Joanna Płaszewska | Jagiellonian University (original) (raw)

Papers by Joanna Płaszewska

by Nicolle Lamerichs, Anne Kustritz, Javier Lozano Delmar, Melanie Bourdaa, Justyna Janik, Joanna Płaszewska, Piotr Sterczewski, Pia Sundqvist, Vera Cuntz-Leng, Abby Waysdorf, Eleonora Benecchi, Marta Tyminska, Agata Wlodarczyk, and Bethan Jones

Transformative Works and Cultures, 2015

Guest Edited Issue Table of Contents Editorial: "Fan studies as global media and audience stu... more Guest Edited Issue

Table of Contents
Editorial: "Fan studies as global media and audience studies," by Anne Kustritz

Praxis
"Antifan activism as a response to MTV's The Valleys," by Bethan Jones

"Springsteen fans, #bruceleeds, and the tweeting of locality," by Bill Wolff

"Representation of American versus non-American fans in Baillie Walsh's Springsteen & I," by Maryn Claire Wilkinson

"Cultural differences: Polish fandom of Welcome to Night Vale," by Agata Włodarczyk, Marta Tyminska

"Online Italian fandoms of American TV shows," by Eleonora Benecchi

"The creation of football slash fan fiction," by Abby Waysdorf

Pedagogy
"Fandom: The classroom of the future," by Paul J. Booth

"Watching Dallas again 1: Doing retro audience research," by Amanda Gilroy

"Watching Dallas again 2: Locating viewing pleasures—An audience study of the new Dallas," by Raquel L. Raj, Mabel Wale, Joscha-Nicolai Spoellmink, Arelis Dania, Amanda Gilroy

"Watching Dallas again 3: Reassessing Ien Ang's Watching Dallas," by Toon Heesakkers, Ward van Hoof, Anne Jager, Amanda Gilroy

Symposium
"A brief history of fan fiction in Germany," by Vera Cuntz-Leng, Jacqueline Meintzinger

"A connected country: Sweden—Fertile ground for digital fandoms," by Christina Olin-Scheller, Pia Sundqvist

"Finding Poland: Negotiating the local and the global and the semiperipheral identity of Polish SF&F fandom," by Joanna Kucharska, Piotr Sterczewski, Bartłomiej Schweiger, Joanna Płaszewska, Justyna Janik

"Case study of French and Spanish fan reception of Game of Thrones," by Mélanie Bourdaa, Javier Lozano Delmar

"Slash fandom, sociability, and sexual politics in Putin's Russia," by Sudha Rajagopalan

Review:
"Online games, social narratives, by Esther MacCallum-Stewart," by Nicolle Lamerichs

"European Fans and European Fan Objects: Localization and Translation," edited by Anne Kustritz, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 19.

An analysis of Polish science fiction, fantasy, and role-playing game fandom brings to the fore p... more An analysis of Polish science fiction, fantasy, and role-playing game fandom brings to the fore problems of Polish identity and patriotism, as well as views on Polish fandom as a specific local phenomenon and as a part of global pop culture. Polish fandom may be framed as a semiperipheral culture, with fans expressing Polish identity and engaging in strategies of negotiating the global and the local.

Conference Presentations by Joanna Płaszewska

Prezentacja mieści się w zakresie badań nad zarządzaniem informacją, folksonomiami oraz mediami s... more Prezentacja mieści się w zakresie badań nad zarządzaniem informacją, folksonomiami oraz mediami społecznościowymi. Jej celem jest krótkie przedstawienie zachowań informacyjnych związanych z wykorzystywaniem przez użytkowników serwisów społecznościowych tagów do oznaczenia treści potencjalnie niekomfortowych dla części odbiorców. Przestrzenią badania jest serwis społecznościowy Tumblr, a przyjętą metodologią - jakościowa analiza treści. Omówiony zostanie zakres tematyczny oznaczanych w ten sposób wiadomości (to jest jakie treści uznawane są za potencjalnie niekomfortowe), reakcje odbiorców, wiadomości załączane przez administrację serwisu do wyników wyszukiwania za pomocą tego typu tagów oraz wyłaniający się z tych elementów obraz kultury informacyjnej serwisu. Autorka przedstawi również pokrótce motywacje osób stosujących tagi #triggerwarning, zaczerpnięte z innych badań poświęconych temu zjawisku.

Live-tweeting jako narzędzie komunikacji naukowej. Case study tagu #digra2015 Zjawisko live-twee... more Live-tweeting jako narzędzie komunikacji naukowej. Case study tagu #digra2015

Zjawisko live-tweetingu – relacjonowania na żywo wydarzeń za pośrednictwem platformy mikroblogowej Twitter – staje się coraz popularniejszą formą komunikacji na międzynarodowych konferencjach naukowych. Istnieje już wiele opracowań poświęconych wykorzystaniu live-tweetingu w komunikacji naukowej. Często postrzegany jest on jako narzędzie umożliwiające utrwalenie wiedzy przekazywanej na konferencjach naukowych oraz poszerzenie grona odbiorców poza osoby, które pojawiły się na danej konferencji, a nawet w ogóle – poza krąg samych naukowców. Live-tweeting pozostaje jednak słabo rozpoznany na gruncie polskim – zarówno jako narzędzie, jak i przedmiot badań.
Autorka chciałaby przedstawić opis live-tweetingu jako narzędzia komunikacji naukowej, posługując się przykładem groznawczej konferencji DiGRA 2015. W trakcie tego obficie relacjonowanego na Twitterze wydarzenia naukowego doszło do nietypowej sytuacji. Relacja została zakłócona przez próby przejęcia tagu #digra2015, służącego do oznaczania związanych z konferencją postów, przez osoby z ruchu społecznego związanego z tagiem #gamergate.
W losach hasztagu #digra2015 jak w soczewce skupiły się niemal wszystkie postulowane przez badaczy live-tweetingu wady i zalety tego narzędzia. Analiza relacji z konferencji DiGRA pozwoli pokazać potencjał live-tweetingu w komunikacji między uczestnikami konferencji oraz osobami, które nie biorą w niej udziału, ale też naświetlić problem rozpowszechniania wiedzy w zniekształconej, niezgodnej z intencją autora wersji. Autorka zwróci również uwagę na możliwość konfrontacji badacza i przedmiotu jego badań, jaki stwarza relacja z badań naukowych w mediach społecznościowych oraz wykorzystanie w tym procesie konkretnego typu języka informacyjno-wyszukiwawczego – hasztagów.

Live-tweeting as a tool for scholarly communication. Case study of #digra2015 hashtag

Live-tweeting is a practice of reporting an ongoing event through the series of status updates on the microblogging platform Twitter. Lately it became quite popular form of communication during many international scientific conferences. There are already several studies describing live-tweeting as a form of scholarly communication. It is seen as a tool enabling recording information shared during the conferences and expanding the audience of the event beyond the physically present participants or even beyond the academic community. In Poland however live-tweeting is still almost unknown either as a tool of scholarly communication or as a subject of research.
Author would like to present a case study of live-tweeting from the international game studies conference DiGRA 2015. During this event something unusual happened. There were several attempts to hijack the conference's hashtag #digra2015 – all conducted by Twitter users connected with the #gamergate movement.
Tracing the Twitter posts from and about this particular conference may shed light on both best and worst aspects of live-tweeting as a tool for scholarly communication. This case may show the potential of Twitter in amplifying the impact of scientific conferences and - at the same time - in distorting the original meaning of the presented research. Live-tweeting during the DiGRA was also an opportunity to see a confrontation between the scholars and the object of their studies – the gamers themselves. Author wants to describe the role of social media in general and hashtags in particular in whole of this process.

The main focus of the presentation will be an analysis of larps, which were design to allow playe... more The main focus of the presentation will be an analysis of larps, which were design to allow players to fully touch each other, to inflict or be inflicted with pain, or even to be injured. Such projects are regularly announced in Polish larping community, leading to an inevitable controversy: the more realistic and harmful the potential pain is, the bigger grows the debate. Creators of these games are frequently considered immature and irresponsible, and the creations themselves – dangerous and disgusting. Nonetheless many of such projects find players eager to participate and eventually take place.
Author plans to discuss three larps of that kind: “Pojeb” (Eng. “Shithead”), “Tylko mnie kochaj” (Eng. “Just love me”), and “Geas: Pielgrzymka” (Eng. “Geas: The Pilgrimage”). During the two of them, players could be subjected to a quite realistic simulation of torture (water-boarding) or to a real medical procedure (injections), performed by other players, Non-Player Characters or Game Masters. On the third larp the environment of the game and another players were the potential source of pain.
During the presentation author will try to determinate, if these controversial elements of games may be considered a transgressive content. Why the creators decided to use them during their larps? What was a purpose for such tool? Who and how inflicted pain to the players? What was done to ensure the players' security? And, on the other hand, why the players decided to take part in these projects? What they expected and what they got? What was the reaction of the Polish larping community to all of these three larps? How did the creators and participants responded?
From all these questions author will try to conclude, if the controversial elements served as a tool to achieve some understanding or new knowledge from the larping experience, or were they there just to cause shock or general unpleasant feelings to the players.
Research, on which the presentation will be based, will take form of interviews with the creators and the players of aforementioned games. Also the qualitative analysis of the discussion in social media about these three larps, and of the documentation of the projects will be conducted. Results will be juxtaposed to the theories regarding the value given to the pain in the European culture, and to contemporary works about larping.

Larp (ang. Live action role-playing) to aktywność na pograniczu gry i teatru improwizowanego, prz... more Larp (ang. Live action role-playing) to aktywność na pograniczu gry i teatru improwizowanego, przeznaczona dla kilku lub więcej osób, które odgrywają role, wspólnie tworząc pewną historię (Bowman, Standiford 2015). Od sztuki teatralnej larpa odróżnia przede wszystkim brak sztywnego scenariusza (istnieje raczej zarys sytuacji początkowej oraz opisy postaci, określające ich dążenia i motywacje), a także obecność zasad, ograniczających działania graczy, służących wyjaśnieniu sytuacji spornych oraz symulowania zjawisk trudnych lub niemożliwych do odtworzenia w grze. Tak jak w teatrze - i w odróżnieniu od tabletop rpg czy crpg - ciało gracza jest tożsame z ciałem odgrywanej postaci (Tychsen et al. 2006).
W ostatnich latach zarówno informacje o larpach, jak i same praktyki tego rodzaju wydostają się poza stosunkowo wąskie grono fanów gier fabularnych i bywalców konwentów. Coraz częściej można spotkać się z próbami wykorzystania larpów w edukacji (w szkole, ale też na korporacyjnych szkoleniach) oraz w promocji i turystyce (Mochocki 2014). Być może właśnie w związku z popularyzacją i rozwojem takich gier, a także coraz częstszymi kontaktami z zagranicznymi środowiskami larpowymi (czego świadectwem mogą być międzynarodowe projekty odbywające się w Polsce, czy obecność Polaków na zagranicznych konferencjach larpowych), rośnie liczba polskich publikacji poświęconych larpom. Jednak zarówno pojedyncze artykuły o larpach i scenariusze larpowe, jak też zbiory teksów i czasopisma, funkcjonują przede wszystkim w przestrzeni Internetu, rzadko przyjmując formę drukowaną.
Celem prezentacji jest zarysowanie obiegu wiedzy o larpach - tekstów o tworzeniu i prowadzeniu gier, opisów poszczególnych rozgrywek, a także gotowych scenariuszy - w polskim środowisku aktywnych graczy i twórców za pośrednictwem mediów społecznościowych i narzędzi Web 2.0. Główny nacisk zostanie położony na opis nieformalnych kolekcji cyfrowych poświęconych literaturze larpowej oraz inicjatyw wspierających obieg wiedzy o tworzeniu larpów. Poruszone zostaną również kwestie nieformalnych tłumaczeń, self-publishingu oraz obecności literatury zagranicznej i naukowej w obiegu fanowskim. Nie będzie natomiast tematem pracy wykorzystanie mediów społecznościowych do promocji poszczególnych imprez larpowych.
Prezentacja zostanie oparta o analizę dostępnych za pośrednictwem mediów społecznościowych kolekcji literatury larpowej, obserwację aktywności środowiska larpowego w dedykowanych mu grupach w serwisach społecznościowych, a także o wywiady z twórcami wybranych kolekcji tekstów.

1. PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT Live-action role playing (larp) can be defined as a type of role-playi... more 1. PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

Live-action role playing (larp) can be defined as a type of role-playing game in which 1) players physically embody their characters; 2) the game takes place in a physical frame (the physical actions of the player are regarded as those of the character) (Tychsen et al. 2006). There are various consequences of the physical embodiment of characters. One of them is the emergence of the popular view on larps as a safe space to explore player’s body and social norms (Montola 2010, Jones 2014). At the same time this literal embodiment results in the necessity to decide how to represent physical contact, especially violence and sex (Järvelä 2012), as it may lead to situations in which not only one character hurts another, but one player hurts another as well. As Eleanor Saitta has written - “a safe game and an ethical game are not the same thing” (Saitta 2014) - yet those notions are usually intertwined and there are many rules regulating whether safe or unsafe is ethical or unethical.
Such normative aspects of mechanics of physical contact were already described, but mostly in reference to the nordic larping scene or the nordic style of larping in general and existing descriptions may not be adequate or sufficient for understanding larping practices of players and communities from other countries. Proposed article will analyse the mechanics of physical conflicts used by Polish larping communities.

2. RESEARCH APPROACH

The research follows the approach of the constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz 2014). Proposed paper will consist of preliminary conclusions from two already finished parts of the project.
The first phase of the research was an interview-based case study of five Polish full-touch larps that were widely discussed in many Polish larping communities. It was focused on the way in which the full-touch rule was included in larps and the purpose it served.
After the first part of the research the data suggested that decisions about using full-touch mechanics could not be easily divided from other types of mechanics of physical contact, and different degrees of permitted touch usually would coexist in one game in reference to different contexts in which the touch appeared. Interviewed members of the larping community as well as participants of analysed discussions frequently switched between perspectives of the player and the creator. While describing design choices or reasons for partaking in a game, they rarely limited themselves to referring just to the one game that researcher had asked about, but rather talked about their overall larping experience.
Thus the next step of the study had a broader scope than the initial exploration of the full-touch rule usage on Polish larps. It focused on larp mechanics of physical conflict used by Polish larpers and consisted of a series of semi-structured interviews with Polish larpers, aiming to reach people who had experience both as players and creators. The main questions asked in this part were as follows: 1) what kind of mechanics of physical conflict are currently used by Polish larping community, 2) what purposes do the larp creators ascribe to each type of mechanics, 3) what values are ascribed to those mechanics and purposes of their usage?

3. INITIAL FINDINGS

Proposed paper will focus on two notions that emerged from the initial stages of research: the safety of the mechanics of conflict and outside factors enabling the proper functioning of the mechanics.
The author will present how larp creators try to ensure the safety of the game by looking for what they see as the best mechanics of physical conflict. Interviewed larpers perceived two aspects of the physical conflict mechanics to be of utmost importance: 1) what determines the outcome of the activity (from a fixed set of rules to an arbitrary decision of person performing said activity), 2) how is the activity represented in the game (from fully descriptive or symbolic representation to the actual, literal activity). The author will present how the larpers argue for using mechanics based on each of the aforementioned aspects, and hence: what is seen as a safety threat and who is responsible for ensuring the safety of the game.
Then the outside factors enabling the proper functioning of the mechanics will be presented, as they were frequently evoked to explain situations in which a proven mechanics works in an unpredicted way or stops working at all. The two most important factors discussed in this part will be informed consent and universal understanding of the rules. Once again the topic of who is responsible for ensuring those two conditions to be fulfilled will appear. The author will describe the emergence of more systematic approaches to the problem of the safety of larp violence, currently present in many Polish larping communities.
In the last part of the analysis the author will try to shed light on the potential lines of conflict, which hinder the introduction of methods used to ensure informed consent and establish shared vision of the rules among the players. The author will describe clash between “safety” (of both the game and the players) versus “emotional impact” (of the game on the players), “realism” (of both the game and the players’ actions), “freedom of expression”, and “informality” (of the community, of the game).

4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SUBJECT

The author hopes that findings from the research - even if still initial and referring only to a narrow group of Polish larpers - will be a valuable addition to the existing knowledge about the game mechanics, topic of the violence portrayal in games, line between in-game and out-of-game violence, difference between expected and actual effect of the game rules, and usage of body in games. All those notions are especially relevant when considering larps, as those types of games are often seen as a safe space for the players to experiment with their bodies and existing social norms (Jones 2014) making the participants both more conscious about their bodies and more prone to the effects of physical interaction.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bartczak, K. (2015) Dajemy wam przemoc [We’re giving you violence]. Available at http://www.argos.edu.pl/pl/larp-design/188-dajemy-wam-przemoc (accessed July 2016).
Bartczak, K. (2013-2014). Fight Club.
Bartczak, K. (2014). Fight Night.
Charmaz, K. Constructing Grounded Theory. Sage, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, 2014.
Järvelä, S. (2012). “The Golden Rule of Larp” in States of Play: Nordic Larp Around the World. Solmukohta 2012.
Jones, K. C. (2014). “Sex and Play-Doh: Exploring Women’s Sexuality through Larp” in Analog Game Studies. Available at http://analoggamestudies.org/2014/09/sex-and-play-doh/ (accessed July 2016).
Montola, M “The Invisible Rules of Role-Playing The Social Framework of Role-Playing Process” in International Journal of Role-Playing, Issue 1 (2009).
Montola, M. “The Positive Negative Experience in Extreme Role-Playing” in DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players (2010).
Połynkiewicz, A. (2013). Bestia [Beast].
Saitta, E. (2014). “On Ethics” in The Cutting Edge of Nordic Larp. Knutepunkt 2014.
Słowikowski, M. (2013). Psychol [Psycho].
Stowarzyszenie Akademia Rozwoju Argos (2014). Geas: Pielgrzymka [Geas: the Pilgrimage].
Stowarzyszenie Akademia Rozwoju Argos (2014). Kto Ty? [Who You?].
Tychsen, A. Hitchens, M., Brolund, T., and Kavakli, M. “Live Action Role-Playing Games: Control, Communication, Storytelling, and MMORPG Similarities” in Games and Culture, 1, 252 (2006).