4 ms·

Misinformation and Disinformation in Online Games

34 points by infodocket 8y ago

wiremaus 8y ago
...in which a UW grad student determines that a sufficient supply of buzzwords can translate a KotOR obsession into a dissertation.
- diminoten 8y ago
  Yeah holy crap, this didn't actually get published anywhere did it?
  - chias 8y ago
    It's a doctoral dissertation. Typically this means that it itself is not published in a peer-reviewed journal, but was reviewed and accepted by the person's dissertation committee. That being said, dissertations typically contain information that the candidate has previously published during the pursuit of their degree. You can find the author's published works here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=m0y4wxsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=m0y4wxsAAAAJ&hl=en...
- esalman 8y ago
  AAA game publishers such as EA, Ubisoft and Activision have already translated such obsession into multi-billion dollar pseudo-gambling businesses. I think more scrutiny on these are welcome.
- baud147258 8y ago
  It's SWTOR, not KOTOR. KOTOR (Knights of the Old Republic) usually refers to the two solo games by Bioware and Obsidian, whereas SWTOR (Star Wars: the Old Republic) is the MMO where the study took place, also by Bioware.
arkem 8y ago
I wrote a short paper about propaganda and spy antics in Eve Online in 2009: http://memeover.arkem.org/2009/12/information-operations-in-and-around.html http://memeover.arkem.org/2009/12/information-operations-in-... Though if you're after Eve Online war stories I'd instead recommend the books and podcast Empires of Eve (not by me): https://www.empiresofeve.com/ https://www.empiresofeve.com/
paradoxparalax 8y ago
a curious bit, if you don't skip the world "online" in the next sentence, quoted from her dissertation: << 180 minutes of naturalistic observation, collection of 72 online artifacts >> She talks about game artifacts. Collected in a game field trip, is a fun idea, I have to say. Runescape, the online RPG lots of kids play have a complex Economy, if you analise, and interesting phenomenons occur. (using "s" for latin plural, lets evolve English a bit) idea for a game: The Charles Darwin of 2099, collect frozen shrimp on Europa, the moon.
- chipperyman573 8y ago
  Runescape has a pretty old player-base at this point, mostly because the only people who play it any more are people who played it when they were younger
  - paradoxparalax 8y ago
    I want until the topic is dead to confess I was too overly old to play already when the player base was all most kids. haha So, even for today standards, I would be the oldest there. But they banned my acc by mistake and I never cheated so I never will play anymore, i mean, only after I buy the company if I feel inclined and fire whoever the inconpetent who banned my acc. Really never never cheated...All hand-made sweat Grinding...Its was unfair and very saddening. But will never write email will fire :D just joking. but no email. Cheers, friend!
- TomMckenny 8y ago
  >using "s" for latin plural, lets evolve English a bit ...collection of LXXII artifactorum... Perhaps off topic from the paper but it's clear there is at least one category of game that gives the user a particular world view. People who have played Civilization have a very distinctive view of world history and social forces generally. I'm sure Sid Meyer was just maximizing fun and it's certainly not propagandist. But maybe it shows that abuse is theoretically possible. (Although it's hard to think historical simulations have audiences big enough worth targeting.)

34 points by infodocket 8y ago

...in which a UW grad student determines that a sufficient supply of buzzwords can translate a KotOR obsession into a dissertation.

diminoten 8y ago
Yeah holy crap, this didn't actually get published anywhere did it?
- chias 8y ago
  It's a doctoral dissertation. Typically this means that it itself is not published in a peer-reviewed journal, but was reviewed and accepted by the person's dissertation committee. That being said, dissertations typically contain information that the candidate has previously published during the pursuit of their degree. You can find the author's published works here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=m0y4wxsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=m0y4wxsAAAAJ&hl=en...
esalman 8y ago
AAA game publishers such as EA, Ubisoft and Activision have already translated such obsession into multi-billion dollar pseudo-gambling businesses. I think more scrutiny on these are welcome.
baud147258 8y ago
It's SWTOR, not KOTOR. KOTOR (Knights of the Old Republic) usually refers to the two solo games by Bioware and Obsidian, whereas SWTOR (Star Wars: the Old Republic) is the MMO where the study took place, also by Bioware.

arkem 8y ago

I wrote a short paper about propaganda and spy antics in Eve Online in 2009: http://memeover.arkem.org/2009/12/information-operations-in-and-around.html http://memeover.arkem.org/2009/12/information-operations-in-... Though if you're after Eve Online war stories I'd instead recommend the books and podcast Empires of Eve (not by me): https://www.empiresofeve.com/ https://www.empiresofeve.com/

paradoxparalax 8y ago

a curious bit, if you don't skip the world "online" in the next sentence, quoted from her dissertation: << 180 minutes of naturalistic observation, collection of 72 online artifacts >> She talks about game artifacts. Collected in a game field trip, is a fun idea, I have to say. Runescape, the online RPG lots of kids play have a complex Economy, if you analise, and interesting phenomenons occur. (using "s" for latin plural, lets evolve English a bit) idea for a game: The Charles Darwin of 2099, collect frozen shrimp on Europa, the moon.

chipperyman573 8y ago
Runescape has a pretty old player-base at this point, mostly because the only people who play it any more are people who played it when they were younger
- paradoxparalax 8y ago
  I want until the topic is dead to confess I was too overly old to play already when the player base was all most kids. haha So, even for today standards, I would be the oldest there. But they banned my acc by mistake and I never cheated so I never will play anymore, i mean, only after I buy the company if I feel inclined and fire whoever the inconpetent who banned my acc. Really never never cheated...All hand-made sweat Grinding...Its was unfair and very saddening. But will never write email will fire :D just joking. but no email. Cheers, friend!
TomMckenny 8y ago
>using "s" for latin plural, lets evolve English a bit ...collection of LXXII artifactorum... Perhaps off topic from the paper but it's clear there is at least one category of game that gives the user a particular world view. People who have played Civilization have a very distinctive view of world history and social forces generally. I'm sure Sid Meyer was just maximizing fun and it's certainly not propagandist. But maybe it shows that abuse is theoretically possible. (Although it's hard to think historical simulations have audiences big enough worth targeting.)