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Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method

AvatarTom Boellstorff, AvatarBonnie Nardi, AvatarCelia Pearce, T.L. TaylorT.L. Taylor
August 27, 2012
Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method
Tom Boellstorff, Bonnie Nardi, Celia Pearce & T. L. Taylor
Princeton University Press, 2012

A concise, comprehensive, and practical guide for students, teachers, designers, and scholars interested in using ethnographic methods to study online virtual worlds.

For sale at Princeton University Press.

Ethnography and Virtual Worlds is the only book of its kind–a concise, comprehensive, and practical guide for students, teachers, designers, and scholars interested in using ethnographic methods to study online virtual worlds, including both game and nongame environments. Written by leading ethnographers of virtual worlds, and focusing on the key method of participant observation, the book provides invaluable advice, tips, guidelines, and principles to aid researchers through every stage of a project, from choosing an online fieldsite to writing and publishing the results.

  • Provides practical and detailed techniques for ethnographic research customized to reflect the specific issues of online virtual worlds, both game and nongame
  • Draws on research in a range of virtual worlds, including Everquest, Second Life, There.com, and World of Warcraft
  • Provides suggestions for dealing with institutional review boards, human subjects protocols, and ethical issues
  • Guides the reader through the full trajectory of ethnographic research, from research design to data collection, data analysis, and writing up and publishing research results
  • Addresses myths and misunderstandings about ethnographic research, and argues for the scientific value of ethnography
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Tom Boellstorff
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Written by
Bonnie Nardi
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Celia Pearce
T.L. Taylor
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T.L. Taylor

T.L. Taylor is a qualitative sociologist who has focused on the interrelations between culture and technology in online environments for over thirty years. Her work sits at the intersection of sociology, critical internet and game studies, and science and technology studies. She is the author of three books on gaming as well as co-author of a handbook on ethnographic methods. In addition to her academic work, she co-founded the non-profit AnyKey and served as its director of research, then advisory committee chair, from 2015-2021. She was also a founding member of Twitch’s Safety Advisory Council and served on it from 2020-2024. She has been visiting researcher at Microsoft Research New England and is regularly sought out for industry consultations. She teaches subjects that include critical internet studies, qualitative methods, and gaming. She is also currently the director of the MIT Game Lab.

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