Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze the fan culture of the video game, World of Warcraft, to analyze the motivations, reactions, and reasons of play, to examine World of Warcraft: Classic as a form of nostalgic media, and to study its fandom through an ethnographic lens. This study utilized a fusion of the following methodologies: cyberethnography, ethnography, and visual ethnography. The author recorded gameplay footage of World of Warcraft, and World of Warcraft Classic. After this, an ethnography was conducted at the 2019 Blizzcon convention, in which observation shots and interviews took place. This footage was edited together to form a visual ethnography medium, in which the data and findings are presented. The results are that the popularity around World of Warcraft Classic is not because of the game itself, but rather the idea that it was a step in the right direction to giving the fans a sense of agency and say in the game’s future development.
Advisor
Atay, Ahmet
Department
Communication Studies
Recommended Citation
Schulz, David Andrew, "You Think You Do, but You Don’t: An Investigation of Fandom and Nostalgic Media Through an Analysis of World of Warcraft Classic" (2020). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 9127.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/9127
Disciplines
Film and Media Studies | Film Production | Visual Studies
Keywords
video games, world of warcraft, fandom, ethnography
Publication Date
2020
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis Exemplar
Included in
© Copyright 2020 David Andrew Schulz