Anthropology Research - FAU Thesis (Michael Perez)

By: Balry

This is a brief paragraph of my research topic.
Feel free to critique and even heavily bash with intellectual jargon.

Main source of theoretical standing is Tom Boellstorff's Rethinking Digital Anthropology. (Chapter 2 from book entitled Digital Anthropology)
Link: http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~tboellst/bio/Rethinking.pdf

"I will take a close look at the belief system, social, “family,” and political structure of a large and active video game community that primarily functions within massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). Most online gaming communities that are influential, well-known, and competitive expect, if not require, players to regularly schedule gaming time in order to join and maintain membership. The goal of my ethnography is to create a comprehensive, yet detailed, ethnographic account of a rare type of gaming community that is open to any player without the requirement of a time or skill commitment, but still maintains a great amount of influence and prowess within and outside the game. This project will allow for the exploration of a rare kind of stable and active online gaming community, and will test and further the understanding of the indexical relationship between the virtual and the physical. More specifically, the research will explore how an existing model from the physical plane was modified by the gaming community I am studying and was used as the basis for creating and maintaining a gaming community that would fill a cultural niche in the virtual space."

Thanks for reading.
I would be glad to answer any questions and greatly appreciate any advise (I would love references that try to dispute his claims).