lol what was wrong with the writing if you dont my asking i mean it is just a dinky little page-long proposal for an intro anthro class but i still want to know.

also one reason i'm probably not going to do that is because you're supposed to interview someone before the event.

however given that that person would then know they were being observed, you may have a point. i'll talk to my prof.

anyway the rest of you wouldn't know. lol.

Please see my suggestions. It just tightens it up a bit.

"I propose to study the online community that has formed on the website www.webdiplomacy.net, which is based primarily on the site’s forum. This is a gaming site used to play an online version of the board game “Diplomacy,” a strategy game based on a map of Europe. The game is more than 50 years old, and has itself developed a sort of culture, which permeates its players. Additionally, the site’s community has an emergent culture of its own. I have been a player and member of the forum for three of the five years this site has existed.

There are two options for an "event" I could observe and participate in. The first is a specific thread (a collection of posts on a single topic) on the forum. The second is the forum in its entirety over a pre-determined period of time. In either case, there would be a clearly defined starting and ending, and a concrete list of participants. A key difference between these options and a physical event is that it will be documented in its entirety after the fact, which could be useful for more in-depth analysis than would normally be possible. Another factor to consider about the group’s online nature is the relative anonymity among the players, given that most only know each other by pseudonyms. This in itself is a topic that can be explored in the project. Permission to perform this study has already been sought and received by the community, and interviews will be conducted over email."

lol whatever,

thanks. :P

you know.... i just realized that.... i bet when i turn it in, the plagiarism software will like.... pick it up when i post it for you guys.

maybe i had better wait to show it to yall till after it's been graded lol.

that will actually be in a few months, so i hope you don't get impatient.

lawl that would be funny.

that plagiarism software is a pain in the ass, i wrote a 12page paper for my history class last year for the final project and surprisingly it gave me a 0% plagiarism report but one of my friends who did the same topic as me got a 98% plagiarism report....the funniest part about it was i did my paper a semester before him so he really only had about 2%plagiarized but 98% because my paper was already in the system and he used nearly all the same sources as me and because of the high % he got a D. He would have got an instant 0% if we hadnt talked to the teacher about it and had him look back at my paper as well and our sources and then decided that it was just because of my paper that he had such a high % so he gave him the ability to get a 70% on it if he could reword things and got it down to a 6% plagiarism report.....so yeah basically that software just causes a shit ton of issues

@thucydides
if i am one of the people you decide to interview it would probably be best to pm me because i havnt checked my email for a long time...and the last time i checked it i had like 600ish new messages to go through so i would probably miss your email. (is it sad that i check this site more often then my own email? lol)

Well, that's a case of user error. If you're going to be stupid enough to base a grade completely on the number a computer spits out then you're a real fuck-up of a teacher.

it wasn't completely based off the % but if your paper gets above a 50% plagiarism report then it's considered a failure because you used to much without citing it or whatever (aka copy pasting to write the essay). most students had a max of 20% plagiarism reports so his 98% was really alarming to the teacher

Well, i am not very thoroughly established, but if you want to get a wide demographic, i wouldn't mind being interviewed :)

yeah i would ask those i interview a bit of demographic info... so as to get a bit of diversity if i can.

and interviewing dj or crazyter or another woman would be ideal so that i have a man and a woman at minimum

I just volunteered since i thought demographic could be in real life age (i am pretty sure i'm younger than most of you) but also site age (almost positive younger than all of you in that).

ancient your not the only one lol, i started playing this game about half way through december if i remember correctly and im also pretty young in real life age too

ah, cool :)
You seemed much older than that in game time : 0

ARE WE HAVING A YOUNG CONTEST!?!?!?

Unfortunately, I'm 18 now :'(

i turn 18 in about 2months, i guess i seem much older in game time because since starting i've played alot of games in that short time. i love strategy games and i know very few people who do in real life so being introduced to this site was really good to me.

Same, as far as loving the game, but I'm younger than you guys

Wow, children. I've been married more than 22 years.

: P
No wonder you forget things

@Thucydides - one thing I particularly like about this group is that the IQ of most of the participants is obviously higher than average. You might want to take that into account.

Also, we are a self-selected group of people who enjoy playing a game where one of the best ways to win is to stab an ally in the back. You might want to take that into account too (or at least acknowledge it in your report).

And if you want to consider an old Brit like me as a possible interviewee, that would be fine too.

We are a self-selected group of people who enjoy playing a game where one of the best ways to win is to stab an ally in the back. You might want to take that into account before relying on us with your anthro grade on the line.

I also volunteer to be interviewed if you wish, although I do not represent any noteworthy distinctive demographic.

all demographics are noteworthy hangedman lol

I have a friend that is working on an anthro doctorate studying online gaming cultures. If you'd like to talk to her, she might be a good source for information tying to this, or interested in your paper. I can point you in that direction if you'd like. And while she is kind of MMO heavy, she is interested in all aspects of internet and video gaming culture.

And you can also interview me if you want. I'm old, but not as old as Draug. I was born in 1973.

Is webDip big enough to be considered MMO?

I'd think so. we had a few thousand people in the ghost ratings list, which means they're active right?

@Thucy: you said 'Permission to perform this study has already been sought and received by the community'

How does one get permission from 'the community' especially when some people don't even think we are a cummunity (or don't have our own unique/emergent culture?) How many people need to consent to your participation in an 'event' for it to be considered 'community approval' - i mean i can see asking your baptist minister for permission to attend an event - in this case do you ask a mod? I certainly am happy to give my approval, but i don't think i have the right (as a mod, part-timer) to give you the community's approval.

How many webdip forum members does it take to constitute a 'community approval'?

We're not a democracy, in a sense we're not a dictatorship (though Kestas is the Owner, with his most trusted Admins as advisors, and his less trusted Mods as enforcers... ) But beyond that, on the forum we're all equals. I have no power to moderate the forum (Kestas decreed it so, perhaps we are a dictatorship) But this study seems to be about the forum, the event you choose is obviously not a game, and i don't think the community would be so easy to convince to allow you full access to the private messages which go on within a game... even if we trusted you to play a fair one. (and i would, having played in several games with Thucy i trust him to be a horrible person liable to stab me at any moment :P )

Is the use of emoticons signifigant? Damn i've gotten far off topic... Anyway, my 2 cent regarding our 'community'.

'abge makes a good point. Looking at a past thread will not result in one or more of us tailoring our responses...'

there is soo much history to look at that Thucy would only be able to review a small percentage of it, and his selection would be inherently biased by his choice of threads.

That and choosing a small window of time to examine gives a managable amount of data to process... and ... oh Draug, you were suggesting using the same small thread just waiting til it's over... i should really read the whole thing before i reply...

'Is webDip big enough to be considered MMO?' YES, and for reasons given elsewhere i am big enough for my consideration to be worth something :P

Also the MM aspect of webdiplomacy is the meta-points system. Diplomacy is a 7 player game, which is not Massively Multi-player.

@thucy - you can probe me if you like, i don't make a lot of sense but i don't swear so at least my nonsense will be printable. Oh, and I was elected president of the site. Oh, and I first brought Ankara Crescent to the site, pick me, pick me!

lol. thanks for the responses. who i contact will be based largely on who participates in the event i decide to study and in what capacity. i'll contact you ex poste facto.

also, when i said i got permission i guess, yeah, it's informal, but i publicly asked if it was alright and no one has said they genuinely have an issue.

since there is no real.... power structure per se, i guess the best i have is general consensus, and i think i have it, don't you?