STAR WORLDS: FREEDOM VERSUS CONTROL IN ONLINE GAMING WORLDS

William Sims Bainbridge

Star Worlds explores the future-oriented universe of online virtual worlds connected with popular science fiction―specifically, with StarWars and Star Trek―that have been inhabited for over a decade by computer gamers. The Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, both of which have shaped the dominant science fiction mythologies of the last half century, offer profound conceptions of the tension between freedom and control in human economic, political, and social interactions. Bainbridge investigates the human and technological dynamics of four online virtual worlds based on these two very different traditions: the massive multiplayer online games Star Wars Galaxies; Star Wars: The Old Republic; Star Trek Online; and the Star Trek community in the non-game, user-created virtual environment, Second Life.

The four “star worlds” explored in this book illustrate the dilemmas concerning the role of technology as liberator or oppressor in our post-industrial society, and represent computer simulations of future possibilities of human experience. Bainbridge considers the relationship between a real person and the role that person plays, the relationship of an individual to society, and the relationship of human beings to computing technology. In addition to collecting ethnographic and quantitative data about the social behavior of other players, he has immersed himself in each of these worlds, role-playing 14 avatars with different skills and goals to gain new insights into the variety of player experience from a personal perspective.

PUBLICATION DETAILS

LANGUAGE	BINDING	EDITION	ISBN	YEAR	PAGES
English	Paperback		9780472053285	2012	320
English	Hardcover		9780472073283	2012	320
English	eBook		N/A	2016	320