What do Julian Kucklich, T.E. Lawrence, The Alphaville Herald, and Linda Rondstadt have in common?
T.E. Lawrence went native and made such a splash they made a film about it. Now there is Labouchere of Arabia ("maverick commander of the Queen's Royal Hussars"). Meanwhile, Suzanne Nossel thinks a diplomatic corps that "go(es) native" is a good thing.
However, perhaps a lesson of the Alphaville Herald was that too much mixing it up with the natives invites controversy: it's so easy (that song!).
This reminds me of Julian Kucklich's excellent question [1.] on whether using the tools and short-cuts of game worlds (FAQ's, forums, walk-throughs, ..) instead of experiencing the game world directly hinders one's understanding of it. Tamara Paradis framed the counter-question well (in comment to Julian Kucklich's post, emphasis added):
...the prejudice within the social sciences to the idea of “going native”. And yet, if you haven’t been there entirely, immersed in the digital culture, can you truly and deeply understand it? Alternately, how does being native sometimes blind you to alternate views? DO we forget to ask questions we should ask? Do people just assume that we know because we are “one of them”?
What are the pitfalls of going native? When one frames a position (positive/negative) with respect to a specific personalized virtual world experience, it makes for good what?
---------------------------------------------------------------
[1.] "Walkthroughs in Research: Cheating or Education?" on The Montreal GameCODE Project:
Cultures of Digital Environments. May 30, 2006.
Related: Terra Nova "Stranger in a Strange Land."
Recent Comments