For two weeks I've been bouncing across the US staying with World of Warcraft players, spending time with them, talking with them and getting to know them on a personal level you just can't achieve via game interface. This was all wrapped up with an amazing, exciting, sometimes frustrating but extremely enjoyable trip to Blizzcon.
I'm exhausted but really excited and invigorated about my PhD research and video games in general. I think too often we get focused on Theory (yes, the "T" is intentional) and the ideology of what we study that we forget about what makes it so important and interesting; the players. This is especially true for video games. We focus so much on the art, the narrative, the meaning that we often times lose sight of the player - those that makes the game come to life after the designers have birthed it. They have their own personal thoughts and ideas and play style and continue to push the boundaries of the industry forward for us all. Talking with gamers in deep depth about their history and why they play has been extremely enlightening. I think video game companies would benefit substantially if they hired on an ethnographer to just talk with video game players on a deep and personal level. The information you get from people when they aren't talking about video games is just as important and eye-opening as the information you get when they are directly discussing games.
I still owe some thoughts on PAX (extremely late I know), the Portland Retro Gaming Expo (again...really untimely) and of course Blizzcon.
Here's a teaser pic of Blizzcon while you wait for me to get it all down!
