Paper short abstract:

Our paper approaches the challenges regarding the fieldwork of virtual heterotopias. We address the philosophical facets of Foucault’s concept of heterotopias in the mirror of Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality. Afterwards, we discuss the continuous process of “research data” interpretation.

Paper long abstract:

Our paper brings forth a series of aspects pertaining to the fieldwork of virtual heterotopias that present particular challenges. These challenges are not unfamiliar to anthropologists who use “conventional” methods. However, the complex nature of multiple juxtaposed places and realities of virtual heterotopias means that fieldwork is an activity characterized by multi-tasking: it entails knowing how to use a plethora of research techniques and data set construction. Furthermore, the fact that the data sets configured in our research may be accessed later by readers online conveys several relevant issues as well. The methodological terminology used in studying virtual places are based on positivist models of empirical research. They don’t necessarily reflect the complexity of research dedicated to heterotopias. In our presentation we begin by addressing the philosophical facets of Foucault’s concept of heterotopias in the mirror of Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality.

Living in an era of simultaneity, of proximity, of overexposure and transparence, we are interested in the relevance of Fabian’s writings about the “denial of coevalness” when addressing virtual heterotopias.

Finally, from an anthropological point of view, we discuss the peculiarities of “research data” obtained from virtual heterotopias and their analysis: we consider them as being corelated. We assert that anthropologists are constantly engaged in a process of interpretation as they are engaged with research participants.

Paper short abstract:

I present an ethnography of MiHoYo’s Genshin Impact and the associated 'HoYoVerse' project. I draw upon cybernetics and psychological anthropology in my explanation of how the experience of living in the fictional world of 'Teyvat' shapes identity.

Paper long abstract:

Drawing upon eighteen months of fieldwork with players of Genshin Impact in the US, UK, and China, and contiguous communities on social media, I present an ethnography of MiHoYo’s corner of the metaverse. I tackle the methodological concerns for ethnographers venturing into such novel cyber spaces, for instance the gameworld itself, but also the contiguous community spaces that include Genshin VRChat servers, Twitch channels, and cosplayer niches on TikTok, as well as the associated desktop and streaming 'V-tubers', such as MiHoYo's own 'Lumi', the sister-gameworld of Honkai Impact 3rd, and MiHoYo's other virtual spaces, including Tears of Themis and the HoYoLab social network.

My focus, however, is the gameworld of Genshin Impact itself: 'Teyvat'. Herein, I develop my conception of 'cybernesis' so to explain how identities are shaped within and across these spaces, and situate these within what I see as the great continuity, virtual-to-corporeal, within Chinese-coded metaverse.

I communicate the special affordances of the metaverse in terms of the novel identities, even wholly new forms of personhood, such as digital 'ghosts' and human-AI composites, which in turn mean wholly new forms of researcher formed through the conducting of research within such space, our fusion with AR and VR technologies, the assistance of AI and otherwise algorithmic research assistants, and other recent developments in HCI. Lastly, I frame my ethnography within the context of major recent developments in the scale and ambition of 'HoYoVerse' and their juxtaposition against contemporary discourse on metaverse and digital subjectivities in China and beyond.

Paper short abstract:

MMORPG is a vast genre of online games hosting millions of players from all around the world. Following raiding guilds my aim is to provide a deeper look into in-game communities of World of Warcraft, their roles, and interactions.

Paper long abstract:

Many online games allow their players to merge into small scale communities usually referred to as guilds. Using ethnographic methods of participatory observation, and both formal and informal interviews as well as my own experience as a long-standing player of MMORPGs this paper explores the world of such virtual communities. Guilds in World of Warcraft are volatile entities, often dying and being rebuilt by leftover players. Raiding guilds are also being greatly influenced by the ebb and flow of game content, as well as by skill and ambitions of each player. Such conditions create enormous pressure on leaders of the guilds - to keep the guild alive one needs to maintain a stable environment, with group of players of matching personalities and in-game skill. This presentation is following my master thesis' research based off several different guilds in WoW, pointing out what helps guilds stay together through both game induced issues, like content drought, and social problems, like formation of cliques, and what role does the redistribution of goods play in it.

Paper short abstract:

Our paper aims to tackle the panel topic, through analysing the dynamics of the Romanian migration to UK and how it is represented at the level of social media, considering the post - Brexit and pandemic crisis as time frames our analysis.

Paper long abstract:

Our paper aims to tackle the panel topic, through analysing the ways in which the Romanian migration to UK is configured and represented at the level of social media during the pandemic crisis. In particular, we are going to explore how migration experiences are described and represented in virtual groups, such as Romanians in UK, Romanians in United Kingdom (two different Facebook groups), and Romanians in London, considering especially the post- Brexit and pandemic crisis as time frames of our approach. Our idea is to analyse the groups dynamics, their specificities, recurrent and “irregular” problems the members are confronting with at present, new ways of grouping and communicating, new solidarities as well as the ways in which they are exposed via Facebook. Our intention is also to approach the particular ways in which the feeling of belonging to the Social/Facebook groups is represented, how their members perceive the new crises context, and how they expose the new migration challenges, opportunities and threats. Through these, we intend to analyse the role of these virtual groups in creating new solidarities among migrants, specific networks with particular relevance in their lives, and to approach how the migration desires and aspirations, action and decision making are configured and represented currently. Through these, we attempt to discuss the role of social media as channels generating specific individual and networking experiences, and their cohesive or non cohesive role in the whole migration process.

Paper short abstract:

This research draws attention to some considerations in the study of online communities, like those focusing on the balance between ensuring subjects’confidentiality and providing data validity. Virtual reality offers the opportunity of reshaping one’s own identity and of exploring other identities.

Paper long abstract:

Online environments provide new challenges for reconsidering the epistemological endeavor of social sciences. It is difficult to say whether virtual reality is facilitating the creation of new personae or just the surfacing of the inner most uninhibited ones. Social sciences in general and digital anthropology in particular have, thus, the opportunity to analyse new forms of sociability that are characteristic to the cyberspace. This research draws attention to some important considerations in the study of online communities, like those focusing on the balance between ensuring subjects’confidentiality and providing data validity. Becoming a part of the virtual reality offers the opportunity of reshaping one’s own identity and furthermore of exploring the various identities of other individuals who are more or less familiar to us in the real world. Once in this cultural environment, an anthropologist has to engage in a phenomenological endeavor over the individual and social impact of Internet, before tackling the actual fieldwork.