#1 - May 9, 2016, 11:26 a.m.
I just wanted to share this with the WoW community. Recently, I received my Ph.D degree and my research was about WoW. For those of you who are interested in research, I submitted the abstract at the end of this thread.
I would like to express my gratitude to Blizzard, WoW fans and all the players who participated in my research study. I cannot imagine having a better research area other than MMORPGs in general and WoW in particular. I would never imagine a game like WoW, that I grow-up with, could change my life so drastically in a positive way.
Thank you Orgrim, Thrall, Arthas, Sylvanas... and all the others that I forgot. You all inspired me in this big journey (Big thanks to Chris Metzen for your creativity). THANK YOU AZEROTH!!!
PS: Movie is a month away. What a great way to celebrate!
TRANSFERABLE LEARNING SKILLS OF AN MMORPG: A WORLD OF WARCRAFT QUEST
The purpose of this study was to explore the educational benefits and the transferability of skills gained or improved while playing World of Warcraft (WoW) to real life. It attempted to research on the possibility of transferring four different learning categories: experiential learning, collaborative learning, leadership, and autonomous learning respectively through playing WoW. This study included 258 online survey participants. At the end of each category, the participants were asked to elaborate on a comment question which was associated with its category. Along with the survey data, two interviews were conducted and analyzed. This data was used to discuss what skills can be learned
through playing MMORPGs and to what extend these skills are transferred to real life. The results indicated that the mentioned categories of learning occur in the game and are perceived to be transferable to real life in varying degrees. It proceeded to reveal that if even an online game designed without educational outcome goals can have an educational impact on its players, a purposefully educational or instructional game can bring about considerably positive results for learning. Therefore, this research demonstrated the potential of an MMORPG as an educational platform where by creating educational content, desired learning outcomes can be achieved. This research also showed that, in essence, an MMORPG has a built-in real-life like structure in terms of social groupings, teamwork, human communication, goal orientation, work ethics, and learning by doing.
