KNOWing How to Play: Gamer Knowledges and Knowledge Acquisition

This article examines the different types of knowledge that MMORPG players develop as they learn and play a game. Data is drawn from a year of case-study/ethnography based research sessions with a ten-member raiding group in the game World of Warcraft. Drawing from the work of Aristotle, contemporary game studies scholarship, actor network theory, and the concept of “practices,” what is presented here is a matrix of complex gamer knowledge types intended not only to expand the reader's understanding of the robust variations and nuances in gamer knowledge but also to serve as a potential example of how to articulate that richness in future research. The matrix is accompanied by rationale and examples of how the knowledges function in game experiences.