{"393401":{"#nid":"393401","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Players and Their Pets","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u00b7\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Hosted by the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/strong\u003E, all on campus are welcome to attend.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u00b7\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;In the world of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs),\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EFaunasphere\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;was but a blip on the screen in its short public life from 2009 to 2011. Its devoted players, many of them middle-aged women, entered a world that did not build on common fantasy or science-fiction tropes. There was no evil to defeat or realms to conquer, only friendly animals to care for and pollution to fight.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u00b7\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;In her presentation, Mia Consalvo will present recent collaborative research soon to be published in her co-authored book,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.upress.umn.edu\/book-division\/books\/players-and-their-pets\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EPlayers and Their Pets\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003EIn this study, Mia Consalvo and Jason Begy argue that its very difference makes\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EFaunasphere\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;critically important\u2014even more so than the large, commercially successful games such as\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EWorld of Warcraft\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;that have all too often shaped game studies discourse.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u00b7\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Consalvo and Begy demonstrate how the beta, or player-testing, period of an MMOG can establish social norms within the game. The platform on which the game is built also creates expectations of how gameplay will be carried out as well as who will play it\u2014and what happens when those expectations clash with the reality. Though\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;Players and Their Pets\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;explores a game played predominantly by women, it cautions against oversimplifying players based on their gender.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u00b7\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;This event is part of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/news-and-events\/event?id=385901\u0022\u003EIvan Allen College Day\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u00b7\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EMia Consalvo is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design at Concordia University in Montreal. She is the co-editor of Sports Videogames and author of Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames. She has most recently completed the book Players and Their Pets with Jason Begy and is now finishing Japan\u0027s Videogames, a book about Japan\u0027s influence on the videogame industry and game culture.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u00b7\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EMia runs the\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.mlabgamestudies.com\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EmLab\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, a space dedicated to developing innovative methods for studying games and game players. She\u0027s presented her work at professional as well as academic conferences including regular presentations at the Game Developers Conference. She is the President of the Digital Games Research Association, and has held positions at MIT, Ohio University, Chubu University in Japan and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Players and Their Pets"}],"uid":"27612","created_gmt":"2015-04-03 08:19:50","changed_gmt":"2017-04-13 21:19:34","author":"Quincy Robbins","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2015-04-07T14:30:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2015-04-07T16:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2015-04-07T16:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2015-04-07 18:30:00","gmt_time_end":"2015-04-07 20:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2015-04-07 20:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1299","name":"GVU Center"},{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"1808","name":"graduate students"},{"id":"1946","name":"GVU"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"},{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ERichard Utz\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:Richard.utz@lmc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ERichard.utz@lmc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}