Celia/Artemesia the Ethnographer

Book III

Pearce begins the next section of our reading with Book III, an explanation of the various research methods she employed in her study of this virtual culture.

One of the first steps Pearce took was to create avatars (named Artemesia) in each of the gaming platforms (Second Life, There.com, Until Uru, etc.) Artemesia/Celia the ethnographer had to embody herself within the virtual environment; she by nature of the study had to actively participate. However, her initial approach to gathering information and conducting research took an “off-hands” perspective. She “visited” the field two to four (or more) times a week, watching activities and events. She spent much of the time talking and conducting interviews, via the available chat logs and other text options. She also documented her time spent “in-world” by capturing images, taking virtual photographs, what she calls “visual anthropology” (203).

After the collection process (not a linear, but a continual process), she analyzed data for “patterns of emergence” using word searches in her database and other qualitative research methods (204). Pearce’s goal was for “crystallization” (rather than the traditional triangulation, she wanted to appropriately represent the multi-faceted, ever-changing methods to approach the world). As far as the process of writing the work (assuming she means her thesis), she settled on a narrative approach to remove the distanced stigma of gaming culture. She wanted to put “a human face on the avatar” (207). Pearce integrated direct quotes and annotations by subjects as well as players’ own writings and poetry to emphasize that although she was the primary “ethnographer” the work itself was a collaborative effort, one that involved not only Pearce and those helping her with her research study, but the group she studied (TGU or the Uruvians) as well.

It seems odd that Pearce would explain her research methods in the central book of her text, but it makes some semblance of sense when the rest of the text is laid out around it (an introduction, an in-depth look at the culture of Uru and TGU (a baptism by text and images), an explanation of her methods, an examination of how her methods and herself/avatar developed in the role of ethnographer through the study, and a conclusion that reaches “Beyond Uru”).

Book IV

This section may be the most interesting (on a personal note). Pearce states that she writes this chapter from the perspective of her avatar, Artemesia, but the interesting part is how she weaves the voice of Artemesia back and forth between the voice of Dr. Celia Pearce, intertwining “journal entries” from a past/ hindsight perspective and a present/current perspective. What I mean here gets confusing because some of the subsections seem written soon or immediately after particular encounters during her study, while others seem to look back and recollect past experiences; still other subsections appear to speak from a present (while she was writing the book) tense, with a look forward to the future reader. (If you’re even more confused, I sincerely apologize.)

Pearce describes in this section how she discovered and began her study of The Gathering of Uru, a happy accident. Artemesia was created 10 days before TGU relocated to There.com and around one month after the servers of Uru Prologue were closed. She was led from an initial interest in a group of The Sims Online “refugees” to the more “interesting” Uru people (218). Two months later, when There.com threatened to shut down as well, TGU sprang to life to save their group from being exiled once again.

Pearce recounts the memory of TGU’s shy leader Leesa’s virtual wedding to the avatar Revelation, a player she had never met (but eventually did meet and become partners with in real life). She also writes entries about obtaining the game Uru and beginning (or not wanting to begin) to play Until Uru, the player-run servers reverse engineered by “the hackers.” She felt her reluctance as strange, believing that playing the “real” game would remove the magic, the mystical view she had of this culture (yes, that pun was intended).

Since I don’t have much space left, I want to look at one event (or process), the crisis and its aftermath. First, Pearce allowed a journalist to write what became a detrimental article about her research on TGU; the players felt judged and betrayed by this “outsider” who viewed them from the sidelines but was not “participating” in the community. As a result, Pearce was forced to change anthropological tactics and engage in the community, posting on the forum, communicating with voice chat instead of text to accommodate handicapped players’ preferences (a common practice for members of this community), even becoming the ball of a Buggy Polo game. She also conducted several presentations to other groups, incorporating the game and community into her presentations.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does the explanation of her research methods benefit our class as “game developers” within a pre-designed platform (Second Life, Minecraft)? What can we learn from the dozens of games/events planned by TGU, like Buggy Polo in There.com?
2. What about her study of the people/avatars and their relationships? What can we as English/ Communication students (expert analysts of the written and spoken English word that we are) learn from her retelling of how these people interact with one another, with their environments, with their leadership, with their resident ethnographer? 
3. Her use of the game (There.com) in her conference presentations was interesting. How would using these technologies, even involving the studied culture, change the presentation (as opposed to a presentation read primarily from a text, for example)? How can we utilize this method of presentation?