Just Wow...

You are . . . Machinima

Cinema by Skrillex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQcQDbpDH_o

Moving on from the really bad attempt at a pun, its okay if you want to leave I completely understand, I will be recapping Nakamura’s essay on the racialization of “Chinese gold farmers” in World of Warcraft (WoW).

Reseach Question:

  • Topic - Racialization of online communities

  • Question - How do community creations on Machinima reflect the attitudes of the entire WoW community

  • Significance - Online user media creation is by no means exclusive to WoW so the aggresive nature towards “Chinese player workers” is likely not an isolated occurence in the Wow community

Argument:

  • Claim - Not all of the WoW community is racist towards “Chinses player workers”

  • Reasons - Those who have strong opinions about something are more likeley to vocalize those opinions, specifically if they’re are negative. For most cases this is a result of wanting to get rid of what the individual deems to be the sourse of their complaints.

  • Evidence - Nakamura references several comments portraying disagreement with some of the racist things said in the Machinima videos

  • Alternatives - Nakamura also provides additional comments where the commenter suggest that the videos themselves are not racist but an expression of anger with “Chinese player workers” ruining the experience and immersion that they desire when playing WoW.

  • Warrents - The reasons and evidence that Nakamura provides deliberately show the conflict of opinions on “Chinese player workers” where some are not neccesarily pleased with them but accept them as a part of the game and others view them as cheaters that should be ousted for ruining the game, neither of which is inherently racist beyond the assosiation of the Chinese ethnicity with worker players.

That about wraps it up for this weeks blog. See you next week for and update on the Final Project.

Written on November 6, 2016 by Thomas Glavan