Includes bibliographical references (pages 143-147) and index.
Contents:
Introduction: A different kind of world -- Introducing the caretakers -- Those were the days: interacting with beta players -- Shifting platforms and troubled ground: Faunasphere and Facebook -- The end of the world -- "Why am I so heartbroken?": exploring the bonds between players and fauna -- Conclusion: Saying goodbye to rock garden.
Summary:
In the world of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), Faunasphere was but a blip on the screen in its short public life from 2009 to 2011. Its devoted players, many of them middle-aged women, entered a world that did not build on common fantasy or science-fiction tropes. There was no evil to defeat or realms to conquer, only friendly animals to care for and pollution to fight. In Players and Their Pets, Mia Consalvo and Jason Begy argue that its very difference makes it critically important-even more so than the large, commercially successful games such as World of Warcraft, that have all too often shaped game studies discourse. Consalvo and Begy demonstrate how the beta period of an MMOG can establish social norms that guide how the game is played. They also show how a game's platform creates expectations for how the game will work and who is playing it-and what happens when those expectations clash with the reality. Book jacket.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.