to the First War when Gul'dan's
necrolytes developed the ability to raise corpses to serve as skeleton
warriors in the Horde.
After you have picked up the mandatory 31-pts for Blood tree, there aren't
many discretionary points that remain, and the only additional talent to
assist progression is Lichborne.
Assassination rogues are one of the better sources of a slow since they
sacrifice nothing to provide it and can easily provide an AoE slow with
FoK and Vile Poisons.
Table 24: examples of the more complex sentences in the expository, informational text samples
7
Conclusions
Since the Dutch participants play WoW in English, and since the European servers include
many players from many different nationalities, this forces gamers to speak in a common
language, in this case English. WoW presents a high-input L2 environment for non-native
English speakers for a number of reasons. There is considerable L2 input both from other
players (text chat, voice communication using VoIP) as well as from the game itself (quest
texts). However, the questionnaire results show that much of the in-game player-to-player
interaction occurs in the L1 Dutch, and the questionnaire and interview data suggest that both
languages are used. For the Dutch WoW players, the actual complexity and volume of the
game-associated English L2 input, and the amount of exposure to it, both appear to be high.
However, continued and additional research, specifically related to the specifics of in-game
communication, is still needed.
57
In addition to English, the Dutch encounter many different languages with great
frequency. Nevertheless, the players sampled here the players sampled here mostly
communicate in English and Dutch. This is surprising, and also suggests that even though
there are many opportunities for foreign language communication, primary communication
takes place in the L1 (Dutch) or in the language of the realm (English). We note that there are
many reports of individuals choosing to play WoW on various L2 servers in order to learn
other languages (see Thorne, 2010), but none of this study’s participants reported doing this.
So the expectation, which was voiced by some of the American interviewees, that on a
European realm communication will occur in numerous languages, is for the majority of the
Dutch participants in this study reduced to primarily to the use of only two languages –
English and Dutch.
The importance of carefully reading and understanding quest texts turns out to be
subject to some debate. Opinions were quite divided on the matter, especially since recent
changes have been made to the WoW gaming interface that provide more visual and maporiented aids for completing quests. This shift, or ‘nerf’ (gaming slang for changes that make
the game easier and more accessible for casual players) of the game, was commented upon by
this study’s participants as making careful reading of the quest text less important for many
players..
Many of the aforementioned studies discussed in this paper have shown that WoW is a
very social game. This is confirmed by the result that the majority prefer playing together
with others. However, there is also a quite solitary side to the game, especially when doing
quests in order to level up one’s character or to retrieve certain items, and the results indicate
that at least a few participants, approximately 20% averaged across both the American and
Dutch participants, sometimes prefer playing alone. This would be an interesting aspect for
further study, to find out how much of the game is a solo experience, and how much time
people spend playing on their own, because it also has implications for the level of interaction
and cooperation that is generated by the game.
Additionally, concerning the social aspect of the game, the analyses demonstrate that
people mainly communicate with people they know, and not very often with strangers. For the
Dutch players, this means that they talk to guild members and the occasional stranger in
English while they communicate in Dutch with many of their friends. Thus a considerable
volume of the player-to-player communication for the Dutch participants is in their L1 of
Dutch.
58
Interestingly some of the Dutch participants reported that they did most of their
communication face-to-face, while sitting co-present with other players, instead of through a
communication tool. The number of people reporting this was quite low, but it would be
interesting to find out if this co-present way of playing leads to significantly different playing
styles or communication styles.
Surprisingly, only 28% of the Dutch participants indicated learning or improving a
foreign language, which is contrary to the findings from player comments on an internet
discussion forum as reported by Thorne (2010). Still the follow-up interviews provided some
reports of being able to communicate easier and of becoming more familiar with Internet
language. This indicates there may have been some confusion on what learning or improving
a language is exactly and what precisely constitutes a ‘language’. This would be an important
issue to consider in future research.
Interestingly, in both the Dutch group and the American group, external sites having to
do with WoW are used often and by almost everyone. WoW players look up information on
the background story of the game, how to complete certain assignments, how to optimise their
character, for strategy issues, and much more. These sites are used frequently and by almost
everyone and participants in this study, all mentioned external sites that are in English. This
finding was confirmed in the follow-up interviews. All of the interviewees reported that they
always use some external source before, during or after the gaming session. Therefore, we
propose that external sites are an integral part of the WoW gaming experience, which need to
be included in any study of the linguistic properties of WoW.
The linguistic complexity analysis of the quest texts revealed that the language in the
game is quite sophisticated and complex. So even though it is not clear how thoroughly
everyone reads these texts, they offer exposure to high sophisticated linguistic input.
The linguistic complexity analysis of the external site samples also revealed the
presence of sophisticated and complex language. Considering the frequent and intensive use
of these sites as reported by the participants, it is safe to say that WoW players are subject to a
high volume of complex L2 input.
In conclusion, WoW seems to be a very promising L2 environment for European
players. It is a diverse linguistic environment, there is abundant exposure to the L2 of English
in both written and spoken form, there are many opportunities for interaction and
collaboration, and additionally, there is a vast amount of secondary external sources that most
people use in order to play the game to the best of their abilities. If players wish to find
opportunities for engaged L2 use, or wish to use or learn an L2, WoW presents a rich and
59
diverse semiotic environment. However, interaction and collaboration is not always
necessary, therefore the amount of in-game exposure to and interaction in the L2 strongly
depends on the individual players and what they wish to do and to achieve in the game. What
does not seem to be subject to individual playing styles is the use of external sources, since
virtually all players report using them with high frequency. Considering that external sources,
which were all accessed in English for this study’s participants, we can conclude that they are
an integral part of playing WoW. Since these external resources involve complex and
technical genres of language, this seems to be a very promising resource for L2 development.
It would be interesting to see in further research whether or not these external sites have a
positive influence on L2 development.
Word count: 16,586
60
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64
Appendix 1
Questionnaire
Background information
1. Male/female?
2. Age
3. Education
4. My current job is/I currently study:
5. I was born in city
6. I was born in country
7. I currently live in city
8. What is your native language?
9. Is this your strongest language?
10. Do you speak other languages as well? If so, which ones and how well
(beginner/intermediate/advanced)
11. What is your level of experience with multiplayer online games (such as World of
Warcraft)
12. What is your level of experience playing online games with other people
13. Generally, I am comfortable participating in computer games
Frequency of play
14. How long have you been playing WoW?
15. What do you like most about WoW?
16. How often do you play WoW?
17. On average, how many hours at a time do you play?
18. Which character(s) do you play (race and class) and at what level(s)?
External resources
19. Do you use any external sites that have to do with WoW (f.e. online information,
strategy sites, forums)? Please list which ones, for what purpose, and in what language
Nature of the WoW environment
20. What is the official language of your realm?
21. What other languages do you see used on your realm?
22. What languages do you yourself use when you play WoW?
23. Are you a member of a guild? If so, what languages are used there?
65
24. In order to play WoW, how important is it to be able to communicate in the official
language of your realm?
25. In order to play WoW, how important is it to be able to speak the other languages used
on your realm by other players?
26. To complete a quest, how important is it to completely understand the quest text?
Communication
27. When you play WoW, do you usually play alone/together with others/other
28. Who do you talk to most in the game and in what language?
29. What communication tools do you use in the game?
30. Do you often seek out other players for help or provide assistance to other players in
the area or doing quests you are also working on? If so, could you give an example?
31. When you communicate with other players, do you use a dictionary?
32. When you communicate with other players, do you use an online translation
programme?
33. When you communicate with other players, do you use “macros” with common
messages you need or like to use during the game?
34. Have you learnt or improved foreign language skills by playing WoW?
35. Which languages have you learnt by playing WoW and how?
66
Appendix 2
Follow-up interview guidelines
These are some questions aimed at getting the conversation going. The questions are a
guideline, there is no set order, not all questions have to be answered, and deviation based
on other topics that come up is a plus.
-
Did you have any problems or difficulties filling in the questionnaire
-
Do you play any other MMOs?
-
Do you remember why you started playing?
-
Do you have a favourite character?
-
External sources, what do you use them for, how exactly do you use them?
Could you give an example of that? What does that involve/how does that work?
Are they all to prepare for playing, or do you have them open during the game?
Do you spend a lot of time on these? Are talent trees important? Do you use the
mailbox option?
-
Could you describe a typical gaming session? I would like you to describe a standard
gaming session. What does that look like, How do uo usually begin playing WoW?
Suppose you are going to play with your guild, how does that work? Do you make
appointments with others? Suppose you’re playing alone, how does that work?
-
When they encounter other languages on their realm: does that happen often? Do you
ever communicate in those other languages? Have you ever picked up something from
encountering those other languages
-
On the questionnaire you indicated it is not so/very important to be able to
communicate in the other languages you come across, why is it that (not so)
important?
-
On the questionnaire you indicated it is not so/very important to understand the quest
text, why is it that (not so) important?
-
Communication instruments, do you use them all at the same time, or do you use them
in different situations?
-
Have you learnt or improved a language? No: Not even a few words or phrases of
another language, or that you notice it became easier to speak in the L2? / Yes: In
what way, how do you notice/know?
67
68

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: A SETTING FOR L2 USE AND

Transcription

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