I've just returned from a summer on the West Coast, where I worked with the Microsoft Corporation. Working with Sociologist Marc Smith, my work was focused between two groups - Community Technologies Group and the Games User Research Group at a smart and interesting group of researchers at Xbox. Blogging was scarce, and Facebook has crept into my online time.
The twelve weeks in Redmond Washington flew by quickly. There were two key projects that I worked on - the first, looking at how household members game together and the dynamics surrounding game play and interaction. The second project I looked at the online gaming community of GamerchiX, and how this group of women form a solid community that mentors one another and offers social support in not only gaming, but also personal issues. In particular, I looked at how women are harassed in online gaming spaces and while this is a barrier to participation, Gamerchix members offer valuable support to one another when these incidences occur. My research was framed around the notion of - how do we get women more interested in gaming (reaching the non-traditional gamer & broadening the market) and what can we do to keep them interested in gaming (gamer retention).
I will be posting tid-bits of my presentation here on my blog over the next few weeks, and will be presenting my research at conferences (TBA) in the future.
posted by Netwoman @ 12:34 PM
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