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@article{ART002599755},
author={Jonathan Michael Hollister},
title={The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players},
journal={Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science},
issn={1229-2435},
year={2020},
volume={31},
number={2},
pages={223-266},
doi={10.14699/kbiblia.2020.31.2.223}

TY - JOUR
AU - Jonathan Michael Hollister
TI - The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players
JO - Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science
PY - 2020
VL - 31
IS - 2
PB - Journal Of The Korean Biblia Society For Library And Information Science
SP - 223
EP - 266
SN - 1229-2435
AB - Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are played by millions of people around the world. Within MMORPGs, players explore, solve mysteries, craft items, battle against dungeon or raid bosses, or compete against other players, all while using a variety of information and information behaviors. Role-players in MMORPGs develop identities and engage in interactive storytelling with other role-players as their characters. An ethnographic approach combining overt participant observation and engagement, semi-structured interviews, and artifact collection was used to explore and describe the social information behaviors of role-players through the lens of the theory of information worlds. The social types evident in the role-playing community in WildStar, a science fantasy-themed MMORPG, are closely interrelated to and differentiated by social norms and information values that dictate acceptable characters, stories, character actions, and appropriate lore sources as well as how to role-play without violating the boundary between in- and out-of-character information worlds. Role-players maintained the in-character and out-of-character boundary using a set of specific information behaviors to enable engaging and immersive role-playing experiences. Implications of the findings for the theory of information worlds as well as potential applications of role-playing and MMORPGs are also discussed.
KW - Information Worlds;Social Information Behavior;Role-Playing;MMORPG;Ethnographic Methods
DO - 10.14699/kbiblia.2020.31.2.223
ER -

Jonathan Michael Hollister. (2020). The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players. Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science, 31(2), 223-266.

Jonathan Michael Hollister. 2020, "The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players", Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science, vol.31, no.2 pp.223-266. Available from: doi:10.14699/kbiblia.2020.31.2.223

Jonathan Michael Hollister "The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players" Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science 31.2 pp.223-266 (2020) : 223.

Jonathan Michael Hollister. The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players. 2020; 31(2), 223-266. Available from: doi:10.14699/kbiblia.2020.31.2.223

Jonathan Michael Hollister. "The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players" Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science 31, no.2 (2020) : 223-266.doi: 10.14699/kbiblia.2020.31.2.223

Jonathan Michael Hollister. The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players. Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science, 31(2), 223-266. doi: 10.14699/kbiblia.2020.31.2.223

Jonathan Michael Hollister. The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players. Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science. 2020; 31(2) 223-266. doi: 10.14699/kbiblia.2020.31.2.223

Jonathan Michael Hollister. The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players. 2020; 31(2), 223-266. Available from: doi:10.14699/kbiblia.2020.31.2.223

Jonathan Michael Hollister. "The Information Worlds of Online Role-Players" Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science 31, no.2 (2020) : 223-266.doi: 10.14699/kbiblia.2020.31.2.223