The abstract: a summary submitted for the 7th Annual SAGE Student Research Conference

Enclosed is the abstract I submitted for a poster at the 7th Annual SAGE Student Research Conference on 9 May, 2015 at California State University, Channel Islands. I will attend and discuss research (i.e. findings, future directions, etc.) to attendees.

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This anthropological study focuses on how belief and authentic experience characterize user perceptions and beliefs in World of Warcraft (WoW). Qualitative methods were employed through semi-structured interviews to explore beliefs and feelings of WoW players in early 2015. Results were analyzed phenomenologically in order to construct a totality of experience and immersion within WoW. Virtual worlds and massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are presented as places where meaningful opportunities for self-expression and introspection occur. Explicating WoW in terms of idealized conceptions of self, belief in their abilities, and personal reflection help further understand how players develop their identities and self-belief. A goal of this presentation is to explicate MMOGs by humanizing play: gameplay is characterized as an ongoing reflexive practice because players have confidence and feelings attached to their experiences. Future work will need to make further connections between human motivation, agency, and lived experiences in MMOGs. Applying such knowledge helps to understand why millions of players invest themselves in titles such as WoW.