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Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of playing the online game World of Warcraft (WoW) on adolescents' social interaction and competence when played at school, in a class of teenagers. The research involved 7 classes from the first course at the Liceo Scientifico Statale "Marconi" (Milano, Italy). We analysed, from a pedagogical and psychosocial approach, the social interaction within the game environment, integrating qualitative and quantitative methods: ethnographic analysis, direct observation, and social network analysis (SNA). The results showed that the group experience and the cooperation required by this video game, allowed the classes to interact in a controlled environment, where they experienced social ties, roles and responsibilities, in turn influencing their social relationships outside the game.
Keywords: videogames, MMORPG, World of Warcraft, social competencies, secondary school
1. Introduction
Steven Johnson has stated that the basic feature of videogames is that they force us to make decisions.
"Novels may activate our imagination, and music may conjure up powerful emotions, but games force you to decide, to choose, to prioritize. All the intellectual benefits of gaming derive from this fundamental virtue, because learning how to think is ultimately about learning to make the right decisions: weighing evidence, analyzing situations, consulting your long-term goals, and then deciding (Johnson 2005, p.41)".
But not all vide games work in the same way. For instance, some videogames are different because decisions are taken inside a social context. We refer in particular to the so-called Massively Multiplayer Online RolePlaying Games (MMORPG), immersive 3D worlds where hundreds or thousands of players connect simultaneously from all over the world in order to meet each other in a simulated reality. Edward Castronova calls them synthetics worlds: "crafted places inside computers that are designed to accomodate large numbers of people" (Castronova 2005:4). The characters encountered in MMORPG are animated by people, not by a computer. It is possible to interact with characters as is in any other online community. In order to take the right decision, it is first necessary to gain familiarity with the knowledge, values, rules, codes, concepts, languages, laws, institutions and the specific objects of a given social context (Perrenoud 2001).
For example, World of Warcraft is a MMORPG by Blizzard Entertainment, set in a fantasy...