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    The Cheating Assemblage in MMORPGs: Toward a sociotechnical description of cheating


    De Paoli, Stefano and Kerr, Aphra (2009) The Cheating Assemblage in MMORPGs: Toward a sociotechnical description of cheating. Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory. Proceedings of DiGRA 2009. pp. 1-12.

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    Abstract

    This paper theoretically and empirically explores cheating in MMORPGs. This paper conceptualises cheating in MMORPGs as a sociotechnical practice which draws upon a non-linear assemblage of human actors and non-human artefacts, in which the practice of cheating is the result or the outcome of an assemblage. We draw upon the assemblage conceptualizations proposed in [16] and [8] and on empirical data taken from a pilot study we have conducted during the period September-November 2008 and from an ethnography we are conducting in the MMORPG Tibia (http://www.tibia.com) since January 2009. This game in particular was chosen because CipSoft, the company that develops the game, launched an anti-cheating campaign at the beginning of 2009.
    Item Type: Article
    Additional Information: © 2009Authors & Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA). Personal and educational classroom use of this paper is allowed, commercial use requires specific permission from the author.
    Keywords: Cheating; MMORPGs; assemblage theory; sociotechnical assemblage;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
    Item ID: 2892
    Depositing User: Prof. Aphra Kerr
    Date Deposited: 14 Dec 2011 16:26
    Journal or Publication Title: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory. Proceedings of DiGRA 2009
    Publisher: DiGRA Digital Games Reasearch Association
    Refereed: Yes
    Related URLs:
    URI: https://mu.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/2892
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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