Graduation Year
2013
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Granting Department
Childhood Education and Literacy Studies
Major Professor
James King
Keywords
Collaboration, Composition, Fandom, Literacy, Motivation, Popular Culture
Abstract
This descriptive case study examined adolescents' and emerging adults' literate and social practices within the context of a role-play-game (RPG) forum, investigating the ways participants read and collaboratively composed within this space. As a researcher, I was interested in how this space functioned and how the interactions between members impacted their composing processes, with particular attention to the role of online spaces and popular culture in adolescents' motivation to engage in this forum. This study was guided by three research questions: (1) In what ways is Trelis Weyr, an RPG forum, organized as a virtual environment?; (2) In what ways, and for what purposes, do adolescents and emerging adults (ages 14-24) engage in literate and social practices as they read and collaboratively compose within Trelis Weyr?; (3) What are the factors that motivate participants to enter and persist at play in Trelis Weyr? Findings provide a nuanced understanding of how an RPG forum offers a range of multimodal, inter-textual, and hybrid reading and writing opportunities.
Scholar Commons Citation
Alley, Kathleen Marie, "Playing in Trelis Weyr: Investigating Collaborative Practices in a Dragons of Pern Role-Play-Game Forum" (2013). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/4430
Included in
Arts and Humanities Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Other Computer Sciences Commons
