Magicians in Video Games, From Mana to Hackers: Towards a Pragmatic Anthropology of Magic.
This article is based on a ten-year ethnography of World of Warcraft (WoW), a massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) within the fantasy genre. It proposes that the notion of "magic" in video games must be understood on two levels: first, as a diegetic mechanic embedded in narratives, game design, an...
| Publicado en: | Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 404 - 422 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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University of Pennsylvania Press
Winter2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=192825867&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 192825867 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 15568547 1VOZ jtl: Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft issn: 15568547 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Winter2025 vid: 20 iid: 3 pid: 4636 pub: University of Pennsylvania Press artinfo: ui: 192825867 10.1353/mrw.2025.a985969 ppf: 404 ppct: 18 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 409KB tig: atl: Magicians in Video Games, From Mana to Hackers: Towards a Pragmatic Anthropology of Magic. aug: au: Servais, Olivier affil: University of Louvain su: World of Warcraft (Game) Massively multiplayer online role-playing games Ethnology Magicians Anthropology sug: subj: World of Warcraft (Game) Massively multiplayer online role-playing games Ethnology Magicians Anthropology keyword: Ethnography Gaming Hacker Magic Mana Play Trickster Video games World of Warcraft ab: This article is based on a ten-year ethnography of World of Warcraft (WoW), a massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) within the fantasy genre. It proposes that the notion of "magic" in video games must be understood on two levels: first, as a diegetic mechanic embedded in narratives, game design, and popular imaginaries; second, as a pragmatic social function embodied by players who master hidden infrastructures, notably hackers, programmers, and add-on creators. The article first grounds the discussion in the WoW ethnographic work. It then it traces the genealogy of "mana" from anthropology to gaming. Next it re-examines anthropological theories of magic in relations to video-game practice. Finally it argues that the true magicians of digital communities are those who manipulate invisible codes. By bridging anthropology, game studies, and folklore, the article redefines what it means to be a magician in contemporary virtual worlds. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft is the property of University of Pennsylvania Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft holder: University of Pennsylvania Press dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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