DiGRA '09 - Proceedings of the 2009 DiGRA International Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory
Brunel University, September, 2009
Volume: 5
ISBN / ISNN: ISSN 2342-9666
While some MMOGs are worlds in their own right, i.e. where the game world and background story is designed for the particular game, other games may be derived from familiar popular culture narratives and other media forms such as films and literature. The MMOG Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) is an example of this trend and is based on the Star Wars Universe which has featured in 6 blockbuster films, books, video games, and a variety of other mediums. This paper presents findings from an ethnographic research within the roleplaying community of Freetown, which is located on one of the servers of SWG. The paper aims to demonstrate how, in addition to recognised player-typology (e.g. power-gamers, role-players and socialisers) player identity and community is established and maintained through readings and interpretation of the Star Wars narrative.