BIOGRAPHY

Michael McCreery is a Learning and Technology doctoral student within the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Prior to attending UNLV, McCreery was a programmer/analyst with the Intel Corporation, specializing in reporting systems design and development in which he has received a number awards. These experiences led him to develop a certification process and corresponding curriculum for the Intel Corporation, in addition to providing instruction both in the United States and India. As a result of integrating his work experience with degrees in Information Systems and Educational Foundations from Portland State University, Michael has focused his doctoral work on complex learning environments, including MMOGs. McCreery’s current projects include the investigation of expertise within the context of MMOGs as well as the development of more rigorous videogame research methodologies.

ABSTRACT

How Did You Get so Good? An Investigation of Expertise in the World of Warcraft
Video games are both fun and popular, facts that are rarely in doubt and evidenced by the enormous revenue games generate annually. What has often been questioned is the educative value of games. Negative effects such as addiction, gender bias, and aggression have often been the focus of research (see Anderson, & Bushman, 2001; Gentile, Lynch, Linder, & Walsh, 2004; Kafai, 1996; Salguero & Moran, 2002). Still, others advocate strongly in favor of video games and their future place in education (see Gee, 2003; Innovate Vol. 1, #6, 2005; Prensky, 2001; Squire, 2004; Young, 2004). Although researchers have made considerable progress with respect to games in education, there remains a stigma that games are frivolous. Further, if learning is argued to take place, then it is of questionable relevance and/or morality. However, within all manner of games, known principles of learning are at work and therefore games provide a medium that is rife with opportunities to study cognition and learning (Steinkuehler, 2006).

One of the most notable game genres is the Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). From one perspective, MMOGs provide an environment to understand the dynamics of intrapersonal collaboration (Steinkuehler, 2005). From another perspective, MMOGs provide an exciting context for investigating authentic perception-action dynamics within a constrained system (Young, Schrader, & Zheng, in press). Through interaction with the context, other participants, and outside resources (e.g., informational sites, databases, and forums), gamers become proficient not only on the level of human-computer interaction, but also at the level of avatar-virtual world interaction as an extension of intent. In the latter sense, the avatar/character becomes the mechanism by which gamers express their intent within the virtual space as a means to achieve their goals. While it is clear that gamers become quite skilled as they achieve their objectives, it is unclear what strategies are employed in order to develop said skills.

According to research on expertise, an expert in multiple domains exhibits several characteristics, many of which focus on time. However, the nature of expertise as described by Glaser, Chi, and Farr (1988) includes other characteristics that can easily be translated into the virtual worlds of MMOGs (e.g., planning, automaticity, and quick recognition of meaningful patterns). Additionally, MMOGs provide a mechanism for complex communication, collaboration, and intertextual and intratextual information exchange. Becoming highly skilled within these contexts requires significant levels of user-to-user interaction, user-to-resource interaction, and user-to-context interaction.

World of Warcraft is a MMOG that provides the gamer with multiple methods of play. For this inquiry, data were collected from 48 individuals who were deemed highly proficient in terms of intrapersonal collaboration and game related tasks. Participants were recruited from a single guild, comprised of players who have reached the maximum level and ability for one or more characters. Each regularly completes advanced game content (high-end raids), and competes successfully with other players in combat (PvP). This presentation will describe in detail the mechanisms used by these sophisticated gamers in their continual goal to reach expertise as well as relevant educational implications.

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