Thursday, October 26, 2006

Post 9: Final Paper Outline

For this posting, identify a topic you would like to focus on for your final paper. Provide the main research question(s) you are going to investigate. Outline the sections of the paper and explain which theory will guide your paper. Then, find two articles or books that seem relevant to your topic and give their complete citation.

2 comments:

Av DG said...

I plan to elaborate on the exciting world, I mean, virtual world of MMORPG. =) I will use the Uses and Gratifications Theory to analyze gamers' motivations for playing MMORPG. In addition to a detailed report on the findings from research done by leading experts on MMORPG, I will conduct a qualitative mini-study to validate/refute the findings of these authors. Aside from that, I will provide a narrative of my motivations and experience during the participant observation I conducted in the world of warcraft. What follows is the proposed outline of my paper.
____________________________

Technology and Entertainment
MMORPG: The New Face of Play

A. Introduction
i. How did people use to play? What games?
ii. What happened when mediated play (video games) arrived on the scene?
iii. What is the frontier of mediated play?
1. How did mediated play evolve into Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG )
2. Why are MMORPG’s popular?
B. Who plays MMORPG?
C. What are MMORPG players’ motivations for play?
i. Intro to uses and gratifications theory
ii. Using the Uses and Gratifications framework to examine players’ motives for engaging in MMORPG
D. Qualitative in-depth analysis on gamers’ motivations to validate Yee’s findings
E. (not sure yet) What are the issues that have been raised on MMORPG play?
i. Analysis of case studies to illustrate
1. Blurring Work and Play
2. Social Dynamics in MMORPG
3. Problematic Use
F. How have MMORPGs changed the way we play?
i. The future of play
G. Conclusions and Recommendations

Bibliography

Yee, N. (2006). The Psychology of MMORPGs: Emotional Investment, Motivations, Relationship Formation, and Problematic Usage. In R.Schroeder & A. Axelsson (Eds.), Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments (pp. 187-207). London: Springer-Verlag.

Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., and Moore, R.J. (2006). "Alone Together? Exploring the Social Dynamics of Massively Multiplayer Games." In conference proceedings on human factors in computing systems CHI 2006, pp.407-416. April 22-27, Montreal, PQ, Canada.

Byeng-Hee Chang, Seung-Eun Lee, Byoung-Sun Kim (2006). Exploring factors affecting the adoption and continuance of online games among college students in South Korea: Integrating uses and gratification and diffusion of innovation approaches

Ko-Jung said...

The topic of the final research paper would be focus on the simple questions: Why do people (Taiwanese students in ISU) use Instant Messenger? What gratification they seek and obtain from Instant Messenger? To answer these questions, I would like to apply the Uses and Gratification Theory to analyze the motivations of the users of Instant Messenger. Due to the lack of methodology training, this study will mainly concentrate on the chapter 1-Introduction and chapter 2-literature review. The Taiwanese students in ISU would be my participant in this research because so far there is relatively less U&G studies analyze the Eastern country.

A. Introduction
1. Emerge of the Internet
2. Computer Mediate Communication
3. Communication of Instant Messenger
B. Literature Review
1. 1950-1990 U&G Research
2. Revival of U&G Research
3. U&G as Theory
C. Methodology

Reference
Thomas F. Stafford (2003). Differentiating between adopter categories in the uses and gratifications for internet services. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management; Nov2003, Vol. 50 Issue 4, p427-435, 10p

Ruggiero, T. (2000). Uses and Gratifications theory in the 21st Century. Mass Communication and Society, 3 (1), 3-37.

Daniela V. Dimitrova (2002). Internet Uses and Gratifications: An Online Survey of Bulgarians at Home and Abroad. International Communication Bulletin, Spring 2002, Vol. 37, No. 1-2, p36-49