Perspectives on Playing WoW in a Graduate English Seminar

!   Jennifer Stone !   Shanna Allen ! Jathan Day !   Brianna Dym !   Hannah Johnson !   Katie Kahlenbeck ! Zebadiah Kraft ! Laine Parish !   September Reynaga ! LaVon Shearer-Ihrig !   Elizabeth Waetjen

image source: http://www.ign.com/games/world-of-warcraft/pc-16985

“You want Us to do What?!,” “I hate this game and can’t wait to delete it from my computer,” and “This is the best game ever!” ~ Perspectives on Playing WoW

in a Graduate English Seminar

The Class !   ENGL A613: Digital Literacies

!   How are digital literacies developed and disseminated?

!   Who benefits (or not) from these changing ways of using language and other modes of representation?

!   What similarities and differences exist between the ways that young people and adults engage with digital texts?

!   How might digital literacies inform more traditional understandings of literacy?

!   What theoretical and methodological avenues might be productive for unpacking these literacies?

!   What implications do digital literacies have for how we teach composition and literacy?

!   Range of experience with playing games !   Played WoW as 1 of 3 shared digital literacies

experiences !   Grounded theoretical and methodological discussions in

shared experience

Why WoW?

!   Free to play !   Mac & PC compatible !   Most popular

MMORPG ever !   Relatively accessible

compared to other MMORPGs

!   7.8 million subscribers as of February 2014

image source: http://shipon.free.fr/WoW/interface.jpg

Structuring The WoW Experience

!   Game preview !   Organize group & create

characters !   Newcomers & mentors !   Troubleshoot issues !   Level up !   In-class dungeon run,

gradual increased physical distance

image source: http://wowpedia.org/Deadmines_walkthrough

Panel Discussion

!   How did you construct your identity in playing WoW?

!   How did other people respond to you playing WoW for a university class?

!   What struggles did you face in learning to play WoW? How did you overcome them?

!   What did you learn about language and online communication? How did your communication experiences differ between playing alone, playing with a mentor, playing together in the same room, playing in separate spaces, and playing with strangers?

!   How did you engage with WoW as a text? !   What other classes could this game be used

for? !   What did you take away from the experience?

image source: http://www.almarsguides.com/wow/instances/deadmines.cfm