School is a FedEx Quest

As I'm starting the lit rev framework for my game study work I've been asking myself many questions to help me more sharply focus on a complex subject. While most game studies folks are interested in the potential of games to carry school content (e.g., Squire, Gee), others are interested in them as labs for studing social phenomena, such as economics (Castranova) and social engagement (e.g., Malaby). I fall into the latter category. My interest is in knowledge co-production and sharing, i.e., cultural work. To the extent that learning is a consequence of cultural engagement, virtual world gaming, i.e., MMO gaming, and specific game play are viable settings for study.

Q: Is knowledge constructed and shared in MMOs? >> If so, this might be a great lab for studying that.

Since knowledge production and sharing clearly happen in these settings, and quite successfully across a fair amount of diversity, these settings offer a chance to understand in concrete terms, the propositions of sociocultural theory.

Q: Is the complexity of MMO game worlds sufficient to warrant a need to know? >> If so, games can stand in for other complex contexts requiring intentional learning, e.g., work.

Ironically I was about to say, work and school, and then I caught myself. Is school really that complex? That's how I got to school is a fedex quest. In public schools in California at least, school is still about porting information and basic skills into kids' heads. But I don't want to rant about that. That's old news.

People playing WoW turn to sites such as Thottbot, Allakhazam, and WoWwiki when they have a problem. They want to find an NPC or a quest giver, or they need help strategizing how to succeed at the given quest task. The help available there is both user-generated and site-generated. The site offers a fairly deep database on items, quests, factions, professions, classes and so on. However, on Thottbot and Allakhazam, that databased knowledge tends to be static description, that is, amost a dictionary of information. However, both sites allow game players to post additional information in forums and threaded discussions, and they do, based on their personal experiences and insights.

Look up Legend of Stalvan in Thottbot and you get a Thottbot generated entry that contains oodles of information about the quest: location, level, rewards, start, finish, and a listing of the 13 step chain that *is* The Legend of Stavan. Much of that information is hotlinked to more detail on location and items. The interesting and most used portion of the page is, however, the user postings, i.e., commentary on the quest and the quest chain. Here's a sampling:

THE QUEST in abbreviated form:
Obtained at level 22 -- Travel to the Moonbrook Schoolhouse and bring back any updated information about Stalvan to Clerk Daltry.


Before I offer the user commentary, note that it falls into a few neat categories. First is the explicit help: go here, do this, it's at these coordinates. The second focuses on strategies or obstacles that make the quest a challenge, and how to get around them. This is by far the most interesting category because, like the proverbial cat, there are many ways to skin a quest. The third category addresses this with class-specific pointers. The fourth category is straight out brag, not interesting and yet, if a level 20 hunter did it, maybe you can too.

SOME USER COMMENTARY:

Explicit Help: It was 41,67.. When you enter moonbrook it's straight ahead from the road, on the right. There is a hearse out front. The box is in the back room, on the right siode right before you go up the stairs. Ghost was lvl 26.. took her down, no problem.

Quest Obstacles Here's something worth noting that isn't mentioned above: the undead has a predilection for polymorph. I did this quest as a lvl 29 Hunter and she sheeped me as soon as the fight started. As soon as the first wore off, she did it again, and I wasn't able to get a single shot in. Fortunately my pet was able to take her down. I would guess that she prefers to keep the fights one-on-one. If you fight her alone, you probably won't notice it, but be warned if you're in a group (or have a pet).

Class Pointers As a lot of people posted, she will sheep you if you have a pet. Did this as a 26 warlock, Voidwalker should be able to solo her shes not that bad. You do have time to get some DPS spells on her in between her turning you into a sheep. It takes about 10 seconds for her to aggro so I think you can just accept the quest for the box and leave.

Brag Very simple; beat it as a lvl 22 priest.


This is just intended as a sampling. There is much more to code in this thread, for instance, some comments are directly in response to prior ones, others are posted as a general broadcast. Some include links or images, and so on. Some help references the original quest text either to clarify or to point out how n00b you must be to not read it carefully and not realize the quest is in Westfall not Duskwood. LOL.

Now as cool as that is, it gets better. The sites support reputation management. YOu get to vote, if you wish, on the posting, based on whatever criterion you choose. I was going to say based on usefulness, but I have seen some postings get bumped up because they are funny or because they rant against Blizzard because the quest drop rate is awful. I, myself, have voted up a few entries for those reasons. They deserve to be read by others. I guess that's the criterion we're all working on.

I"m adding a picture here, as is my new habit. THis one is not a shot I took, but is an image a player posted on this Stalvan thread. Note the user went to the trouble to markup the picture to help others find the elusive box.