M.A. Anthropology Thesis Research Update!

It has been a long time since my last post regarding my research on online gaming communities. On that post I had a discussion with khy0te regarding the Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements and approval delays. Well, it has taken this long to receive full approval from them. Some of you might have also seen my "reminder" piece on the Gaiscioch Magazine Issue 1 page 65.

Either way I am happy to say that my research study entitled "MMO Gaming Culture: An Online Gaming Family" has been FULLY APPROVED by BOTH the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and my thesis committee. In fact, they are both very excited to see my results.
This means that now comes the part where I become more active within the community to search for volunteers for the research study. Don't worry I will not be forcing or nagging anyone! I am, after all, looking for volunteers :)

I will have more details regarding how to participate on forum and blog posts in the upcoming days!

Thanks for tuning in!

I will be interested in any updates - if I can help then I will.  I love our community and there are many that are like family to me even though I have never seen their faces or met them in person.

Best of Luck and Safe Journ!

Congratulations on getting your Masters research approved!   It's really a very interesting area. 

I suppose you're already familiar with Nick Yee's research?

Thank you Morigana. The best way to help is to follow this link to see information about the online survey! (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MMOGamingCultureReasearch)

Helvius - Yes, I am familiaer with Yee's work. I have looked at his work on social architectures in MMOs and how game mechanics affect the social interaction of the players. He has also done an incredible ethnography on MMORPG Weddings. I am particularly looking at his new book the proteus paradox... which is a compilation of a lot of what he has done up to now... in it he also discusses what I am calling the border between the offline and the online. His approach is far more psychological than mine. However, I take those aspects into account.
I appreciate the reference however.

You should be able to close this survey and continue working on it later if you visit the same link provided above.
Thanks!