Abstract

This paper addresses the question of concrete realizations of imaginary worlds as situated worlds. As a case study, the author bases his reflections on Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, a MMORPG based on the adventure of Conan the barbarian, the character created by Robert E. Howard in the 1930s. The author of the paper uses Erving Goffman’s theory of game and the notions of “locally realized world” and “membrane” to address this situated production. He then discusses the place of the player and the relations to the representations in the game as a vicarious experience and a distance implied by playful practices. By crossing several works of Erving Goffman, the author shows that immersion in gaming worlds is the product of both being absorbed in the action and maintaining a distance with it in order to be at the same time an actor and a spectator of the action.

Keywords

MMORPG, Action, Immersion, Transmedial World, Conan

Référence

Di Filippo, Laurent, “MMORPG as Locally Realized Worlds of Action” in Boni, Marta (ed.), World Building. Transmedia, Fans, Industries. Amsterdam University Press, 2017, pp. 231-250.

Page de l’éditeur

http://en.aup.nl/books/9789089647566-world-building.html