About 5 million Chinese play "WoW," which is twice the number of American players. But Americans produce far more modifications, or "mods," to enrich the gaming experience.
"We are examining the many reasons for this disparity, including cultural and institutional factors," says Bonnie Nardi, the UCI informatics professor who'll conduct the study with help from doctoral student Yong Ming Kow.
Nardi is a WoW fan who has already done lots of cultural research on a game that has 10 million players worldwide. As I noted in an earlier post, she spent time last year observing WoW gamers in the Internet cafes of Beijing. She explained her observations in an e-mail, saying:
"The vast majority of Chinese players are not 'gold farmers' (people who play to generate game gold, which is then sold for real money). They're ordinary players like anyone. The media has blown that story out of all proportion. Many people think Chinese play for a job. They play for fun.
"Chinese people play the more challenging form of World of Warcraft almost exclusively. They find the less challenging form of the game 'boring.' Here, about 50 percent play the challenging form of the game and there, about 95 percent do.
"(The) Chinese have invented some interesting ways to play with the in-game economy (not the real world economy). Ways that I have not observed here in two years of studying 'World of Warcraft.'
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