Game Culture/Technology
Modding communities in World of Warcraft
Contact: Yong Ming Kow
Ethnographic investigation of modding communities in US and China. Modding practice reduced games development cost by up to 30% and extended shelf live of games (Postigo, 2008). However, we found productivity of modding communities to be uneven. In the largest U.S. mods download site - Curse, we found between 3000-3500 independent mods. Despite China having more than double the U.S. players, they produced no more than 1500. The question is: why? We went to Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shihezi (Xinjiang), and Xiuyan (Liaoning) to find out. We also met up with U.S. modders online, at an annual gaming convention, and at Disney!
In an upcoming publication (see below), we explained the ecology of the modding communities in the U.S. and China. We also explained the reasons why the two ecologies supported different levels of creativity and productivity. The research continues to answer the following questions: Who are the modders? What mods do they produce? What are the developmental needs (particularly socio-cultural and legal issues) to unleash the potential of modding communities in product development?
Publications:
Culture and Creativity: World of Warcraft Modding in China and the U.S.
Examining the ‘Four Infrastructures’ Supporting the Hundred Dollars Laptop
Interaction Design for Complex Human Activities
Contact: Bonnie Nardi
The computer desktop was an amazing design for its time, but does not reflect the complexity, flexibility, and sociality of human activity. Eventually we will have to reorganize the desktop to reflect the complex mix of activities users engage in and move beyond the rigidity of separate applications and files-and-folders. Activity theory will be useful in this effort as we work to characterize activity. While ingenious technologies such as blogs and wikis have improved communication, we need better ways to use digital technologies to organize multiple activities, establish meaningful contexts for different activities, and collaborate with others. A different level of design and implementation is needed to make that happen.
Publications:
Whither or whether HCI: Requirements analysis for multi-Sited, multi-user cyberinfrastructures.
Soylent and ContactMap: Tools for constructing the social workscape
Acting with Technology: Activity Theory and Interaction Design
Society and Technology
Contact: Bonnie Nardi
Publications:
Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart
Culture and Creativity: World of Warcraft Modding in China and the U.S.
