Dr. Nathaniel Poor (Underwood Institute) will lecture on "Code, cultures and community in online games" as part of an undergraduate course on the internet and the crowd (taught by Dr. Roei Davidson). The lecture will be held on December 7th, 2017 in the main building, room 610.

Abstract:

Dr. Nathaniel Poor discusses some of his research into the intersection of online games, community, and code. In online games, especially massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft, the code literally is the virtual world which is then overlaid with human interpretations and norms. Although the technical does not drive the social in these socio-technical worlds, it does heavily structure and constrain human agency in them.