Larry,
EVE is an ancronym for Everquest. A simple Google will pull up millions of refs. Here's the main starting point: http://everquest.station.sony.com/
The motive of playing started out as entertainment, I suppose, but now it has become possible to make a living playing it since there are numerous commodities and a virtual money that are actively exchanged on eBay for official currencies in the global economy. One also needs to subscribe and pay a certain monthly fee to play (unlike 2nd Life last time I checked)
Like 2nd Life, one starts out with a minimum set of elements: a personality (individual subject) that one can create from four types of "races"--seemingly patterned along Star Trek lines-- and a rudimentary space ship (initial instrument) capable of mining asteroids at a very slow pace. One can make money (object) at the beginning by either mining asteroids or running "courier missions" that require nothing more than "time" travelling from one point in the EVE star world to another. When one starts in EVE one is starting out in a rudimentary activity system with few linkages between its object and other activity systems within the game. As one gains money, or establishes contacts with other players that provide further access to resources, one can expand ones instruments and create more subjects, although one can only "play" one subject at a time when in the online environment. But one eventually needs to join some kind of existing organization with other players to
get very far as a player. It's ongoing, there is no final objective, just a kind of expansion of ones power and ability to do things.
The impossibility of achieving anything as an individual is where it gets interesting from the point of view of studying activity -- one needs to join one or another kind of organization and there are legitimate (corporate) and illegitimate (pirates) organizatioons.(macro-division of labor) There are constantly ongoing chats between the online players within these organization (community) and different organizations have different rules and all of them have one or another form of division of labor. One joining at the initial level must move through a variety of tasks, determined only by the specific organization one has joined within the basic framework of the game's rules. The chats form a kind of ZPD for developing ones skills and power within the game while the different kinds of activities one gradually gains access to provide the framework for gaining wealth and power.
It wouldn't be hard to go on and on analyzing the game from an activity theoretic point of view. It certainly would be interesting to study in depth but that's not my thing. The game is so popular on a world-wide level that it has an entire culture built up on numerous websites where the history of the game as a whole, and the ongoing elaboration and recording of the culture and history of significant individuals i and major organizations, takes place.
To be honest, I'm not sure how one would go about creating a virtual Spain 1936 in EVE, the basic framework of the game is futuristic, a universe of safe and unsafe star systems where capitalist relations of production and destruction provide the basic structure of the activity. But I'm surre one could develop a "parallel" in some sense, but it would take more time than a normal semester course would allow. Perhaps as an ongoing project something could be done to simulate other historical realities. My comment about EVE vis a vis Second Life was more about the absence of conflict as a central motive in Second Life. In EVE it is a constant and central element.
I know that Second Life has jumped the boundary between virtual and real and that Second Life money(?) is actively traded on eBay and elsewhere but I don't think it's reached the level of EVE where people have joined together and formed corporations and institutions within the game that enable them to actually make a living converting virtual EVE money into hard cash. I read a major newspaper article about this several years ago but don't remember the ref. I also read an article about a kid who reputedly committed suicide as a consequence of becoming too involved and how his mother was trying to sue SONY. I personally have other things to do with my time than research EVE, let alone play it, but was checking all of these virtual worlds out at one point since they are clearly a significant element of the brave new cyber world.
Paul Dillon
"Davies, Larry" <ldavies@STU.EDU> wrote:
EVE? PLEASE PLEASE...enlighten me on this system. I don't think I'm
familiar with it.
I very much like your idea of extending out the experience, to try to
put yourself as literally as possible in the situations and stories of
those in 1936 Spain. It lends itself well to constructivist learning
environments.
However, I'm dealing mostly with analog professors both in the tech
sense, and in the learning environment sense. It's difficult to pass
some of the concepts of experiential design, no less using technology
toward its potential.
Anyway, please tell me more about the EVE system.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
On
> Behalf Of Paul Dillon
> Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 2:36 PM
> To: mcole@weber.ucsd.edu; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Re: Abraham Lincoln Brigades
>
> Larry wrote:
>
> "You would have a Republican shop, a monarchist shop, a
> communist shop, a fascist shop, an anarchist shop, a papist
shop...etc.
> The shops could be decorated with posters or other artifacts of the
> time, and you might select music that might play in each shop. You
could
> conceivably design an interactive robot who would spout the political
> platitudes of that particular shop owner. The final activity would be
to
> go around and visit all the shops and do some comparing/contrasting.
>
> "I always thought this was the best way to understand "thick
> description" and similar concepts."
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- > ------------------------------------------- > One problem I always had with Geertz was that "thick description" > remained just that . . . an observational/contemplative perspective . . . > as though somehow there is such a thing as a culture that you can > understand without entering it, without being a part of it, that is w/o > taking a position in something that is already polarized in the > conflictual structure of History since a long time ago > > --> leads to --> > > considerations on the spain '36 Second Life scenario (Second Life,the > ideal kind of peaceful, friendly, very unrealistic space that epitomizes > the contemplative attitude Marx descried in the Theses on Feuerbach) and I > couldn't help but think that such a situation could never give an idea of > what Spain must have been like back then (collectively paying for the sins > they committed against the peoples of the southern part of the western > hemisphere of planet earth??). > > To make such a scenario more real, it might be better to set it up as > different stars systems in EVE (which has more realistic graphics anyway) > where the Fascists would have their shops that you could visit and read > all about cultural degeneracy and such, meet the founder of Opus Dei, etc. > but you could also witness them bombing Guernica , murdering Garcia > Lorca, and the like when you visited the Republican systems which they > were attacking. And in general, everyone would be toting guns and > shooting at each other but I think the Republicans would have better art > and poetry, be on the right side of History, and in the end be more worth > taking a side with. > > Paul > > Mike Cole wrote: > Amazing, larry. Thanks for that story. > Republican Spain was not utopian. Today I teach Orwell. But some truly > fantastic > people with the good sense to be premature anti-fascists died there, to > save > our > sins. > mike > > On 11/1/06, Davies, Larry wrote: > > > > Today seems to be one of those days where a lot of things come together. > > > > I have a presentation tonight in my doctoral class (I'm the student, not > > the teacher) where I need to explain concepts of "deep description" in > > qualitative research methods, and here is the passing of Geertz. > > > > Then Mike asks who knows about the Lincoln Brigades. Coincidentally, or > > not, the most interesting class I ever had as an undergrad (LONG AGO, > don't > > ask!) was a history of the Spanish Civil War class. Our instructor > > introduced himself on the first day..."My name is Jon Vigoda, and I'm a > > carpenter." We all looked at each other wondering who this old man was > and > > what made him qualified to teach the course. "I was a member of a group > > called the Abraham Lincoln Brigades and I fought against Franco and the > > Fascists in Spain. That got me labeled as a 'pre-mature anti-fascist' by > the > > US government and, as a result, I wasn't allowed to enlist to fight the > > Nazis." > > > > Well, of course, I can't ever forget the class, or the activities we > did, > > like try to hold a cabinet meeting with all the different factions in > Spain > > represented. > > > > So, Mike, your comment now gets me to thinking...was that the place and > > time where I first became interested in what is now called "Activity > > Theory"? > > > > Finally, as I work with faculty here and try to describe effective > > teaching, I use the following example: one effective way to build in an > > online world like Secondlife.com would be to have students recreate, for > > example, a street in Republican Spain in 1936. You could have students > > working in groups to design a shop owned by people from across the > political > > spectrum. You would have a Republican shop, a monarchist shop, a > communist > > shop, a fascist shop, an anarchist shop, a papist shop...etc. The shops > > could be decorated with posters or other artifacts of the time, and you > > might select music that might play in each shop. You could conceivably > > design an interactive robot who would spout the political platitudes of > that > > particular shop owner. The final activity would be to go around and > visit > > all the shops and do some comparing/contrasting. > > > > I always thought this was the best way to understand "thick description" > > and similar concepts. > > > > At any rate, RIP Professor Geertz. > > > > Larry Davies > > Faculty Instructional Technician > > St. Thomas University > > Miami Gardens, FL 33054 > > 305-474-6826 > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu on behalf of Mike Cole > > Sent: Tue 10/31/2006 10:15 PM > > To: Paul Dillon > > Cc: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity > > Subject: Re: [xmca] :-(( The Passing of Clifford Geertz > > > > It seems a time of loss on many many fronts, Paul. > > How many members of xmca understand what it means to have been a member > of > > the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in > > Spain? How many have read about Balanese cockfights? Tell use more about > > Murra, and perhaps point us at a work on > > ethnohistory. After all, this is a group who at least have an interest > in > > the role of cultural history in ontogeny and we are > > all, for the time being, developing!! > > mike > > PS-- thanks for the interview, phil > > > > On 10/31/06, Paul Dillon > wrote: > > > > > > mike, > > > > > > more of those uncanny coincidences: on Saturday night I saw my first > > cock > > > fight and was thinking about Geertz after many, many years. Although > > they > > > are perfectly legal here, unlike Bali, they still provide the kind of > > > cultural thickness Geertz described and flower networks of > > meaning. It is > > > sad to read how he passed since nowadays 80 seems young (at least for > > those > > > with good health insurance). > > > > > > Not too long ago (10/6 I think) another significant figure in > > > anthropology died as well; although more famous as an ethnohistorian, > > > Andeanist, and French-Russian translator for the Abraham Lincoln > brigade > > > during the Spanish Civil War: John V. Murra who was instrumental > > > in creating the field of ethnohistory. > > > > > > Changing of the guard > > > > > > Paul Dilllon > > > > > > *Mike Cole * wrote: > > > > > > Damn! > > > > > > http://ias.edu/Newsroom/announcements/Uploads/view.php?cmd=view&id=354 > > > > > > mike > > > _______________________________________________ > > > xmca mailing list > > > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu > > > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail.< > > > http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=42297/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/ma il > beta > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > xmca mailing list > > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu > > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > xmca mailing list > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca > > > > --------------------------------- > Want to start your own business? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business. > _______________________________________________ > xmca mailing list > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca_______________________________________________ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
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