Magical Flight and Monstrous Stress: Technologies of Absorption and Mental Wellness in Azeroth
Date
2011
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
Videogame players commonly report reaching deeply ‘immersive’ states of consciousness, in some cases growing to feel like they actually are their characters and really in the game, with such fantastic characters and places potentially only loosely connected to offline selves and realities. In the current investigation, we use interview and survey data to examine the effects of such ‘dissociative’ experiences on players of the popular online videogame, World of Warcraft (WoW). Of particular interest are ways in which WoW players’ emotional identification with in-game second selves can lead either to better mental well-being, through relaxation and satisfying positive stress, or, alternatively, to risky addiction-like experiences. Combining universalizing and context-dependent perspectives, we suggest that WoW and similar games can be thought of as new ‘technologies of absorption’—contemporary practices that can induce dissociative states in which players attribute dimensions of self and experience to in-game characters, with potential psychological benefit or harm. We present our research as an empirically grounded exploration of the mental health benefits and risks associated with dissociation in common everyday contexts. We believe studies such as ours may enrich existing theories of the health dynamics of dissociation, relying as they often do on data drawn either from Western clinical contexts involving pathological disintegrated personality disorders or non-Western ethnographic contexts involving spiritual trance.
Description
An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11013-011-9204-4
Keywords
massively multi-player online games (MMOG), World of Warcraft, dissociation, mental health, Internet addiction, Ethnology
Citation
Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 35(1):26-62
Extent
62 pages
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Collections
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.